Dragon pen in snakewood
- Thread starter law_kid
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Herb G
Member
3 weeks until the "CRACK". Max. :frown:
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Jim15
Member
Looks awesome.
OZturner
Member
Excellent Pen Jim.
Glorious Blank, Well Fitted and Finished.
Great Match of Blank to Hardware.
Congratulations,
Brian.
Glorious Blank, Well Fitted and Finished.
Great Match of Blank to Hardware.
Congratulations,
Brian.
law_kid
Member
Is snakewood prone to cracking? Any way to avoid it?
Herb G
Member
thewishman
Member
With snakewood, I learned to turn the blank and set it aside and wait for it to crack. After it cracks, fill in the cracks with the shavings and sanding dust and thin CA glue. Then you can finish it and put the pen together.
Beautiful pen! Your choice of kit really looks good with that wood.
Beautiful pen! Your choice of kit really looks good with that wood.
Then it cracks again.
The tube will inevitably expend with the hand's warmth, or the sun, or the season, or whatsoever. The wood has to follow. Some woods are as flexible as glass and just can't expand. Snakewood is one of them. A wood for tubeless only...
Joe S.
Member
Is the Pope Catholic?
It is a shame though, that is a beautiful wood and it looks great on that kit! Amazing job!
PatrickR
Member
First, very nice pen!
Isn't cracking from a lack of proper seasoning? I have no experience with snake wood specifically but only see it sold coated in wax, so it is green. Not ready to use. Remove the wax from all but the end grain, let it sit for a year +. Then use it.
Isn't cracking from a lack of proper seasoning? I have no experience with snake wood specifically but only see it sold coated in wax, so it is green. Not ready to use. Remove the wax from all but the end grain, let it sit for a year +. Then use it.
leehljp
Member Liaison
Not always; not on some kinds of woods or materials, and snake wood is one that happens regardless.
I did some experimenting with a few blanks a few years ago, that did not have much design on them, so I wasn't wasting much. The experiment was to drill the hole with a drill bit a tiny bit larger than the recommended one and then use rubber epoxy to glue it in with the idea of allowing expansion and contraction. I did that when I was in Japan and got side tracked when I moved back to the States in 2011. I will see if I can find the blanks as I never made them into pens, just turned them into round shaped.
My thoughts were - since snake wood is so brittle and sensitive to humidity and heat changes, flex may be more important that solid. I think I used some rubber/flexible CA on one.
A helpful bit of information is to use calipers; get a good drill bit chart and get a set of 115 bits from HF along with a 25 - 30 bit set of metrics. Use the chart, find the bit that is a tiny bit larger than the recommended one and allow the wood to contract and expand naturally. The Snake wood contracts and expands less than most woods but it is highly intolerant of ANY external constrictions to its limited movement.
I should add that of about 14 or 15 snakewood blanks that I used, none were coated in wax and some set out for a couple of years before use. For those, it was not about seasoning. I do think that seasoning/natural drying could be a help. I can't remember exactly, but there was some discussion on snake wood and the subject of green/dry back around 2008 -2010 that was very detailed.
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PatrickR
Member
Thanks for the info. I'll look for that old thread. Maybe get a couple pieces for later use.
hcpens
Member
Would drilling a tube hole, then encasing the blank in Aluminite work?