Thread: I HATE CA!!!

IMHO CA holds no advantages over Polyurethane other than curing time. All the same effects are achievable and it's way more forgiving with respect to imperfections. I personally use spray-on Poly for scales after sealing and pore filling, but the wipe-on product Glen raves about is every bit as good. Drying time for unexceptional woods under my exhaust hood is about 2 hours for a light coat, 5 for a heavy one, 6 for brush on poly.

On a side note, some people claim thin inhibitted CA is better than poly because it penetrates the wood more (I say inhibitted since the regular thin CA has a tendency to cure before it has time to penetrate). If you dilute your first coat of poly with varsol about 5:2 it will soak right in. Or just use the CA for the first coat.

The main reason I started with CA was because I was working with spalted woods and needed a cost effective way to stabilize it.

I use it now because it is waterproof and durable. With that said, it is a royal PITA!

I finally figured out to put on several thin coats before sanding, then add more. I use a paper towel to use as a "brush" to avoid the latex sticking issue.


v/r

Allen

Love/hate

As for using a paper-towel as an applicator....

I tear off a small piece of paper towel, then cut the edge to get a clean edge (less frays to get in the CA). The width of the scrap is only about an inch.

I then apply the CA heavily to the piece and use the scrap of towel to event spread it and eliminate drips/runs. The CA will soak into the edge of the towel some and I spread it quickly before it dries/hardens.

I use only a scrap at a time per coat since the CA will harden on the towel and it becomes unusable.

As another note, I will drill the tang pin hole before coating. I then put a tooth-pick in the hole to act as a handle while applying the CA. Between coats, I have a block of wood with a small hole drilled in it, so I set the toothpick in the hole in the block to hold the piece while drying. Once I am done coating them, I just snap off the toothpick and carefully re-drill the hole. Repeat as needed!

Hope that helps....

v/r

Allen