Thread: CA and Fingers?

Originally Posted by RobertFontaine

I am not enjoying CA as a high gloss medium so far.

I'm thinking brushable poly would have given me good results with less hassle but I'm still trying.

Someone who has succeeded at this please tell me what the appeal of CA is?

-Bob

I've done pretty well with it. If done properly, you can get a glassy finish that looks deep. Maybe there's a better way to finish off wood scales, but I haven't found it, and I've tried several things. The poly might work, and some guy was using epoxy resin, which you can put on in much thicker coats. There's always another way, I guess, but I like CA.

I'll keep trying till I get i fingered out but so far not so good.

Originally Posted by RobertFontaine

I am not enjoying CA as a high gloss medium so far.

I'm thinking brushable poly would have given me good results with less hassle but I'm still trying.

Someone who has succeeded at this please tell me what the appeal of CA is?

-Bob

CA is water proof, hard and polishes up to a high gloss deep finish. I do most of my scales this way and really like it. It's easy to work with but you must take your time. Don't try to rush it. Once you get your technique down it will go smoothly. Don't apply a very thick coat, do thinner coats and let it dry between coats. Sand between coats so you don't have too many high spots to sand out in the end. I usually start with very thin CA for the first 2 or 3 coats. Then I use a medium CA for 4 to 6 coats. If there are any bad areas after the final polish, I use the thin stuff to fix it and then sand and polish again.... until I'm happy with it.
Oh, and make yourself a stand out of Popsicle STICKS to hold the scales. Cut the sticks and glue them into a "T" and glue the "T" to a board. Here is my old one: