busted blank

[Rifleman1776]

Some days you just know you should have stood in bed. [:I] First my grass trimmer went bad, then I couldn't locate parts needed to fix. Oh, well. Better talk about penturning before List Mom gets on me. Picture below is/was supposed to be upper barrel for Baron with black titanium. It is golden desert ironwood. Not sure where I got it, probably from Arizona Silhouette as a freebie. Well, there is nothing 'iron' about this wood. It is about as ironlike as basswood and dissapointingly open grained, probably should be stabilized before use. Then this happened. Not sure why. Could bushings be worn down? Probably about two dozen uses on bushings. Shouldn't they last longer? Oh, well. Color isn't what I had hoped for either. Will glue up extra tubes in some of my osage orange and mate that to the black tn. But for now I'm going back and stand in bed. []

 

[JimGo]

Frank,
I've had a LOT of experience with this problem, and I think your picture may show exactly what caused it. Did you notice that the tip of the brass tube doesn't have any glue on it? Every time I've had a blow-up like this (and have been able to reconstruct the blank), I have found that there was a bad glue joint at the point where the blank blew up. I've had a few others where, because the glue was holding everything in place, my out-of-balance mandrel actually lead me to turn/sand down to the tube, leaving a bare spot, without actually splitting off like the one in your picture.

Of course, please read my footer carefully! [] Better luck on the next one!

 

[knottyharry]

Hi Frank,
I agree with Jim. One of the things I do is to run a bead of glue around the inside of the blank opposite the end i'm going to push the tube in from and then stand it up while im applying glue to the tube. It seems like it helps for me.
Just my thoughts.
Harry

 

[Klars]

Don't you just wish the blank would blow out at first instead of when you are just about done? Better luck next time.

 

[jenamison]

I've been trying something new for me as far as gluing. This may be how a lot of ya'll already do it, but I've been using a good bit of CA from the middle of the blank out both ways till I get to about 1/4 from the openings. Then I use a poly glue for any gap filling at the ends. Like I said this has worked pretty nice for me.

 

[Rifleman1776]

The missing glue thing makes a lot of sense. Thanks. I guess it's sticky fingers from here on. Actually, I had depended on excess fully coating the tube as it is inserted. Invalid theory. Another candidate for my string of disasters.

 

[Mainebowlman]

Don't know if this will help, but I read on a post somewhere about putting three beads of medium CA lengthwise on the sanded brass tube, sliding it in the blank with a rolling motion...only 2/3 of the way. Then inserting the brass tube in the OTHER end with the same rolling or rotating motion. This seems to evenly spread the CA for me with a slight overflow on each end which I hit with a quick shot of accelerant to keep the fingers from attaching. Keeps CA out of the inside of the tube, too.

Hope this helps.

Jack (In the rain...on a plain...in Maine)

 

[emsmith]

For what it worth here is what I do and so far its been working for me. One disclaimer - I'm pretty new/inexperienced at this.

I switched to gorilla glue after some bad experiences using CA to bond the tubes to the blanks.

After a couple of blow outs from lack of glue coverage I started standing the blanks on end (on wax paper - found this to be very important so as to not inadvertently attach items to the workbench[:0]) and applying enoung glue to form a membrane over the hole. Gravity pulls the glue down the sides of the hole, I add more glue as necessary around the edge of the hole to coat most of the interior. Before the glue gets to the other end of the blank, I insert a plugged tube that I will not be leaving in the blank into the opposite end of the blank. I position this first tube about 1/4 inch from the end of the blank that I applied the glue to. Then I insert a plugged tube that will be left in the blank, trapping a moderate amount of glue between the two plugged ends. With a twisting motion I push the second tube into the blank applying a slight resistance with the first tube until the second tube is positioned properly. I then withdraw the first tube, and wipe the glue off. The slight amount of pressure used squeezes the glue trapped between the two plugged ends around the circumference of the hole. If it is cold out such that the glue is very thick and isn't flowing well I also run a small bead of glue around the midpoint of the second tube to ensure that the unplugged end of the second tube is sufficeintly caoted. Seems to be working so far. I tried this after making a mess attempting to coat the outsides of the tubes and not getting uniform coverage on insertion. As far as moisture, I just breath into the blanks a couple of times(learned that here [] after swabbing the first couple of blanks with wet cotton swabs) and let the glue cure overnight.

 

[JimGo]

Eric, that sounds really complicated and time consuming! But, if it works for you, that's all that matters.

FWIW, I just use Q-tips to smear the glue inside the blank and on the outside of the tube (making sure to get good coverage of both), then slide the tube into the blank. Depending on whether I have a brain fart before I put the glue in, if I'm using poly glue (like Gorilla Glue) I'll usually use another Q-tip to wet the inside of the blank, but on some I've done recently I've just breathed into them. I notice that the glue doesn't foam as much with my breath, but I haven't had any problems lately.

By contrast, of the first ten pen's worth of blanks that I got (predrilled rosewood from PSI), I lost 50% of 'em because 1) I didn't rough up the tubes before glueing, 2) I'm not sure that I mixed the epoxy (my original glue choice) properly, 3) I didn't put glue inside the blank (only on the tube), and 4) I didn't make sure the inside of the blank was clean (I now wipe down with DNA before the water/glue step). Actually, since these were my first pens, you can probably add 5) dull tools and 6) overzealousness to the mix, too!

 

[Old Griz]

Frank a couple of things. Desert Ironwood can't be stabilized, it is too dense...
It is also known for being a bear to turn.. because it is dense and brittle and does chip out if your tools are not scary sharp.
I only use epoxy for gluing my blanks.. and do the insert from both sides to make sure it is properly distributed...

 

[Ron in Drums PA]

I use poly glue.

I add thin CA glue to the wood next to the tube and let it soak in. Not only does it seal the ends but helps prevent blow out.

 

[MDWine]

Gorilla glue, I use a bamboo skewer to spred it through the hole.
I just breath thru the hole for a couple of seconds, while I'm preping my skewer;
A glance through the hole at a light will reveal any dry spots!
No slip-outs, a little bit of foaming, working for me so far.
Inexperience has it's benefits, still waiting on my first real "blowout"!
HTH, good luck...
If ignorance is bliss, I should be a lot happier![]

 

[Rifleman1776]

Originally posted by Old Griz
<br />Frank a couple of things. Desert Ironwood can't be stabilized, it is too dense...
It is also known for being a bear to turn.. because it is dense and brittle and does chip out if your tools are not scary sharp.
I only use epoxy for gluing my blanks.. and do the insert from both sides to make sure it is properly distributed...

Tom, this was "golden" desert ironwood. I have turned some of BB's (see, I can use acronymns too. [] ) regular ironwood and it does have the characteristics you describe. However, this 'golden' stuff is very light and soft. In my opinion, not even a desirable wood from an esthetics viewpoint. I know nothing about the wood or what kind of tree/bush it comes from.