Thread: Help applying CA

I got two small bottles of Hot Stuff (CA) from woodcraft today and figured I'd ask in the forums before trying to use it to coat some scales. How do you guys apply the stuff? Brush on? Just pour out of the bottle? What works best, precautions? Warnings?

All help appreciated

Well, CA is really tricky stuff, IMHO. What I do is to get a bunch of vinyl or latex gloves, and cut the fingers off to use as "finger condoms." I then suspend the scales horizontally in the air (some use dowel, some use 3-inch pieces of brass rod in Styrofoam), run a small bead of CA down the middle, and immediately spread it out with my finger in the "finger condom." You'll have to do a fair number of thin coats though. After about 4-5 coats, a very light sanding with high-grit paper (400+), then another 3 coats, wet sanding with high-grit wet sandpaper (600+) under a stream of water, and then a final finish coat.

For the inside of the scales, I do two coats just to seal out the water, and try to get it reasonably smooth. If I have to I'll very lightly sand, and do a third coat to make sure everything looks good.

Some precautions - use in a well ventilated area - some say that the fumes are toxic. The other thing to look out for is that if you put CA on a paper towel, and then in the garbage, it can burst into flame - the heat CA generates while curing is enough to ignite some materials.

That said, I've since given up on CA and am moving towards wipe-on Poly, and/or Tung oil with Renaissance / Restoration Wax. Same amount of effort and time, but with more consistent results. The only real downside is that the CA gives an uber shiny appearance, while the others are more of a semi-gloss.

Hope that helps,
Mark