Tip for CA finishing of slimlines and other 7mm pens

[sbwertz]

One of the problems with CA finishing is that it is very easy to glue the barrels to the bushes or to the mandrel when finishing. You can buy expensive delrin finishing bushes, but the easiest way is to remove the bushes and replace them with short sections of 7mm brass tubes for sanding and finishing. Another advantage, is that when sanding, sometimes the sandpaper picks up steel dust from the steel bushes and transfers it to light coloured woods so that they have a grey cast to them.

 

[rayf6604]

I tried to finish a pen with ca and while it polished up nicely it did stick to the bushings and I made the mistake of snapping them off which chipped a bit of the finish off the wood. But I was left with ca build up on the bushings which is a pain. I also think that while ca is very hard wearing you lose the feel of the wood and it may as well be an acrylic pen.

 

[Neil]

I find that a quick hand rotation with a sharp blade held against the cured glue and it breaks away with the help of a pair of pliers. Never sand with the lather running so dont manage to get cross contamination, and give it a quick spin with a yellow nyweb to clear any residual dust.

 

[Doug]

I turned bushes from off cuts of blocks of PTFE to use when applying CA as a finish on a pen, just swap them with the metal ones at the finishing stage, works a treat.

 

[Goulss]

Like the idea of using a piece of barrel

 

[Buckeye]

I made Delrin bushes that I can use with 7mm upwards and they are superb. It's cheap enough when you buy it by the metre and if you can turn wood you can turn delrin, but the tubes for 7mm is not a bad way to do it for 7mm pens.

Peter

 

[Kardav]

I turned bushes from off cuts of blocks of PTFE to use when applying CA as a finish on a pen, just swap them with the metal ones at the finishing stage, works a treat.

I like that idea, of course, CA won't stick PTFE.

 

[Lons]

I've turned a couple of sets one acrylic and other ptfe.
I'm lucky 'cos I have offcuts from a previous life but you can get offcuts free if you hawk around a few small engineering establishments as they're worth very little in scrap value. Same applies to other engineering plastics like tufnol, polyprop, nylon etc. which are very usefull to turners.

Bob

 

[paulm]

I sand from the wood to the bushes so that I don't get cross contamination and part the glue off the bushes with a parting tool. I spin the finished blanks on sandpaper or the barrel trimmer by hand after (except the one time I didn't and Hawkeye Neil noticed it).

I have been intending to make delrin bushes and you've just reminded me so thank you very much for this post.

 

[scouseroy]

I rub a bit of candle on the bushings before I apply the ca its never stuck for me?

 

[Jim]

I rub a bit of candle on the bushings before I apply the ca its never stuck for me?

I use paste wax now on the pen ends .. But i do like the idea of using the pen tubes ..

 

[Penpal]

One of the problems with CA finishing is that it is very easy to glue the barrels to the bushes or to the mandrel when finishing. You can buy expensive delrin finishing bushes, but the easiest way is to remove the bushes and replace them with short sections of 7mm brass tubes for sanding and finishing. Another advantage, is that when sanding, sometimes the sandpaper picks up steel dust from the steel bushes and transfers it to light coloured woods so that they have a grey cast to them.

Sharon I avoid like the plague brass exposed next to pen blanks as sleeves it can bite you on the you know where if you ever use a fine polish after CA it goes real black and transfers easily causing me to buy stainless steel tubing and making my own spacers. I spend quite a time on pens but transferring spacers one with another is fraught with problems especially if you need to use a scraper when and if the CA is uneven or develops lines etc. Yes I know that only happens to me or did until I started paying premium for reliable fresh CA.

Peter.