Sanding before CA finish question

[Trent Mason]

Well, in light of some of the recent threads, I have a question. :gar-La;

Tonight I turned a pen out of walnut and for the first time, I used a few of my micro mesh sanding pads that I bought at WC two weeks ago. Supposedly, these pads go from 1500 to 12,000 grit. All of the pads are a different color, but I was unable to find a chart to match the corresponding colors to the grits. :dontknow: They came in two stacks and I think I was able to determine the order of grit by running my finger across each pad in the stacks. So I started with the lowest one, sanded, went to the next and sanded again. (before this, I had sanded up to 600) On each of the first two micro mesh pads I saw sawdust on the pad when I was done. On the third, however, I didn't notice any sawdust. Not sure if I got the order wrong, but either way, that wood was SMOOTH. So I decided to apply CA to finish after that.

I know that with other finishes, you can sand to such a fine grit that it makes the finish unable to sink in/adhere to, because it doesn't have anything to grip, etc. I didn't know if that was possible with CA glue though... :eusa_thin After I applied the first coat (a little heavy), I waited almost an hour and parts of it still looked wet, but the parts that looked dry looked completely unfinished. :icon_scra

I was using "medium" CA glue (not sure exactly what it's called, the orange label). It was the bottle Skeeter gave me and it has been in my shop since. The temperature in my shop has not gotten below 50 degrees or so, even during the recent cold snap, so I don't know that that is a factor. Also the humidity has not changed much.

I didn't have time to apply a second coat or wait for the first one to dry all the way as I had to get home. Just wanted to pick your brains about it. Sorry about writing a short novel about this but I wanted to include every detail that I could. :icon_thum

Thanks,

 

[FredP]

I sand all through the grits with MM then do a couple or 6 coats of thin ca. then I sand with the grain with the first 2 or 3 grits to remove all the glue lines. then i apply another 2 coats of thin CA and go through all the MM grits. then wax and buff. If you only did 1 coat of med CA you probably sanded through the finish and you maybe put it on too thick. CA does have a shelf life. :icon_thum

 

[Ken Massingale]

What Fred Said!

I keep my CA in the shop fridge, last a long time. I've stuck my fingers together with 18 month old CA.

 

[Trent Mason]

If you only did 1 coat of med CA you probably sanded through the finish and you maybe put it on too thick.

Fred,

I didn't sand after I put on the coat of CA. I just put it on after finishing sanding with the MM (I did dust it off first).


Ken,

This may be a stupid question, but do you really put your CA glue in the fridge? :icon_scra

 

[FredP]

i'm not ken but refrigerating it extends the shelf life. you may try hitting it with accelerator if it doesn't want to dry. if it doesn't set with accelerator then it's probably gone bad. acetone will take it off.