Thread: CA-Super Glue, Finishing Hints and Tips

I prefer the finger cots or gloves to nothing. If you accidentally add too much CA it can burn your skin and I prefer to remove the glove in that case.

I would like to add onto Glen's idea of the tape lifting. I add a tongue depressor (cut smaller than the scales) between to give a little extra lift, it helps me to cover the sides better.

These were all done in about 1 hour, like I said this finish should take about 6 hours... 5 hours worth of applications and 1 hour of sanding and cutting...
(Please note that grit numbers are just suggestions)

The first 3 pics are at 320 grit, use very light pressure while sanding, it keeps the grit from cutting into the CA too deep...

As you can see from the pics the amount of shiny spots decreases as you move through the grits... Coming out of 320 at the most you should have is a few pin point sized spots still left..








Here, coming out of the 600 grit, there should be no spots left



And absolutely for sure none, at the 1000 grit range



This is after Fine steel wool, the finish is ready for Cutting and Wax now...



The moment of real truth comes after the cutting compound, any minuscule spot that you missed will show up in the finish as a dent... It is much easier to eliminate them below the 1000 grit range then after....

I did the Turtle Wax Liquid rubbing compound thrice on this set, followed by Ren-Wax twice...

Beautiful. Thanks for sharing that Glen.

Glen

That looks amazing. Really classy; understated but interesting and a remarkable transformation. Thank you so much. I can't wait to get that into my grubby little hands.

Claude

Originally Posted by Claude

Glen

That looks amazing. Really classy; understated but interesting and a remarkable transformation. Thank you so much. I can't wait to get that into my grubby little hands.

Claude

I thought it rather fitting that this one is going back across the pond to you Claude after all she is an Ole English Gal

Nice finish there G. Obviously reflective but more like an antique patina

Thanks Glen, great tips here!

What type of Gorilla glue have you found to work best, if you only want to use 1 type to do the job?

I just finished up two sets using Satellite's city's gap filling CA. It is a very thick gel. It took far less applications as one would expect and polished out great as well. For both sets I used super thin after an acetone wipe to soak it in nice and deep and then started the gel applications. I did a total of four layers of the gel with a 320 grit sanding in between 2 and 3. The drying time took a bit longer, but my active time was greatly reduced. I think the longer set time and the thickness of the gel combined quite well and it did a bit of self-leveling before setting.

I am working on my first set of wooden scales and still doing the CA but looking ahead to the wax step.

I have a few waxes for auto detailing, like caranuba and SynWax. Are these suitable? Or do I need something completely different?

I also have Flitz which I initially assumed would not be suitable because I think of it being for metal but it does say "Metal, Plastic, and Fiberglass" and it DID give my blade a mirror polish after working up to 2000 grit paper.

Has anybody tried any of these? Any suggestions or experience to share?

If not I'm up for giving them a go myself and posting the results. Shouldn't be too long before my scales are ready for them.