Cracked wood pens

[rblakemore]

I am having trouble with some of my wood pens cracking after several months. These have been mainly Kingwood, a really nice color, but straight grain; and, snakewood, which seems to be less straight grain. I was using CA glue, can this be due to an uneven glue coat and uneven contraction/expansion of the wood due to heat and humidity changes??

 

[Allen_B]

This is a very common problem with snake wood. It isn't very stable.

 

[bruce119]

There can be a LOT of reason wood crack....

Most are related to heat...then moisture...
Heat is always your enemy, Rite from the beginning,
Drilling go slow, Sanding again it's easy to over heat, same with finishing....
Moisture...Make sure your blank is dry before starting...
If you turn in a garuge on a rainy day wood is like a sponge it will absorb moisture...
Wood is going to move with temperature changes..
If you do shows don't let your wood pens sit in the sun...I lost several dozen once cause of that...


Hope I touched on some thing that could help..
Main thing temp. & moisture...
remember the wood is going to move don't drill your holes too tight use a glue like gorilla glue to let it move a little.
After finishing seal the ends of the tubes before assembly thaqt a place moisture can find it's way in..


Wood can be a PIA it takes attention to detail...


Good Luck

 

[low_48]

We are wrapping a thin wood sleeve around a brass tube. Wood moves with temperature and humidity, brass moves with temperature changes. Exotic woods are difficult to dry, and we have no history or drying quality specs from suppliers. Removing wood from a block will expose new surfaces to the air and relieve stresses that may exist from the wood drying. Sanding with dull sandpaper or sanding at too high of speed puts heat into the wood and can cause surface checking as the surface heats up but the core doesn't. Some woods just don't work for pens, despite their beauty and your desire to use them.

 

[ashaw]

One thing that may help you is to have the wood stabilized. Not all wood can be stabilized or not economicly makes sense. At lot of oily woods may not be a candidate but at least worth looking into.