Poly on CA

[Aaron Craven]

A similar question to one recently asked, but a somewhat different situation. I have a couple of natural-edged bowls I will be finishing soon. I used CA to stabilize the bark and was thinking of a film finish (probably WOP) for the finished product. Will the polyurethane stick to the areas with CA on them?

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I've used CA and wipe on poly and have had no problems. Although, I'd avoid using CA on the outside (visible) bark. Mostly I use CA to stick the bark to the bowl. Most times I turn off the CA anyways, since the CA is applied early on in the bowl process. I have not used CA in the finishing process. If you are doing that, the CA could stain the wood. To prevent that, I'd spray the edge with rattle can lacquer (I use Deft) where I will apply the CA. That prevents the CA from staining the wood. (Usually) The Deft can easily be sanded off with sandpaper. Finish normally with the WOP.

[Aaron Craven]

I've used CA and wipe on poly and have had no problems. Although, I'd avoid using CA on the outside (visible) bark. Mostly I use CA to stick the bark to the bowl. Most times I turn off the CA anyways, since the CA is applied early on in the bowl process. I have not used CA in the finishing process. If you are doing that, the CA could stain the wood. To prevent that, I'd spray the edge with rattle can lacquer (I use Deft) where I will apply the CA. That prevents the CA from staining the wood. (Usually) The Deft can easily be sanded off with sandpaper. Finish normally with the WOP.

Hmm... I used it both during turning and immediately following. The wood was too wet to sand yet, so I applied extra CA to the bark and let it dry. I finished one of the two bowls today. The top of the bark has CA on it, but by the time I finished sanding there was very little on the rest of the surface. For this one, though I finished with oil (TY food-safe utility oil), so I won't know from it if the extra CA on top would cause issues with WOP.

I did run into a little of the staining you're talking about (even though I was being very careful while applying the CA to try and keep it only on the bark). I'll have to try your tip with lacquer.