burl blow out

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad

Rifleman1776

Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2004
Messages
7,330
Location
Mountain Home, Arkansas, USA.
Blow outs happen. But this particular batch of maple burl is proving extra frustrating. And, now, mysterious. This wood was stabilized by River Ridge so it should be fairly stout stuff. Not so. Had two blow up on the drill press, one from top, other bottom. Now this one on the lathe. But, as can be seen, the failure was (almost) understandable. There isn't the slightest sign of glue (epoxy) on the wood even though the tube was well covered with it. I'm going to have to rethink my glueing technique. Perhaps more in and out movement and twisting. Not sure what caused this. Getting expensive going though all those nice stabilized blanks. Have to try again.


2008513194151_burl%20blow%20out.jpg
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad

Gary Max

Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2004
Messages
6,224
Location
Southern Kentucky
Frank---I now epoxy the inside of the blank and the tube--plus the one you said---I twist the tube as I install it.
I know I am wasteing some epoxy but my blanks are evenly glued in.
 

MarkHix

Member
Joined
Jul 6, 2007
Messages
982
Location
Carrollton, Texas, USA.
I switched to epoxy after reading it time and again here. No problems in 20 pens....new record for me. I probably use too much but 2 cents worth of wasted epoxy was better than the blanks blowing out from a bad glue job.
 

alamocdc

Member
Joined
Apr 26, 2005
Messages
7,970
Location
San Antonio, Texas, USA.
Ouch! Frank, I use epoxy and I do what Stan suggested. I coat both the tube and inside of the blank. Then I twist the tube as I push it in. I've had no glue failures since I started using this method.
 

low_48

Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2004
Messages
2,175
Location
Peoria, IL, USA.
I had them do some really soft spalted maple and it is alot more "crumbly" than the buckeye I sent at the same time. The buckeye really doesn't even need a finish, the maple needs CA. Different woods, different results. Good luck. I kinda switch between Gorilla and epoxy. I piston and twist when using both of them. I also completely remove the tube at least once to spread the glue. If fact, the gorrilla is usually starting to foam when I finally stop moving the brass.
 

leehljp

Member Liaison
Joined
Feb 6, 2005
Messages
9,314
Location
Tunica, Mississippi,
My first few blowouts with CA showed exactly the same thing you show with Epoxy. With CA, the problem is that there is no time for "adjustment". After two or three blowouts and noticing the lack of CA contact between tube and blank on large areas, I tried to be more consistent in applying the CA. But we all know the problem with that - CA suddenly sticks when the tube is not all the way in! Lost blank!

That is when I switched to Epoxy. But I started immediately coating the tube along with the inside of the blank - and then rotating the tube as I insert it. IF I could find some Gorilla glue here, I would use that. FULL CONTACT all along the tube/blank are very important.
 

RonInSpringTX

Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2007
Messages
274
Location
Spring, TX.
Frank, been there, done that, but not on something stablized. It depends on what I'm turning, which kit, how loose/tight the barrel fits. I've forgotten a couple times to rough the barrels up with sandpaper, well, it didn't take long to find out that mistake!! I had a piece of black palm that was supposedly "stablized" but it blew on me. I've got a bunch of mango blanks that Chris (hawaii) gave me as freebies, over a couple of orders he sent. One of those blew, guess I need to stableize them, they're so light-weight, dunno if they'd be better after stableized?? Who does that, I'm sure someone on here!! Anyways, sorry about your blanks dude!!

Ronnie
 
Top Bottom