Color filling engraved acrylic pens

[mark anizan]

I do alot of pen turning and also engrave most that I sell.I dont use fill on any of the lighter colored woods unless I'm asked too by the customer.I fill most dark woods with gold or copper.I do all my pens after they are assembled .

[Steve Clarkson]

Thanks guys......I'l give it a shot.......can't believe I never thought to do it before!

[Chuck Stone]

I have never really cared for the look of filled engraving, but I do it because that's
what people want. But in the back of my mind I'm always wondering what happens
if the color fill gets damaged, dug out of the engraving etc. so I do a CA finish over
the fill. Makes it smooth and permanent. Plus, it's no problem over acrylic.. the CA
is an acrylic finish anyway.

[Vicki Rivrud]

What is CA?
Vicki

[Mike vonBuelow]

Precious Metals gold leaf is my favorite!

cyanoacrylate = CA

[Vicki Rivrud]

Thanks - I thought that was what it was. I never thought to use CA to finish off a color fill.

Vicki

[Glen Monaghan]

in the back of my mind I'm always wondering what happens
if the color fill gets damaged, dug out of the engraving etc.

I engraved some black G10 knife handles for a client and, while it engraved well, the design was black on black. The client wanted greater contrast and thought a gold fill would look good on black. I tried Rub N Buff first, but he quickly brought the test knife back because a fair bit of the waxy fill had come out one way or another (he said some wore out with handling and then he poked at it to see what would happen...). He still didn't like it after engraving deeper in hopes the wax would stay put. Now I fill with Testor's gold enamel. At first, the dried paint shrank so much that I had to do several paint/dry cycles to get a good fill. So, I let the gold settle in the bottle and poured off about half the clear solvent/base and now the mixed paint is thicker and doesn't "shrink" so much as it dries.

-Glen

[Everett White]

OK, I was reading this and bought some gold rub and buff and tried to fill in a small name I engraved on a wood pen. Instantly the gold sank into the grain of the wood. It took a lot of sanding and repolishing to get the gold out of the grain but now the engraving looks very "old".

HOW do I keep the gold from getting into the grain?

Thanks

[Dan Hintz]

HOW do I keep the gold from getting into the grain?

Spray the engraved area with some clear first, let it dry, then color fill.

[Chuck Stone]

you wouldn't put it on unfinished wood.. it would become the finish. (like it did!)
What sort of finish are you using? Most any cured finish should hold up to the
rub & buff, but a friction polish might not. The solvent in the RnB might eat into
the shellac.

BTW.. for 'digging out' stuff like that, I've got an eraser pen. Sort of like an airbrush,
but instead of paint, it blows out 220 grit sand. It gets into those little crevices
and digs out paint in wood grain. Also gives a nice frosted look to rastered acrylic
if you only have extruded and not cast. Come to think of it, it does a nice job
on the cast, too. Just raster through the paper, use it as a mask.

[Everett White]

AH.. (light bulb)

Yeah it's a friction polish. I was reading a seperate topic dealing with this same thing, but they used a lacquer. I will try this out. Btw I found a bullet pen and engraved a friends name on it for a thank you gift, I just wish the engraving could have been better. Maybe next time. I found it at usa craft supplies dot com. The pic is from their site but the one I did is close to it.

[Chuck Stone]

Friction polishes are fast and easy, but not really long lasting. They're
usually a combination of shellac and waxes. Shellac is a lot more durable
without wax, but the friction polish won't hold up to handling very well.
And it doesn't take engraving well.. it melts rather than vaporizing.
I've done those kits in resin and antler.
You might want to go with a CA finish rather than a friction polish. CA
takes an engraving well and is more durable than the lacquer. And it
is faster, since it takes a good week before the lacquer is ready to
polish out and engrave.

[Dane Fuller]

...I've done those kits in resin and antler...

Chuck,
Beautiful work! Did you color fill the antler? I've got a pen turning client that's been sending his antler pens out of state to have them engraved. Ever since he found out I was even thinking about getting a laser he's been after me to do them.

BTW, He just got a gig for minimum order of 150 mesquite pens for a local business and tapped me for engraving the logos.

[Dee Gallo]

I'm curious, Chuck - did you ever use CA as a finish on flat work? Would there be an advantage over other types of finishes?