CA is ok for small items/
Wear a good respirator btw. Better yet, assisted air.
Turtle wax won't cut it.
You need good speed and good compounds.
Finishing/Clearcoat J/P's and small items
- Thread starter Dirtbmw20
- Start date
CA is ok for small items/
Wear a good respirator btw. Better yet, assisted air.
Turtle wax won't cut it.
You need good speed and good compounds.
Thanks Danny. I got the PM and will certainly have to give that method a try on the next set I make. I'll be sure to let you know my results.
Thanks Joey. CA is ok for small items IF I ever figure it out and get it down,lol. And yes, I've noticed the fumes coming from the CA, I'm in a well ventilated area although I probably should wear a mask also. I will check into the compounds you mentioned and try them, the turtle wax is a polishing compound, not wax, it was laying around the house so I thought I would at least try it.
Sweeeeeet !!! If I could get the finish on my j/p's to look that good, I'de be happy.
I apply 2 coats of the sealer
Then 5/6 coats of the gloss
Wait a week, sand to 1200
Then wet sand to 2000
Polish with system v then done
I just found that the west 105/207 hardens better.
The waterborne is a tad soft
And you brush that on ?? Do you do the sealer and gloss all in the same day and do you do the 5/6 coats of gloss all in one day too or do you sand it and then another coat ?
I use to have a nice Badger airbrush and sold it on ebay several years ago, now I wish I had it back,lol. From the instructions on Joe's website, it says it can be brushed or sprayed on, with spraying being the best method.
I just brush it with a small foam brush.
I do the sealer one day and the gloss over a couple days, very light sanding with 400 if it's been longer than a couple hours between coats, just to texture the gloss a bit.
CA is great for finishing small items and it's fantastic for finishing cues as well; that is assuming you can master the technique. Some can, most can't and that makes the world go round.
If you can't figure it out, call me Thursday or Friday and I'll give you the specifics to make it work. It really is simple.
If you can't figure it out, call me Thursday or Friday and I'll give you the specifics to make it work. It really is simple.
I'll have to give Joe a call and order some, looks like it may be easy enough for me,lol.
I'm gonna try a few other different things with the CA that Danny and Joey mentioned also.
Thanks once again for all the help and knowledge.
Thanks so much Joe, what a very nice gesture. I'm gonna give it a few more tries, nothing to lose and nothing but knowledge to gain by trying. You may hear from me by the end of the week though,lol. :smile:
J/p's
One piece of advise I will throw out. Make your finish extra thick. Small
objects are hard to sand and burn thru is common. A little extra margin
for error will go a long way. Like any finish job, it's the prep that counts.
No matter which of the finishes you use. The better the prep, the better
the finished product.
One piece of advise I will throw out. Make your finish extra thick. Small
objects are hard to sand and burn thru is common. A little extra margin
for error will go a long way. Like any finish job, it's the prep that counts.
No matter which of the finishes you use. The better the prep, the better
the finished product.
Thanks Steve. Advise noted. I will have to say that I bought a set of j/p's from you several months ago for my Coker and the finish on that set of j/p's is second to none, they shine just as good as the cue and the finish IS THICK. I've always been extremely fond of your work, so any other advise you wanna throw out, be my guest,lol.
Must be car finish.
If you don't have a detail gun and a compressor, you might want to check Preval.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Preval-Spra..._Automotive_Tools&hash=item27c9049475&vxp=mtr
Non UV protective auto clear coat are pretty cheap from the local auto supply store.
West System 105-207 epoxy is also a good option as Darcy mentioned.
Countless cue makers use that as basecoat .
There are far better compounds available, but here are 2 that I get acceptable results from when rubbing out Ca, and They are readily available at most auto parts stores. I use them after going all the way down through My various grit papers to bring the shine out.
The other Pictures of the cue are a little fuzzy, and the lighting is bad, so they look much better in person, but It gives the basic Idea of how well It polishes the stuff. This Player cue (not high dollar collectible cue) was done using a epoxy base, and a CA top cote.
The other pictures are of a make shift sanding block that I made from some aluminum angle for leveling out the bed of the finish. I lined up and stuck some adhesive backed lengths of thin weatherstripping that I had lying around from another project to the inside angle. It is wide enough that I can use the edges of It to get a grip on without getting My fingers into the cue, it also allows me to easily hold the paper in place while sanding.
I used 2 types, I started with a thin viscosity, then used a gel to build up several cotes of thickness, then follow with the thin over the top to help fill any low spots. I sand making sure that I don't sand through, If I still have valleys that's ok, I just clean well with acetone, let dry, then do some more cotes of Ca. After the second session I usually have enough to level the bed of the finish out, and have no valleys left. CA can be tricky to work with until You get the hang of it, but what I can tell You is that all CA is not the same, some work better then others for this, and are more durable then others as well. You just got to find what works best for ya. With that said, regardless of which side of the fence someone is on when it comes to using this stuff, The types that I use are not cost effective, and in the long haul, It is much cheaper per cue to use auto clear. For small projects Like JP's or pens maybe not as expensive to use.
The other Pictures of the cue are a little fuzzy, and the lighting is bad, so they look much better in person, but It gives the basic Idea of how well It polishes the stuff. This Player cue (not high dollar collectible cue) was done using a epoxy base, and a CA top cote.
The other pictures are of a make shift sanding block that I made from some aluminum angle for leveling out the bed of the finish. I lined up and stuck some adhesive backed lengths of thin weatherstripping that I had lying around from another project to the inside angle. It is wide enough that I can use the edges of It to get a grip on without getting My fingers into the cue, it also allows me to easily hold the paper in place while sanding.
I used 2 types, I started with a thin viscosity, then used a gel to build up several cotes of thickness, then follow with the thin over the top to help fill any low spots. I sand making sure that I don't sand through, If I still have valleys that's ok, I just clean well with acetone, let dry, then do some more cotes of Ca. After the second session I usually have enough to level the bed of the finish out, and have no valleys left. CA can be tricky to work with until You get the hang of it, but what I can tell You is that all CA is not the same, some work better then others for this, and are more durable then others as well. You just got to find what works best for ya. With that said, regardless of which side of the fence someone is on when it comes to using this stuff, The types that I use are not cost effective, and in the long haul, It is much cheaper per cue to use auto clear. For small projects Like JP's or pens maybe not as expensive to use.
Attachments
Finish
I have used the sealer and clearcoat from Joe at CC for a couple of years now and it has worked out very well for ME...It's very simple to do, won't run the wife out of the house, buffs out like a chrome bumber - super shinney, comes with all the info needed to use....It is not as hard as CA or epoxy, but I would rather have a dent in a cue than a piece of finish that chipped out because of the hardness, it's easier to me to fix at a later date...Just my 2 cents....
And after they set a day or so I buff on an 18" low speed buffer, then wax with Carnuba, works wonders ...
I have used the sealer and clearcoat from Joe at CC for a couple of years now and it has worked out very well for ME...It's very simple to do, won't run the wife out of the house, buffs out like a chrome bumber - super shinney, comes with all the info needed to use....It is not as hard as CA or epoxy, but I would rather have a dent in a cue than a piece of finish that chipped out because of the hardness, it's easier to me to fix at a later date...Just my 2 cents....
And after they set a day or so I buff on an 18" low speed buffer, then wax with Carnuba, works wonders ...
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The body shop down the street has been shooting the few I've made...same finish: Auto clearcoat.
-Jason
Everyone has their own preferences, and depending on what one uses or how they go about things results can vary. I think the main thing is that the finish protects the cue regardless of what type someone prefers. It's nice for looks too of coarse. there are several finishes out there that work well enough.
I do a lot of repair work, and have touched up all sorts of finishes. For me I'm just the opposite, and I prefer a hard finish, because It seems to be much easier to fix a chip out then a dent in a cue to me. Not to repair physically per say, but rather to get a decent blend. A dent in wood tends to show through the clear cote if I simply try to fill them, and sometimes if I try to feather the wood in to blend the edges of the dent then that can discolor that spot and make It stand out. Ca is hard enough to chip out, but I have seen other softer finishes do the same thing, probably more due to issues during prep then anything, but I have seen many different finishes chip out. I have seen epoxy cues, as well as a whole spectrum of finishes that were so bad, it was like pulling a string on a cloth when you try to prep the spot to touch it up, It just kept getting larger and larger, In some cases it was busting loose all over the cue to the point that the entire cue needed refinished. again I believe to be the result of a bad prep job, something can could happen with almost any finish given the same circumstances. I also like a hard finish specifically because It does protect the cue from denting. I can always refinish a cue, but can't put more wood back unless I steam It or fill It.For this reason I will be using auto clear in the future. The Ca has just been something that I could apply By hand for the time being.
I'm not an advocate for Ca, I feel there are better finishes out there, but there are much worse as well IMO, and It does actually protect the cue that's underneath pretty well. I have 2 cues in My personal case with CA finishes that are over 6 years old, and have been used every week since they were built. One of them has a small chip at the edge of the shaft face but that was My own fault, and is an easy fix. I have beat them off of metal chairs, probably whatever else You can imagine, and It did not chip the butt caps or sleeves Like Ca has a bad rep for, a deserving one though, because It is something that can and does happen, but that varies between products and the methods that are used.. If the cue is not overly abused the finish holds up fairly well enough for me. With that said I didn't get to this point without a few hiccups. I had some chip outs on a earlier cue that I built for a friend when I was learning to use the stuff, although he was extremely hard on the cue. Still yet the finish protected the cue underneath, and I was able to repair the spots without a total refinish. I had another shaft, actually the only one that ever spider-ed on Me, but I think I got the finish a little too thick on that one, and It was dropped on a hard tile floor. I have several cues out there with ca on them though that are holding up as well as most other finishes I see do. There are a lot of different brand and type Ca's out there though, and as I said before they don't all have the same characteristics. Some are more brittle then others, and don't stick as well. There's also a fine line on how thick to go with it. Some are harder to apply too because of their tendency to whiten, as where others are a little more forgiving in that area.
Anyhow I understand the reasoning. I use to feel the same way, and preferred a dent over a chip out, but now My prep skills have changed when repairing them, so I have better luck blending them, and I'll take the chip out over the dent if I'm the one doing the repair, that is as long as It's not a major error in the original prep that is causing It, and a can of worms is not waiting to open up on me.
Since you are doing little projects have you thought of using clear enamel fingernail polish.it is thick,covers well and dries quickly.sand between coats for smoothness then polish out.or top coat with a clear enamel spray bomb.
bill
Thanks for the link Joey, that's interesting, never seen or heard of them before. I have VERY LIMITED knowledge of ANY clear coats, but I will have to do some research on the link you provided, looks like that could be perfect for small jobs. Thanks again for your help and contribution to my question.