CA glue as sealer
I beg to differ. I've been using CA for sealing/finishing for several years. Here are the techniques I use to make this work. IMHO it brings out curly grain and the contrasts in spalted wood *better* than anything else I've used, including penetrating oils. Wear breathing/eye protection and Nitrile gloves, because latex will not hold up to CA and the fumes are noxious in this quantity. CA glue is available on the net for about $30 per pint, so it's not prohibitively expensive, either.
1) Sand the piece to 400 grit (or whatever you like)
2) Before you apply the CA, tear off 2-3 sets of doubled-over paper towels from the roll and set aside for easy access. (CA sets quickly, so you must be prepared.)
3. Using medium thin (not thin) CA, FLOOD ONE ENTIRE SURFACE of the piece with the CA. If you don't flood the surface completely, it won't penetrate well enough and will leave "starved" spots. If you DO flood it, and rub it around in a random motion using your nitrile-gloved hand, it will penetrate nicely. Also, by flooding the surface thickly, it will resist setting for a longer time, just as if it were still in the container. Doing this in a cold room slows it down further. Using glue that has sat around with the cover off slows it down further still.
4. Make a quick pass over the surface using a random motion with the first paper towel to absorb much of the glue, then discard the towel right away. If you use the towel too long, the glue will "set" on the towel, and you will scratch the finish. Don't try to "spin dry" the piece. It adds heat, speeds up the rate of reaction and leaves streaks that can be difficult to get rid of.
5. Make a second pass over the surface with the second paper towel and discard it.
6. Made a third pass. This time, you can rub the glue a bit, but again, in a random motion.
7. Give it some time to dry, maybe 20 minutes. If the finish is acceptable you're done. If there are some rough spots due to the glue's not setting evenly, no problem. Just use a fresh piece of 400 grit sandpaper to knock the rough parts while on the lathe. The sorby sanding tool works well for this. Any streaks left by the rendom hand rubbing knock off quickly, unlike those left by the spin-dry rubbing method.
8. The piece is now sealed, because the flooding has given the CA enough time to penetrate beore setting and really strengthen the wood.
9. Apply any type of curing oil OVER the CA sealed wood, as you normally would. The curly grain and the spalting pops out better than any other finisihing method I've used, and it does not look like plastic as does an epoxy finiish, in my opinion. True, the oil does not penetrate the wood as you are used to, but so what? The CA has already penetrated. The oil just leaves a really nice surface and also blends any remaining surface irregularities and completely eliminates white spots leftover from the glue's setting.
10. I developed this technique because I turn a lot of winged and natural edge vessels, and I like to keep the bark on. I've never had a problem with the bark coming off. The CA finish also reduces cracking because the surface is strengthened. If you want, take a peek at
www.ericswoodart.com to see the results of this method. All the bark edged pieces were finished this way. It just takes some practice. Cherry works the best because the slight yellowing that most CA's produce is undetectable because of the tonality of the wood. If you try this, let me know how it works out.
