CA finish and Polish - A must?

[Jim Eller]

I think I will try the cottonball thing next time on one half to see how it compares to just ending with 12000 MM.

Thanks to all. JimE

[Peter Fabricius]

Sanding a pen after the application of CA is a real pain. Here is a method that requires no sanding. Developed by Bill Young and his short video has been watched 50,000 times. Lots of happy campers with this technique. I have used this method for all my pens and it works great. I hope it will work for you.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=orcgOf4siqc

Peter F.

[Marty Tippin]

Sanding a pen after the application of CA is a real pain. Here is a method that requires no sanding. Developed by Bill Young and his short video has been watched 50,000 times. Lots of happy campers with this technique. I have used this method for all my pens and it works great. I hope it will work for you.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=orcgOf4siqc

Peter F.

I watched the video and the method makes no sense to me. After the first coat of CA is applied, the wood is effectively encased in CA, so the subsequent coats of BLO aren't doing anything to the wood at all, and I'll bet they don't interact with the (already catalyzed) CA below or the new layer of CA above. I'm no chemist, so maybe I'm missing something.

[Bill Boehme]

A lot of polishes look great until you look at the results critically in bright sunlight. The most important thing to keep in mind when using Micromesh is to follow the same rule that you follow when using regular sandpaper: Remove all scratches from the previous grit before advancing to the next finer grit. If you don't do that, you'll never achieve a scratch-free finish.

Concerning auto polishes, most contain various formulations of waxes that typically includes carnauba. Wax hides scratches, but they are still there and I don't care to write with a slippery pen.

[Jim Eller]

A lot of polishes look great until you look at the results critically in bright sunlight. The most important thing to keep in mind when using Micromesh is to follow the same rule that you follow when using regular sandpaper: Remove all scratches from the previous grit before advancing to the next finer grit. If you don't do that, you'll never achieve a scratch-free finish.

Concerning auto polishes, most contain various formulations of waxes that typically includes carnauba. Wax hides scratches, but they are still there and I don't care to write with a slippery pen.

Bill,

I do as you indicated and go through each MM grit and am astonished by the shine in any light. I wet sand by using a little glue bottle of water and towels or paper over the lathe bed. Never tried using them dry. Thanks. JimE

[Joe Ruden]

I use a product called PlastiX which is an automotive product used for headlights. I have never had an issue with it on my pens.

[Belton Garvin]

I wet sand with MM up to 12000 stopping the lathe every 3 grits to sand parallel to the lathe bed. It seems to help in reducing the rings that get imbedded during sanding. I also use the Plast-X with great success but even take it another step. I'm not sure if it really helps but I apply renaissance wax after the Plast-X and find that it dramatically reduces the fingerprints left behind...but I don't think it really makes it any shinier.