barrel trimming

[Sven03]

Anyy guidance on trimming pen blanks?? Do I need to go to the tube or just shy of it?? I cut the blanks a bit longer than the tube, does the type of wood affect the trimming of that blank?? Any help would be great...

 

[mrcook4570]

I just lightly kiss the tube with the trimmer. You may find that some woods, especially some of the burls, will benefit from a shot of CA on the ends prior to trimming.

 

[wudwrkr]

Just like Stan said, just to the brass tube. I do find some of the denser woods like ebony, bloodwood, pink ivory, snakewood,etc are more difficult to take just a bit off. Also if you are doing any Cigar kits, make sure to not take too much off the lower barrel. That length is critical.

 

[KC]

You mentioned the cigar kits...so here's a question. I'm trimming down to just 'shine up' the tubes...and when the pen is assembled, it looks like the pen tip doesn't extend far enough out. It's noticably different than any of the other sevaral kit types I've made that use a Parker mechanism.

??

KC

 

[gerryr]

What kind of cigar kits are your using? I've only used Berea and CSUSA, but the tip of the pen extends out about 1/8" on all of them and other Parker type kits as well. I don't have one here to actually measure, but looking at a ruler that looks about right.

 

[its_virgil]

Doesn't matter if you just 'kiss' the end of the tube with whatever you use to square them (mill or sander)or just 'shin' the ends of those tubes: Just dont 'kiss' or 'shine' too long! [] The tube lengths on a cigar pen are very critical, especially that bottom one.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

PS: Seems like there were some kits awhil ago with tubes too short by just a bit. Anyone else remember that or am I dreaming?

 

[ed4copies]

Yes, Don. I had that problem with some cigars-but I have used 3 suppliers since I wanted TN, and had some Artisan series, also had some chrome-unfortunately, don't know which kits the short tubes came out of.

But they were too short to sell. Would not retract all the way.

 

[swm6500]

I will say make sure the trimmer is sharp so you do not have to use too much pressure when you are doing the trimming. I agree with just kissing the tube.

 

[tnilmerl]

Trim down to the tube. A shine let you know to down to it. The real reason for doing this is the the tip and other parts are pressure fitted and when you squeeze the parts to the barrel, if you are not down to the tube, the the tip starts pressing on the wood and too much pressure will crack it. I ruined some good pens by letting the blank being a tad bit 'proud' from the tube. So get the length right.

Depending on the pen, short can be bad and other pens long is bad. Some kits are very precise and you have to do just about all things correctly or you'll end up with a junker.