Snakewood Sierra

[PenWorks]

Well everthing went as planned.....
cut and oiled these Friday night....
by Saturday they had all cracked, GREAT !
Filled in the crackes and finished, hopefully that's it for the cracking [:0]

Oh, and some free wood from BB, Thuya burl & curly Koa

 

[wdcav1952]

Dammit Anthony, I just drilled a piece of snake wood for a Sierra since I hadn't seen one. Not only do you trump me, yours look so good I likely won't even show mine! Nice work, as usual.

 

[PenWorks]

William, hurry up and turn it, the sooner you turn it, the sooner it will crack []
Then you can finish it, and show it off []
This photo is kinda of lousy, a quikie, but two are real light and two are real dark.

 

[Tea Clipper]

That snakewood sure looks nice Anthony! I just hope it doesn't crack on you further.
Good job! []

 

[woodpens]

Originally posted by PenWorks
Well everthing went as planned.....
cut and oiled these Friday night....
by Saturday they had all cracked, GREAT !
Filled in the crackes and finished, hopefully that's it for the cracking [:0]

I like your attitude, Anthony! You're experienced enough not to expect Snakewood not to crack. You accept it as a fact and keep on trucking. Your pens are beauties!

 

[angboy]

I like that outlook Anthony- include cracking as part of the plan, then you aren't disappointed when it does! Although I wonder if you would have been disappointed if it didn't? []

Anyway, they are very nice looking pens. They show a nice variability that snakewood comes in!

 

[PenWorks]

Originally posted by angboy
<br /> Although I wonder if you would have been disappointed if it didn't? []

Kinda yes, I made two closed end Statesmen in Snakewood, the tops have allready cracked, but the pen bodies being a bit thicker have not. Anyone know of the best way to INDUCE cracking []

Thanks for the comments

 

[its_virgil]

I think there is a pill for that![] Nice looking pens there, Anthony. Don't ya just love snakewood.
Do a good turn daily!
Don
[/quote]
Anyone know of the best way to INDUCE cracking []
[/quote]

 

[angboy]

[/quote]

Anyone know of the best way to INDUCE cracking []

Thanks for the comments


[/quote]

I haven't sold any of my pens, but I would bet you induce cracking by NOT planning it into the plan, and having a looming deadline that you have to get the pens to the buyer by, and then you throw in a few hopes that it won't crack, and I bet that'd be a sure fire recipe for a crack! [][]

 

[Johnathan]

Originally posted by PenWorks
<br />

Originally posted by angboy
<br /> Although I wonder if you would have been disappointed if it didn't? []

Kinda yes, I made two closed end Statesmen in Snakewood, the tops have allready cracked, but the pen bodies being a bit thicker have not. Anyone know of the best way to INDUCE cracking []

Thanks for the comments


Yes, find a really bad soprano and ask her to sing! [] That should do the trick! Anthony as always, your work looks great.

 

[csb333]

I can make snakewood crack just by LOOKING at it.
Those artist pencils look great! Excellent design. Makes one WANT to use them. - Chris

 

[alamocdc]

I likey, Anthony! [^]

 

[Dario]

I like them all Anthony.

I like the pencil shapes...I might have to borrow those designs later (if I can [])

 

[Jim15]

Anthony,They are all great looking.

jim

 

[fiferb]

What did you do to repair the cracks? I recently turned some pens in ebony and had some crack on me. I think I was using a dull drill bit. It sure would be nice to be able to repair these but I'm not sure how.

 

[PenWorks]

Originally posted by fiferb
<br />What did you do to repair the cracks?

I used a slury of the sanding dust and CA. I waited for them to crack, before I finished them.

 

[fiferb]

Thanks. I'll have to let them sit awhile before finishing. These are already completed and assembled. Anything I can do at this point? I've tried using CA and clamping on one but it didn't close the entire crack.

 

[PenWorks]

Trying to repair it while assembled is pretty iffy it will come out right. A suggestion that I used before on ebony is, I filled in the cracks with polymer clay in brite red. It will change the look of the pen, but looks really good.

 

[fiferb]

Thanks again. I'll have to give the clay a try.

 

[Darley]

Great looking pen Anthony, love those ones

 

[jdavis]

looking good nice wood

 

[Ravenbsp]

I also make wooden flutes and irish whistles, in addition to pens. Cracking is a constant danger, especially around the metal tuning slide. When I bore the blank, I let it "rest" several weeks. Then I re-bore it using the same bit, more material will be removed because the wood shrinks slightly. If i were to immediately place a tuning slide (much like a brass tube into the barrel of a pen) the blank will eventually crack because the wood will continue to contract over time whereas the metal will not.

This should translate well to pen-work involving suspect woods. I would bore out the blank, if possible rough-turn it to round, and put in a drawer for 2-3 weeks, then re-drill the bore, give it a few more days then glue your tube.

I have a whistle-making comrade that has made a number of snake-wood penny-whistles, without any cracking issues at all using this process.

 

[DocStram]

Beautiful job! Hey Anthony, have any pictures of those pens you touched up with the clay?