CA finish

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Jan 8, 2010
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i just tried a CA finish on my knife scales and i have to say it was a disastrous failure! The glue turned all milky and had to be sanded off. What went wrong? i applied CA glue with a brush on my scales that had previously been treated with Danish oil.

help please

Jason
 
I have tried the cheap glue and got the same results. I went with some that cost quite a bit more and came in a larger bottle and it worked much better, no white film at all. I apply mine with the finger of a rubber or latex glove, get it smooth, let it dry and sand with steel wool. Recoat as needed to get the look you are looking for.

I don't know if you have a buffer, I use my car buffer (mounted in my vise) with buffing compound and they turn out pretty good.
 
A good CA applied in many thin coats is the ticket.
I apply the same way as mavrickarcher, with a nitrile glove.
Wipe the glue thin at once with the gloved finger.
No stopping when wiping, else you'll either leave a rough surface, or end up glued to your work...
Thick layers will turn white from humidity being aborbed from the air too much.
 
There are a number of threads here and on Google about CA or Super Glue finishes. I just did mine and got white spots on a couple of runs where I put too much on. I used a Q tip. I also read where "blowing" on it to make it dry more quickly will create white spots due to the moisture in your breath.

I also read where one maker puts down like 40 to 50 coats! I simply sanded down my nasty spots with 800 grit and put down another coat. I need to pick up some 0000 steel wool to finish it, but I think it came out pretty well. This is on raw, unfinished and unstabilized Walnut--IDK how putting it down over a previous finish would work.

Done1.jpg
 
I've been using the cheap CA superglue with great success after reading this tutorial: http://www.huntchat.com/showthread.php?t=47955

I have in the past had the finish turn milky but now I won't even breath near it during application, also let it cure for 24 hours after final application before sanding (wait until there is no odour).

I don't apply it over other finishes.
 
moisture is what causes whiteness like that. I've never used it as a finish but I work with plastics including cyanoacrylate for a living, particularly ones dissolved in solvents. breathing on it like what has been mentioned is bad but also moisture in the air can cause it as well as moisture on your work surface and probably even moist wood.

keep it in as dry an environment as you can while drying and make sure the surface of what you are gluing is dry as well. I would recommend using it under a warm lamp if you keep having whiteness problems. you don't need a crazy hot heat lamp, just a good warm bulb. if you do use a heat lamp make sure its not too hot or too close, you can get bubbles if you draw the solvent out of a solution like that too quickly. but "too hot" is a relative term, it is totally dependent on what you are drying, the solvent/solute ratio, thickness of the coating and especially how volatile the solvent is. cyanoacrylate glue uses a very volatile solvent so it doesn't need much heat.

also be careful of using heat guns or hair dryers, the moving air causes streaks, especially before the surface has dried out a bit and become more viscous.

at work I dry everything in either a low temperature laminar flow oven or a simple drying box you can make out of acrylic or lined with sheet metal (you can use wood lined with tinfoil if it doesn't get too hot) you just need to ventilate it with a small fan and dryer ducting. the light fixture is just one of those aluminum clip on dish lights stuck on the back (just cut out an appropriate sized hole), when I build them I usually just drill a few small holes in the box and fixture and zip tie them together. this should keep everything dry and warm, great for any paint, rubber coating etc. if you want an adjustable heat source attach a dimmer switch. just remember to monitor your temp if you use a high wattage bulb.
 
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ok thanks everyone. I did read that tut and looked this up on google before i tried it. I'm still not totally sure what happened but ill give it another try. has anyone ever used epoxy as a finish?
 
The Danish oil is the problem .You need to soak the wood in acetone to get rid of the oil and you may ruin the handle doing that now. . I would leave the handle the way it is put on several coats of tung oil rather than danish and then buff with a nice brown wax. The oil has soaked into the wood already and the glue is counter acting against the glue. I like true oil gun stock finish the best and tung oil second. Thats only if the wood is non stabilized. kellyw
 
I have used CA over boiled linseed oil without a problem. I had the same whiteness with the cheap superglue brand. I went with FSA Adhesive No.21990 from BOWMAN DISTRIBUTION/BARNES GROUP INC. I am not sure where you would get it up there. My suggestion would be to try another brand of CA. The one ounce bottles I use are around $30 but it goes on smooth without any white at all.

I do nothing different from the cheap superglue and this stuff has never turned white on me. It might be a bit thicker, that could be why it does so well.
 
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