El Grande Blow Out Help

[brnhornt]

Greetings fellow penturners,

Quick question for the masses. I picked up the El Grande kit from Berea. Man...I LOVE the look of that pen. And I love the way the rollerball writes.

My problem is that I've wasted 3 blanks now already on the wood blowing out on me. I know that this kit ends up with the thinest amount of wood on the tube...but do you have any recomendations that I can do to help prevent it? I tried this tonight...I turned away the majority of the material...then when I got into the "danger zone" I soaked the blanks with CA. Granted, I only have the medium CA so perhaps the thinner stuff would penetrate deeper....but even still...blew up on me. What do you all think?

Thanks for the help!
Kevin

 

[Jim in Oakville]

Hi Kevin,

I turn quite a few El Grande's. I have not had the problem you describe, I use a skew for a shearing cut, really light passes on the last few..

what are you turning with?

 

[ericw95]

Are your tools SHARP? How about sanding to the final dimension?

 

[jkirkb94]

I'll ask the same thing as Kevin...how sharp are you tools? Also what are you turning? Kirk[8D]

 

[Randy_]

The other possibility is that your glue job needs to be better. Describe you glueing precedure for us so we can see if there is a problem in that area.

 

[Pipes]

I would almost bet it either glueing process or dull tools . BUT thats just a guess [?]

 

[KenV]

Pipes -- that would be a sucker bet. Been there and done that.

I hone my lathe tools with a diamond hone (I have several diamond sharpening devices and like the Alan Lacer hone available from his web page best of all). Hone the inside and outside (of gouges)for hair shaving sharp edges on little stuff like pens or other small items. Both sides of a skew need to be honed.

Those with well developed techniques such as production turners mostly use just the grinder, but those who do not turn lots and lots of hours need the extra margin given by sharper, well tuned, high speed steel tools.

 

[Rifleman1776]

OK, sharp is covered. A large (e.g. 1" or larger) skew with light cuts or just scraping might prevent the problem. Some have suggested that blow outs occur on the portion of a blank that has not been covered with glue. Do you rough up your tubes? Re-think your glueing process to make sure the entire tube is coated. Some will coat the inside of the blank with CA before final glueing. Let us know what happens.

 

[brnhornt]

Thanks for all of the replies!

I'm using a bowl gouge to turn with...and yes it's sharp. As sharp as my Tormek can get it. I usually turn at most two pens before re-sharpening.

As for my glue procedure. I dump a heavy amount of medium CA in the blank. Tilting and rotating it until the walls of the hole are completely covered. Then I insert the tube (scuffed up with 100 grit paper) half way into the hole with a twisting motion. I then take the tube out and then reinsert it into the other side of the blank...again half way. I apply CA directly to the remaining exposed portion of the tube and then twisting clockwise insert it the rest of the way into the blank. Hit it with a spritz of accelerator on each and start turning....

Thanks again!
Kevin

 

[gerryr]

I think you have two problems. As a friend once said, "I'm not licensed to use a gouge," and I would highly recommend you use a skew rather than a gouge. The second is I think a glue joint failure. CA develops about half of it's bond strength very quickly, but takes 24 hours to develop full bond strength. If anything disturbs the bond before it fully sets, the bonding process stops. Unless you are turning round prior to gluing in the tubes, you're disturbing the bond when you start turning. Try waiting until the next day to turn. Also, get some thin CA, medium and thick don't penetrate.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Try 80 grit for roughing, try epoxy instead of CA, and SKEW, SKEW, SKEW.

 

[workinforwood]

I had this problem a couple times with acrylics and found Gorilla glue was the answer. The medium CA isn't likely to be thick enough to take up the gap between the tube and the blank. The El Grande is a big bore hole, which makes it easier for the hole to get a smidgen out of round when drilling inside. The gorilla glue will expand inside which will give a better bond between the tube and barrel. I do hate gorilla glue, but it does make a difference in my opinion. On the outside of the tube, go thin CA for added strength, but really, you shouldn't need to. Just skew and sand.

 

[Randy_]

Something else to consider is your gouge technique. You can orient the gouge straight on and use it more like a scraper or you can hold it at an angle and get a shearing cut more like a skew. Avoid scraping cuts!!

Another thing that might be a consideration is the wood, itself. Maybe you just had some bad luck and got some "bad" wood. Or maybe you have a difficult wood.....diamondwood is a problem for some turners and I have had difficulties with some redwood burl that I have. What wood were you using when you had the blowouts??

 

[bjackman]

I'll second the motion for either polyurethane glue or epoxy.