CA Glue Finish

[jpalex]

Thought I'd throw out to you all a bit learning experience from the other day. I was refinishing an old hammer and the wood was a bit soft in places. After sanding down to 320 I applied liquid CA glue to the stock, wiped off immediately and proceeded with that process for a good ten rounds. After that a final quad 0 steel wool and it came out beautiful. The wood hardened up and color deepened to the look of the age I was after. Superglue is a CA glue, you need to use the liquid, never let it puddle up and dry in the process.
Good luck.

[international3414]

I WOULD like to see a picture?,i have some old hammers,i might try it,not sure what ca is.

[jpalex]

Cyanoacrylate, common name would be CA Glue. I used some left over that I had bought for securing some lose dowels in chairs. The brand name I used was "Tite Chairs", works like a champ for the intended use. I researched a bit to find out it's pretty popular with the crowd that turns pens with exotic woods. They use it will the pen stock is still on the lathe. Google it, youtube it, lots of talk on it.

[OilyRascal]

Ditto the desire for pictures!

[johnsironsanctuary]

The guys that turn spalted wood on lathes use it to stabilize rotten wood. It can be unpleasant if a bowl comes apart while you are turning it.

[Jim C.]

Thought I'd throw out to you all a bit learning experience from the other day. I was refinishing an old hammer and the wood was a bit soft in places. After sanding down to 320 I applied liquid CA glue to the stock, wiped off immediately and proceeded with that process for a good ten rounds. After that a final quad 0 steel wool and it came out beautiful. The wood hardened up and color deepened to the look of the age I was after. Superglue is a CA glue, you need to use the liquid, never let it puddle up and dry in the process.
Good luck.

You have my interest!  Can you post a couple pictures of the finished hammer handle?

Jim C.

[scottg]

Lathe guys have been in love with it for some time. You can have a finish in seconds instead of coat after coat of traditional finish. You have to be careful about splashes and such though and man it stinks if you are around it much!
  Only the thinnest CA glue soaks into rotten wood very well. Neither med nor thick will penetrate much.

 I use regular nitrocellulose lacquer myself. Since it redily thins with lacquer thinner I just make it real watery and spoon or eyedropper it on.  2 or 3 of these. Then mix it a bit thicker for more coats. Finally approaching full strength. And top coats of full strength too  It will soak in really deep and harden more than just the surface this way.
  Lacquer also stinks to high heaven!! Whoo hoo
  Do it outside and wear a real painters mask
 
  Shellac will work the exact same way. Smells like whiskey, you got to love that.
 But shellac is not quite as hard as lacquer.

 The West System epoxy company makes penetrating epoxy. This is really good but it costs almost as much as custom color "show car" paint.  About the most expensive product on the market. Lacquer or shellac are dirt cheap in comparison. Not that either is free for a poor boy like me, mind you, but more reasonable.

 All these thing take a lot of work, all of them, so it better be a damn special piece of wood! 
 This is what the inside of a rotten old apple tree stump looks like. ;)
  yours Scott

 PS This tote is a size 8 1/2 - 9 tote. Sawmakers usually size the handle in proportion to the size of the blade, and not to anyone's hand.  I made this one to fit me.
 I have carved totes for saws, planes and several other tools to fit many different hands. Its not that hard to resize your pattern. There are a couple other guys finally getting the message now, and tool handles are finally changing.
  You should have always been able to order totes in your glove size.
  That "one size fits none" routine is tiresome.