CA glue

[Ray Bell]

How do you prevent CA from staining the surrounding area? It seems that each time I use this to fill in a worm hole, or defect, it stains so bad that no amount of sanding will get it out.

[Prashun Patel]

I'm not an experienced turner, but you can stymie finish and stain bleeding by pre-sealing the surrounding area with shellac.

If you are filling a worm hole, then you might also try using a thicker CA or an epoxy. These tend to stay put more, and have the appropriate body to fill voids.

[Bob Hampton]

after you fill the repair ..if your filling a crack for instance..mound it a little high over the crack and let it dry ..then spin it again and take a few VERY light cuts ..then it will blend in nicely and then sand the surface..
Thats the way i have always done it and works good for me

Bob

[Art Kelly]

I have good luck with Mylands Sanding Sealer. Dries in a few minutes--at most--and doesn't seem to soak in much. $0.02. Art

[Andrew Arndts]

I put wax like min-wax or Johnson's paste wax around the area seems to work for me

[Ray Bell]

Thanks all for the replies. Art, do you use this in place of the CA? Do you mix the sawdust, coffee grounds, or whatever with this sanding sealer, and apply?

[David Woodruff]

Hello Ray, I understand your pain. When securing whatever with CA do the following. Proceed with finishing your piece including sanding to about 1,000, which is what one should sand anyway. Apply your sealer,not sanding sealer. I use vinyl sealer. Apply a liberal spray coat. Be certain to let it cure at least a day. I hate to get on the "patience" soap box, one can not finish a piece in a day, a week, you get the idea. The coatings may appear dry, non-tacky, but the coating is not cured. Anyway the next day apply super thin CA to whatever you feel needs stablizing. Superthin is important as it is immediately absorbed by capillary action. The previous coat of sealer prevents the surrounding wood from discoloration. When I discovered this technique years ago it has not failed to produce the aforementioned results. I do not pretend that I discovered as the first to use it. Consider that after two applications of sealer you see other cavities that would benefit creatively of being filled with sawdust, coffee grounds, grannular malachite, lapis, torquoise,etc. I suggest to pack the cavity dry with whatever you choose, use pressure and force the granules in, a dry pack is extremely important. At this point dribble in the super thin CA , slowly don't create a puddle. The CA will quickly polymerize, If you want the cavity level, repeat the process and let the last application stand proud to the the surface. Dribble a little more CA. Experience will let you know if too little CA has been applied. This is an experience process, it does nor take long to master and I guarantee the results I described will also be yours. It is fun to experiment, do not be hesitant. One more point if your inlay does stand proud. Sand it first level with Aluminum Oxide Paper/cloth then proced as usual. One other point when sanding mineral inlaid vessel do not use garnet paper; actually there is no reason to use garnet paper anyway, a waste of time and money. My opinion only.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

You could try mixing sanding dust and regular glue for a patch. Sometimes I just leave the holes. Bowl won't hold water, but it will still hold dry stuff. Remember to blow out the dust prior to the first coat of finish if you choose to leave the holes.

[David Woodruff]

Ray, read the previous post and ask any questions you may have. If you have sanding sealer, trash it. only creates problems. The process I described works. There may be other processes but this is the best one I have discovered.

[Chris Colman]

I second the Mylands Sanding Sealer technique. That stuff dries ultra fast, with the proper ventilation. Anything that will soak into the wood and prevent that dry/wet line where the CA soaks in.

Use thin CA to take advantage of the capillary effect.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Ray - these days I finish just about everything with wipe-on poly. I usually wipe some around the area that is going to be filled and let it dry for a few hours. The poly soaks into the wood just enough that the CA does not discolor the area. Found that the key is to use whatever finish you plan on using in the first place. Just be sure (like David stated) to let it dry before applying the CA.

[Nathan Hawkes]

I have to agree with David here, in multiple aspects. There's no good quick way to do anything WELL. The use of super-thin without packing the void virtually guarantees the CA glue will stain your bowl. Sanding sealer may coat the surface, but the capillary action that does such a good job at getting the surfaces to really bond to each other, also spreads the glue out that much better, to potentially stain the surface with. It's not always the finish soaking into the wood unevenly that causes the staining from CA glue, but rather the glue itself, which can also change color over time. A couple bowls that I finished a long time ago that had no evidence of staining at the time now show some discoloration around areas that I used CA. I've been trying consciously to limit my use of CA glue, especially in certain woods, ash and walnut in particular. I have to add though that using a sealer with some woods really decreases the potential for the shimmer, or the $0.50 word lovers, "chatoyance" that an oil finish really highlights. All I'm saying is that I want to keep my options open. Use whatever method works for you! Sanding sealer definitely works for spalted woods to keep this from happening, and may actually limit the need for the saturating CA applications that are the "quick and easy" way of filling cracks. I'm guilty of this myself more than I'd like to admit. Most people that look at the bowls don't know the difference, but I do, and that DOES matter to me. I've been known to "soapbox it" from time to time as well! I'll have to try some vinyl sealer for a change next time I finish a run of bowls.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Ray I used to use either sanding sealer or the finish mostly poly when using CA. I have since quit using CA and went to using epoxy. I mix it with wood dust, brass filings, coffee grounds, etc or whatever to fill worm holes or cracks. If you leave it proud there is no stain as it sands flat.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

How do you prevent CA from staining the surrounding area? It seems that each time I use this to fill in a worm hole, or defect, it stains so bad that no amount of sanding will get it out.

Actually it is quite simple, the wood gets stained because the glue is being soaked up into the wood.
To prevent this from happening, you will need to have the wood not being able to soak it up, so fill the wood with the finish you are going to use, or some other material that will not show or stain, shellac or sanding sealer come to mind.

[Ray Bell]

Some very good answers here, thanks folks.