Russianwolf
Member
So has anyone other than Karl, and now me, turned a dragonhide blank?
I got tired of them taunting me so I messed one up last night. I'll post the pen later, but I'll tell you guys what I learned and what I did to make the pen.
Now, I'll start by saying that these are the most expensive blanks that I have turned to date. I know there are others out there that cost more, but for me, this is the top at the moment.
With a very sharp Skew, and the blank mounted in my chuck, I turned one end of it round. I flipped it around and proceeded with rounding the other end. At this point the blank broke in half at a weak spot in the cone. Luckily the two parts were more than long enough for the Baron kit that I planned on.
I then drilled both lengths on the lathe (I must say that I love doing this the more I do it, for those that still drill on a drill press, buy the drill chuck, You won't regret it). without a hitch.
I used some CA gel that I had laying around since I wanted this to be a one session pen and the holes didn't have a lot of slop in them. I probably could have gotten a bit better coverage and maybe I didn't wait long enough. I did round a few more blanks in the mean time to take pictures for my website (gotta start working on the wood catalog for people to puruse).
I then tried to mill the ends. Big mistake. The pettels of the cone are prone to getting knocked off by the blades of the trimmer. I spent the next 15 minutes on getting a clean edge on the the one end with about 1/2 inch of exposed brass. I then CA's a filler of Red BEB to act as a large centerband/oppsband. While that dried, I focused on the other blank. Instead of the mill, I chucked it up again and used sandpaper on a cabinet scrapper to trim it. This worked spot on and I got really good results. I think I may try this in the future with other blanks too.
After I had all the blanks trimmed they went on the lathe between centers. Now knowing that these buggers can be fragile (or at least this one is with the quick CA glue to the tube), I deceide to use the 80 grit skew instead of the 1/2 inch skew. A LOT of dust later, I had a beautiful pair of blanks.
My thanks to Karl, for making such a beautiful blank for me to destroy. I blame me for the short-comings and not the blank. I probably am not at the skill level where I should have attempted this yet, but I've always pushed myself beyond my abilities.
I will be posting the pen tonight.
I got tired of them taunting me so I messed one up last night. I'll post the pen later, but I'll tell you guys what I learned and what I did to make the pen.
Now, I'll start by saying that these are the most expensive blanks that I have turned to date. I know there are others out there that cost more, but for me, this is the top at the moment.
With a very sharp Skew, and the blank mounted in my chuck, I turned one end of it round. I flipped it around and proceeded with rounding the other end. At this point the blank broke in half at a weak spot in the cone. Luckily the two parts were more than long enough for the Baron kit that I planned on.
I then drilled both lengths on the lathe (I must say that I love doing this the more I do it, for those that still drill on a drill press, buy the drill chuck, You won't regret it). without a hitch.
I used some CA gel that I had laying around since I wanted this to be a one session pen and the holes didn't have a lot of slop in them. I probably could have gotten a bit better coverage and maybe I didn't wait long enough. I did round a few more blanks in the mean time to take pictures for my website (gotta start working on the wood catalog for people to puruse).
I then tried to mill the ends. Big mistake. The pettels of the cone are prone to getting knocked off by the blades of the trimmer. I spent the next 15 minutes on getting a clean edge on the the one end with about 1/2 inch of exposed brass. I then CA's a filler of Red BEB to act as a large centerband/oppsband. While that dried, I focused on the other blank. Instead of the mill, I chucked it up again and used sandpaper on a cabinet scrapper to trim it. This worked spot on and I got really good results. I think I may try this in the future with other blanks too.
After I had all the blanks trimmed they went on the lathe between centers. Now knowing that these buggers can be fragile (or at least this one is with the quick CA glue to the tube), I deceide to use the 80 grit skew instead of the 1/2 inch skew. A LOT of dust later, I had a beautiful pair of blanks.
My thanks to Karl, for making such a beautiful blank for me to destroy. I blame me for the short-comings and not the blank. I probably am not at the skill level where I should have attempted this yet, but I've always pushed myself beyond my abilities.
I will be posting the pen tonight.
