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I am going to hopefully be using ziricote soon for a guitar. I am interested in flooding the back and sides with CA glue. How do you do it?

I know to do it outside and with a mask on. But do you pour a puddle on it and then spread it around with a squeegee of sorts? And do you do it on both sides of the piece of wood?

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Yes and yes. Use fresh thin CA, squirt from the bottle and spread the glue with a piece of scrap. It's only useful to do it once you're very close to the final thickness.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

If using thin that will wick into the cracks and pores, why would it not do much until final thickness?

Are there any issues with bending after CA'ing the sides?

Another thing you need to be aware of is finish adhesion . With CA , that will be very hard. Nitro , you will want to go no finer than 180 gret ,fog acetone on the body then hit it with the sealer . You will need to use Vinyl sealer for best results . Shellac will cause an adhesion issue with the CA technique. Once sealed you can fill , the seal again. Only this time after the cover seal , shoot a coat of lacquer while the sealer is still tacky . This will weld in the top coat for the best adhesion.
I have not done this with any other finish so I can't speculate on the urathanes and others.

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Polyester sticks; I know a luthier who uses CA as a seal coat before shooting PE.

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

I use a black nitrile (chem resistant) glove and just smear it around till it covers.

What is the purpose of flooding the wood with CA?

Makes that old cracky BRW less cracky...

The CA will wick in the pores and cracks, but not necessarily all the way through, or even very deep, especially with dense woods with small pores like ziricote. Bending with CA in the wood is extremely unpleasant because of the fumes. You shouldn't have any finish issue after flooding if you sand back to the wood, which you should do anyway.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

My finish guy has been playing with this stuff for a long time and was in charge of the CF Martin finish dept. He now is semi retired and while I am not the only guy using the CA he has run into issues with those of us using it. Most problems didn't show up for a few years. The CA penetrates a lot more than you may thing Laurent . That is why he suggests using a 180 sanding and acetone fogging. That gives the vinyl a better bite .
Since we have been doing this ,the issues are gone . Adhesion can get messed up in so many ways . I do use thin CA . May be that medium would be better but you won't get that wicking into the tiny cracks like thin will do.

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Several years ago, there was demonstration by Brian Burns (I think), at an NCAL meeting, where he used odorless medium-viscosity CA, and a credit card squeegee.

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https://soundcloud.com/jeffreylsuits/he ... -runnin-13

Resist the temptation to spread it around with a bit of paper towel- it soaks up the CA and gets hot. I recall quickly snapping off my glove with attached (hot) bit of paper towel attached....

As others have suggested, a bit of thin scrap or credit card work well.
I've done this to try to stablilze spalted stuff before sawing off slices for rosettes- the thinnest CA penetrates much better than even the medium-thin variety, so perhaps would be best for getting those 'invisible' cracks.

Cheers
John

Thanks for all the help guys.

While I was at Sergei de Jonge's course, he jokingly mentioned dipping BRW in a vat of CA to stablize it. I guess he was a little more serious than he let on!

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Here is a spalted buckeye/mahogany tele body I flooded to prevent crumbling of the spalted wood. In fact in a couple places the edges(near the cutaway) are built up CA- I used tape as a dam. Then, built the finish with wipe on poly. Not something I would do on a real fine piece-this was rescue application at this extreme.( I have to reduce-back with an edit-sorry)[url][URL=http://s85.photobucket.com/albums/k65/edmunds4bar/electrics/?action=view&current=DSC_0002-4.jpg][/url][/url]

I spread the CA with a fingertip. Is there a reason I'm not supposed to be doing that?

No problem as long as you can resist 'the urge to scratch'.....

Seems the heat would be a problem.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Or use the restroom.

Actually I've noticed no "heat" doing the the CA with a fingertip filling ebony.

Bringing back to the top of the page.

I use wax paper to spread the CA when filling pores. Works perfect and the CA doesn't stick to the wax paper. I usually fold the wax paper in half then wrap it over a "credit card".

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I bent a set of mad rose last year that bent fine and seemed fine immediately afterwards. But a couple of days later the rims started splintering. I soaked the rims with thin ca and had no more issues. I spread the ca with a wadded up paper towel.

I'm working on a set of spalted mango now. That wood has to be a bit oversize because it shrinks as it absorbs the ca.

Ken

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