Some pens in the finishing process

[slincoln]

On some of our woods we use different finishing processes; many of them are time consuming. For instance, un-stabilized spalted alder can be extremely porous, we’ll put up to 10 coats of tung oil on them which requires at least 4 hours between coats, sometimes longer. These all-thread rods and closet nuts (like an acorn nut drilled through, they are used to bolt toilets down) hold the blanks and can be put in a drill press (most of our finishing happens on the drill press), the nuts work on slimline to Baron tubes. The rods are easy to hang onto for buffing and polishing, good for keeping things organized (I need a lot of help there) and are just generally handy.

 

[JimGo]

Wow, great idea! Thanks for sharing!

 

[WoodChucker]

Neat idea, thanks!

 

[Rifleman1776]

Very impressive production set-up you have there. High volume but you, obviously, are still focused on quality.

 

[leehljp]

Agree with the others, Great idea. Thanks for posting that.

 

[atvrules1]

Scott, that is a great idea. Thanks for sharing it with us. Those pens sure look good.

 

[Kevin Glover]

Hey Scott, those are neat. BTW, I live right down the water from you in Poulsbo.

 

[MDWine]

Man! You beat me to it... I was considering something similar using those tapered rubber washers for faucets. I like your idea better!

Nice job!

 

[slincoln]

Hi Kevin ...

Originally posted by Kevin Glover
<br />Hey Scott, those are neat. BTW, I live right down the water from you in Poulsbo.

Thanx for the kind words. Poulsbo is a great place, been there many times although not recently. Seems life has other plans for our "free time" schedule.

 

[slincoln]

Hi Michael ...

Originally posted by MDWine
<br />Man! You beat me to it... I was considering something similar using those tapered rubber washers for faucets. I like your idea better!

Nice job!

Thanx

There are little pitfalls with this system. Some tricks; spray the all-thread with Pam well before using them the first time. I use one of the small brass wire brushes made for cleaning files to keep the threads clean of whatever finish builds up. Also, I'll soak them for a bit in thinner (or whatever solvent seems appropriate) when needed. Sometimes a thread will get nicked so it's necessary to chase the threads with a die. Be careful not to over-tighten, you can actually flare the brass tubes and crack the barrel, finger tight is good enough.

Still, the system seems to work very well.

 

[MDWine]

I checked out my local hardware store, they didn't have any of these nuts. (or the guy helping me didn't know where they were!) I got some of the faucet washers (a semi-cone shaped rubber washer of sorts) and was going to do the same sort of thing. One of my problems is holding those tubes when polishing the finish, very hard on the fingertips!

I used some nuts,washers, and those seals to hold a set of cigar blanks, and they will work just fine, but I like the thought of the closet nuts more, wondering how the finish will stick to those rubber washers... we'll see.

I'm after some more t-rod and a source for those closet nuts. Perhaps Home Depot or Lowes... a great idea!!

 

[Dario]

DUMB question...why do you need the nuts? The system surely looks great but is it necessary?

I have a similar set up but it is just a styrofoam block that I sticked with bar-b-que bamboo skewers. The bottom have rubber bands to elevate the barrels a bit. I use 2 stick (a pair) per pen. If needed I can easily replace any of them for practically nothing. They are all still the originals and they are more than a year old. I am lazy I guess but I think putting the nuts and removing them is more hassle than it is worth to me. I actually think it can potentially cause "accidents" with your finish while putting/removing them.

Or am I missing something?

 

[slincoln]

Hi Michael ...

Originally posted by MDWine
<br />I checked out my local hardware store, they didn't have any of these nuts. (or the guy helping me didn't know where they were!) I got some of the faucet washers (a semi-cone shaped rubber washer of sorts) and was going to do the same sort of thing. One of my problems is holding those tubes when polishing the finish, very hard on the fingertips!

You may want to try a plumber or plumbing supply, they purchase in bags of 100.

Thanx Kindly,

Scott

 

[slincoln]

Hi Dario ...

Originally posted by Dario
<br />DUMB question...why do you need the nuts? The system surely looks great but is it necessary?

I have a similar set up but it is just a styrofoam block that I sticked with bar-b-que bamboo skewers. The bottom have rubber bands to elevate the barrels a bit. I use 2 stick (a pair) per pen. If needed I can easily replace any of them for practically nothing. They are all still the originals and they are more than a year old. I am lazy I guess but I think putting the nuts and removing them is more hassle than it is worth to me. I actually think it can potentially cause "accidents" with your finish while putting/removing them.

Or am I missing something?

Well, I mount these in a drill press and do the finishing there instead of on the lathe. You could put a deep socket in a cordless drill to run the nuts up and down. I've yet to do any damage (other than self inflicted) to the finish with this method. I'd like to see a pic of your setup.

Thanx Kindly,

Scott

 

[ctEaglesc]

Nice set up
I use those acorn nuts as a decorative finial on my pen displays.
They are normally found in the the "trays" of specialty machine nuts/bolts as opposed to the bins.
How are you drilling them?
Another suggestion would be to drill through some "bread board" material(like they use on TS sleads) and turn down some spacers in rod form and cut them into segments.
Another thought would be aquarium tubing.
Non threaded rod can be bought at the borgs also.

 

[slincoln]

Greetings ...

Originally posted by cteaglesc
<br />Nice set up
I use those acorn nuts as a decorative finial on my pen displays.
They are normally found in the the "trays" of specialty machine nuts/bolts as opposed to the bins.
How are you drilling them?

Actually, I don't drill acorn nuts; I buy bags of 100 of the "ready-to-go" closet nuts from a plumber. They really aren't very expensive, tho exactly how much seems to be lost in a senior moment. These are "working" rods, they get mounted in the drill press and the finish (tung oil or CA or lacquer) is applied with the dp running rather than using the lathe to apply finish. The taper on these nuts helps prevent "tearing" the finish that might occur while trying to remove bushings if done on a lathe and also allows me to get a coat of finish on the normally unfinished end of the barrels. Honestly, I can't prove that sealing the ends provides any positive value, but we have very few failures do to cracking. I also have a pet peave about the Cigar kits and the way that the center flange on the bottom tube (that the transmission screws into) final fits to the barrel. They are rounded over top and bottom so a small portion of the barrel end is exposed, finishing / sealing that end of the barrel gives me a little piece of mind.

They are also easy to hang on to while buffing, etc.

Another suggestion would be to drill through some "bread board" material(like they use on TS sleads) and turn down some spacers in rod form and cut them into segments.
Another thought would be aquarium tubing.
Non threaded rod can be bought at the borgs also.

Good idea. In August we will show at the local County Fair and I want to try an experiment where we have a number of pens in the "ready to assemble" state on display, then let the customer pick the kit finish and do the assembly in front of them at time of sale. (We'll also have a number of finished pens on hand of course.) What I haven't settled on is the display method for the barrels, you may have just provided at least part of that solution []

Thanx Kindly,

Scott