workinforwood
Member
This is Banana chips cast in a vanilla/strawberry mix. Not the most difficult turn I ever did, but not far from it. I am so used to turning fast, but these can not be turned fast, so the first blank I blew to pieces. They had to be spun down, then thin CA soaked in to the bananas, then spin some more then glue some more and that along with a very sharp chisel and very light cuts gave me a really cool pen! I was rather surprised at the blanks I made. I pulled them out of the pot and they looked pretty normal and cured just fine. I had them sitting on the work bench. The next day the work bench was all wet under the blanks. I wiped it up wondering what was up. Then when I cut a blank in half, the end of the blank, oil started pouring out of the bananas. When I drilled it, that was no problem but the blank was full of oil inside. Had to run a paper towel through the blank before glueing it. All that oil had me nervous about making the pen in the first place, but it was no issue with applying a CA finish over it. I have a theory that the banana compressed into the center of the banana pieces and then when un-pressurized, the bananas that were exposed released the pent up oil. When cut, same thing. Very bizarre. I had planned on making some extra's for Dawn, but being a difficult blank to spin, I am not sure if I should. It's not as difficult as turning chip board, but certainly comparable to turning pasta blanks.
