Nice. Glad to hear the details from one who has been around the block a time or 2.
And that rod finish I was eyeing up at mudds the other day. But like you I had fish eyes when I did wingbones.
I use to grain fill with ca. I did untill I had 2 calls where the ca after curing and after my topcoat got milky white in spots. I have no idea why. But it was a pain. And Ca did not do well for detailed areas.
So know after tips I got here I use sanding sealer to fill grain and its back to regular poly. But wipe on. Just seems the finish I like.
I love just the oil more but drying and the lack of a glass surface finally go to me.
There are 3 probable causes that come to mind immediately when I see someone dealing with the dreaded "milky white spots":
1) contaminated surface where the piece was pawed before or during the CA finishing process... I wipe everything down with acetone before applying CA, and am careful not to give into the temptation to touch it with my fingers to "see if it's dry yet" while I'm impatiently waiting the full 50 or 60 seconds before I can add the next coat.
2) moisture in the wood... if you're 100% sure the blank you were using was in fact dry, it's possible that you got water under the finish during wet sanding... sometimes you don't get complete coverage of all the wood's surface - especially in little decorative nooks and crannies - and if there is a hole, the water will find it.
3) Some oily woods can react with the CA and give you a cloudy finish.
A couple more little tid bits... CA finishes clouding up sometimes show up right away, but sometimes it can take 2 or 3 weeks to develop. If you develop white spots that are more than a little cloudiness, then the CA is probably lifting, which coincidentally, is most often (in my personal experience) caused be the same 3 reasons I mentioned above.
