Snakewood Cigar

[Woodnknots]

Here's my first experience with Snakewood. So far, I like the look, but it is a pain to drill and turn without cracking. It sure does finish nice, though. I also did a cigar in Jatoba (brazilian cherry) as well (first time with that, as well, I've used it for furniture, but not turning. Turns well, it would seem).

 

[Gary Max]

Both pens look great---the snakewood is outstanding---good job.

 

[MDWine]

Very nice, I'm glad to see the Jatoba!
I can't wait to cut up some of the Jatoba I have.

That snake doesn't look half bad either! Well done!

 

[rtjw]

Snakewood is absolutely fantastic

 

[swm6500]

Those are a couple of nice looking pens Dave. Love the snakewood.

 

[DCBluesman]

Great work, Dave!

 

[cigarman]

That snakewood looks great and the other is only fantastic.

 

[PenWorks]

Very nice Dave, I love snakewwod. I have been putting a CA finish on mine, in hopes of keeping it from splitting. Also CA the ends real ggod. Great job

;

 

[darbytee]

Great looking pens, Dave. Love the snakewood.

 

[JimGo]

Dave, they both look fantastic! The snakewood really lives up to its name! And I have some Jatoba on order from Ryan at WoodTurningz, so I'm glad to see what it looks like (they have it listed on their specials page)!

 

[Fleabit]

That snakewood is a great looking wood. Nice job on both pens.

 

[WoodChucker]

They both look great, nice job!

 

[driften]

Love the snakewood.... I have two blanks of it also and was going to put on a Cigar and now I know what it will look like in advance! Any tips on keeping it from cracking? I heard its hard to do and you did a nice job on yours!

 

[Tom McMillan]

Very nice looking pens!!!

 

[Woodnknots]

Originally posted by driften
<br />Love the snakewood.... I have two blanks of it also and was going to put on a Cigar and now I know what it will look like in advance! Any tips on keeping it from cracking? I heard its hard to do and you did a nice job on yours!

I found that drilling it is where the problems can occur. The drill bit got extremely hot in very short order @600rpm. I think that this can be alleviated with a much slower drilling speed. I also noted that my tools needed to be EXTRA sharp or else I was getting nowhere fast with the shaping. I ground them and then stropped them till they were scary sharp. I actually did crack the blank while drilling, but I used acetone on the inside, and then epoxied it well, in the hopes that the epoxy would keep attached to the tube, thus preventing more cracking. I also used a BLO/CA finish in the hopes of that helping, as well. I think that the extra attention in the sharpening of my tools also paid off, because I did not make the crack worse during the turning process. Unless you know exactly where the crack is, you won't see it. I hope it stays that way. I'll hold it for a couple of weeks to see, before I put it on sale.

 

[Ben]

Originally posted by daveturns05
<br />Here's my first experience with Snakewood. So far, I like the look, but it is a pain to drill and turn without cracking. It sure does finish nice, though. I also did a cigar in Jatoba (brazilian cherry) as well (first time with that, as well, I've used it for furniture, but not turning. Turns well, it would seem).

<br />

<br />

Hi there. I'm pretty darn new to the community, but I have tried a couple of things already with finicky woods. I have very recently, successfully penetrated the center of a 3/4" X 5 1/2" blank with laquer based sanding sealer.I was able to achieve this by submersing it in a 1QT. glass jar filled with the sanding sealer that was placed inside a Foodsaver Brand 2 QT. vacuum seal canister.( I bought it at Wal-Mart for less than $10.)
I then vacuum sealer the canister with my handy dandy Foodsaver and watched the bubbles (or should I say froth) rise to the top. The sanding sealer enters the wood as all of the air is coaxed out of the wood by the intense vacuum. ( a Foodsaver brand vacuum sealer will actually pull 24" of vacuum at sea level. Not too bad!) I leave my blanks in the homemade vacuum chamber for at least 24hrs, then I take them out carefully (after I release the vacuum on the canister) and air dry them for at least 3-5 days.I like to smell them to see if they still have that "laquer" sort of smell, but I'm just weird...
You'll know if they're still wet inside when you cut the blanks down, or when you drill. I recently drilled a piece of Lacewood(or Leopardwood depending on who you ask) and the chips that came erupting out of the center of the blank were still wettish and smelled like the sanding sealer. I let them dry for a couple of more days, because they obviously needed it.I have them currently glued up ready to turn, but that's a whole new story...
Anyway this may prevent some of your cracking problems, but I'm not entirely sure. As far as appearances are concerned they look and feel like a "stabilized" piece of wood, and from what folks advertise, the only kind of blanks "you ought to be turnin" are "stabilized" blanks... I would give it a shot and post your resluts. So far I have only tried it with buckeye burl, lilac root burl, lacewood, and a piece of quilted sapele that I'm dying to make into a Baron or Statesman. I can't hurt to try it with the Snakewood. By the way, VERY NICE JOB ON THESE TWO BEAUTIES! I guess now I'm supposed to say &lt; "that's just my 2cent$."


Take care,

Ben C.
bchavez@unr.edu.

 

[driften]

I have read that snakewood can not be "stabilized". I don't think in that case the vacuume and sanding sealer would work for that, but who knows!

 

[Woodnknots]

Originally posted by driften
<br />I have read that snakewood can not be "stabilized". I don't think in that case the vacuume and sanding sealer would work for that, but who knows!

The snakewood grain is very close tight (hence the friction heat when drilling it) and full of natural oils. I doubt the vacuum would work either. I have tried poly as a stabilizer, it didn't work all that well (tried the vacuum trick). I hadn't thought of sanding sealer, I'll have to check that out. BTW, what DO they (the pro's) use to stabilize blanks???

 

[Rudy Vey]

Originally posted by daveturns05
<br />

Originally posted by driften
<br />I have read that snakewood can not be "stabilized". I don't think in that case the vacuume and sanding sealer would work for that, but who knows!

The snakewood grain is very close tight (hence the friction heat when drilling it) and full of natural oils. I doubt the vacuum would work either. I have tried poly as a stabilizer, it didn't work all that well (tried the vacuum trick). I hadn't thought of sanding sealer, I'll have to check that out. BTW, what DO they (the pro's) use to stabilize blanks???

I had sent some Snakewood blanks to Steve and Carol White of River Ridge. Steve reported that the Snakewood can not be stabilized since it is very dense and he did not see any weight gain, which for him is the proof that not a single resin molecule entered the wood.

Rudy
SE Mi

 

[Woodnknots]

I made another snakewood tonight, as I had a couple "students" that wanted to see some of the finer points of turning, and finishing. I switched the top and bottom tube order on the mandrel, thus completely ruining what was to be a VERY nice pen!! Imagine my embarrassment in front of these guys. I wound up giving the assembled cigar to one of them for the cost of material. I can't have a pen like that anywhere near me, because it is to much of an aggravation, so it seemed like the right thing to do. he wanted it, and I can't stand looking at it. It was funny, after I got done being pi@@ed off, though.

 

[Daniel]

I've heard alot about boiling snakewood to prep it. most of this I heard on the Yahoo group. I think they even have some of it in there files section.