ideas on how to hold a ring on lathe for CA finish

Get yourself some spray silicon. I believe that will solve your problem????

-- Lizardhead---Yeah but it's a dry heat--Tempe, Az

Rap a piece of wax paper on your mandrel and slip your ring over it to hold the paper down, should work on just about any finish you plan to use.

The problem with using most anything that will prevent the CA from making the bond to the mandrel is that it would also take away from the friction fit. Be careful using a device that holds by pressing out because on small objects they can easily break. Compressing from the outside is better as it will be compressing the ring against itself. The best way would be a scroll chuck and flat plate with rubber holders. You could finish one half and then turn it around to do the other half. But you may not have such a tool.

-- Website is finally up and running....www.woodandwrite.com

Thanks for the replies lizardhead, lukcon, DAllen… I agree, DAllen, that compressing from the outside would be great, and I do have a scroll chuck so I could probably fashion something. The only thing would be the potential of gluing the ring then to the holder, as they are not that wide, and trying to only finish 1/2 of something pretty narrow would be difficult.

I think I’ll try the wax paper – I should still be able to get a good friction fit for the application (it just needs to be snug, I probably won’t do the sanding with the wax paper in place). Then, I guess, I’ll just have to tear and sand the wax paper off the ring. I’m not sure if the silicon will work, but I’ll give it a shot too. I’d worry that it would provide too permanent of a slippery surface to the mandrel.

Thanks for the ideas guys… off to the shop!