Pen Crack

[DaddyO]

Made this beauty yesterday and now it is cracked! I have never had this happen before so I am looking for some answers. It is a piece of spalted pecan that I stabilized in Cactus Juice (vacuum around 30 with good draw into blanks), baked at 200 for 45min, allowed to cool to room temp, and turned. I used tightbond instand bond thick as I always do. Shop was heated to around 68 and the pen was indoors afterwards. I do every pen the same and as I said this is a first.

I am so bummed! Suggestions??

Mark

 

[mikespenturningz]

That is a beautiful piece of wood. How far around does that inclusion go? Also how far around is the crack? I am wondering if this area didn't get sufficient glue when you put the tube in? Is the finish CA?

 

[edstreet]

If I read this correct (think I did) you stabilized it and turned it on the same day? You really need some off gas time and allow it to settle before working it.

Think of it like baking. you must allow the dough to 'rest' before starting the next step.

 

[DaddyO]

Mike that crack goes around about half way. I always spin the tubes in one side of the blank and then reinsert in the other end. But ya never know with glue.

Ed, I considered that. I knew I might have been pushing it but as it was cooled down I thought I could get away with it. evidently not.

 

[DaddyO]

oh and yes, it is a CA finish

 

[plano_harry]

No clue on the cause beyond still changing from the stabilize and baking.

I would pop that apart, flood it with CA and some end to end clamp pressure and redo it. Looks like you have enough wood for a do-over. Too pretty to toss. Another option is work up some 240 sanding dust and drip a couple of drops of medium CA to form a sanding slurry while the lathe is running and that will probably fill the crack. With all that crazy grain you can probably get away with it.

 

[robutacion]

You've got a good close up pic but I wish I could see it even closer...!

From that I can see, there has been some movement/separation in that area, what cause it, can be a number of things, I would start with how dry the wood was when stabilised as it seem to me that, there is some shrinkage around that darker solid/denser spot, and that is normally what the wood do when put through different processes and is not totally dry.

Many times, is the heat exerted when polishing that makes the soft and moist areas of the wood to shrink, only because was stabilized, doesn't mean that the stabilization/juice and cooking went perfect, sometimes we only find out that something wasn't/didn't go right when we are at the final stages of finishing a pen, the polishing/shining of the surface, shows the imperfections a lot better...!

Whatever caused that shrinkage around the dark wood dot, can be fixed and you wouldn't know it was ever there. Would I repair it straight-away...??? no I wouldn't, I would put that barrel a side in a well ventilated place with some mild heat around it, let it stabilise for a bit and then tackle the repair.

I would use the 5 cps CA glue to soak those gaps as the barrel is (CA coating on), do it from each end, you don't want to create air bubbles inside the gaps. When no longer soaks, put it a side overnight, in a warm place.

I would try to remove all the CA over the wood very gently, maybe use 120 sand paper to remove that list bit, re-sand to your normal grits and use the same 5cps CA to coat the blank all around, with the lathe OFF, rubb it as smooth as you can, use a little accelerator and with the Lathe OFF still, sand the barrel with the grain, until any ridges are are gone, do not go all the way to the wood, that will be you "sealer" coat.

Use 240 and 400 grits to get it ready for the extra CA costs, proceed with your normal CA finish processes and the wood should be flawless as the area in question has been "welded" back to the dark spot...!

This is what I would do, off-course...!

Good luck...!

Cheers
George

 

[Jim Burr]

Couple of thoughts...that's all they are. Moisture content of the wood prior to stabilizing. Stabilize until clear of bubbles, mark that time and double it after you shut off vacuum to soak. Cure at 200*'ish until the INTERNAL temp is at 200'ish for about an hour, maybe two...wood won't ignite until about 500'ish...about like carbon so you are really safe to let it sit. As Ed mentioned...let it rest out of the oven. After that, you should have a good experience with the blank.

 

[mikespenturningz]

Ok so I bet the fix is fairly easy. I would take the hardware off then I would do the soak with thin CA in that crack. This will allow some CA to get underneath and get everything stabilized. Let that sit for a bit then you can put that back on the lathe and clean it up a bit. If you cannot see the tube I would clean off all of the existing CA and refinish it. This looks like it is not that bad to save. I do cook my blanks longer than 45 minutes though. And if I am not sure about moisture I will actually cook it on very low temp for several hours or even a day before I stabilize. I also use poly glue for my tubes. I like the way it bubbles and seems to work around. I have not had any tube glue problems since I started using it. I have probably made 3 - 4 hundred pens using the poly glue.

 

[DaddyO]

Well I appreciate the advice all. I guess as this is my pen I can set it aside for a bit and then try some of the suggestions. I will post a pic of the results.

Thanks,
Mark