cutting pen blanks

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Blue Danube

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Jul 18, 2010
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Good Afternoon,

I just obtained a nice piece of figured Hard Maple for pen blanks.

I would like to cut some at an angle other than ninety degrees from grain flow.

Any suggestions for showing off grain? Ten degree? Fifteen degrees?

Not a probelm to cut I have a compound mitre saw to work with

Thanks for your replies and help!!
 
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Blue Danube

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Jul 18, 2010
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Thanks for the quick response, I was hoping maybe someone had extensive experience with fancy maple and could give me a more accurate start angle to save time and money.
 

robutacion

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Good Afternoon,

I just obtained a nice piece of figured Hard Maple for pen blanks.

I would like to cut some at an angle other than ninety degrees from grain flow.

Any suggestions for showing off grain? Ten degree? Fifteen degrees?

Not a probelm to cut I have a compound mitre saw to work with

Thanks for your replies and help!!

For a diagonal cut, I prefer the 45 degree cut, in most woods it produces the best results, I don't have that wood in my collection but if you cut your boards at 11cm wide by the 19 to 21mm thickness, you can test by cutting one blank at the time at different angles but start with the 45 degrees first.

Hope this helps

Cheers
George
 
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Blue Danube

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Jul 18, 2010
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George,

Thank you for the information of angled cutting,

what woods have you cut on the diagonal??

I plan to get serious with my pen making once the kids are in school(yee-hah) and get Christmas gifts done before November too...

Thanks again!
 

robutacion

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Aug 6, 2009
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Location
Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
George,

Thank you for the information of angled cutting,

what woods have you cut on the diagonal??

I plan to get serious with my pen making once the kids are in school(yee-hah) and get Christmas gifts done before November too...

Thanks again!

Well, I have 44 timber species at the moment and "almost" 85% of them I have then cut in 3 different cuts, straight/with the grain, diagonal and cross cut. Sometimes I play with other angles, mostly acute/extreme angles, for my own use or if effective, I make them available for sale also...!

Have a look at my eBay store here, you may get a few ideas...!

Cheers
George
 

sbwertz

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May 11, 2010
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Phoenix, AZ
I have been making segmented blanks by the simple means of gluing several different colors and widths of wood together and then cutting across the whole glued set at about a 45 degree angle. It gives some very pretty grain patterns, but be sure to use wood that is tight grained because you are turning it across the grain. My first try included a stick of Wenge in the set and it was next to impossible to turn the end grain on the wenge without the blank shattering.

I have also had some good results by setting my drill at a 15 degree angle and drilling a 1 1/2 inch chinese elm branch from one side of the heartwood to the other. (There is virtually no pith in this small a branch, and the heartwood is less than a half inch wide.) It produced some very attractive swirling grain as I turned through the angled grain, but it is tricky roughing it out with the blanks so crooked on the mandrel. There are lots of "eyes" where small twigs were growing, and the contrast between the red heartwood and amber sapwood is very attractive.

Sharon
 
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Wood Butcher

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Somewhere on this site I read that if one will cut a 3/4" x 5" piece of clear plastic one can place it in various areas of a piece of wood to see what the blank will look like before making a cut. Sounded reasonable and I have used it several times with good results.
 

Blue Danube

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Jul 18, 2010
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Wow, thanks for the awesome replies on sawing blanks.

I appreciate the ideas and look forward to trying them out in the near future!

When I am working with irregular wood on the lathe, or off centered blanks it is customary for me to "cheat" and chuck the mandrel in my midi metal lathe and SLOWLY turn it to center.

Then it goes into the wood lathe for shaping and finishing.

Thanks again and keep those great replies coming!
 

DurocShark

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Anaheim, CA
Nothing wrong with using the tools at your disposal. It's not a cheat. The accuracy of a metal lathe can help a lot. I want one!

OTOH, your experienced hands holding a gouge or chisel can sometimes tell you when a blowout is coming... Something the metal lathe can't do.
 

Blue Danube

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Jul 18, 2010
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Duroc Shark,

I concur on blowouts being harder to predict with metal lathe, but working slowly and nibbling away seems to alieviate most "for me".

I did lose an absolutely gorgeous claro walnut blank, but it was too punky even with a soaking with CYA.

Will try to make a "template" this week with the scrollsaw to judge grain flow. LOL I use them for other projects and did not think about using them for pen blanks ah-duh on me!
 
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