Perilous adventures with Dymonwood

[BigShed]

Having finished (finally) my pen for the pen swap (my fifth pen), I decided to have a play with the blanks I bought at Carbatec for the princely sum of $0.50 each.

Not having turned anything but wood, and not too much of that (I am very much a beginner), I didn't know what to expect.

I thought it might be good practice for when I start turning the acrylic pens for my granddaughters wedding (30/3), but am still waiting for some white and black blanks I ordered from Craft Supplies a few days ago.

So, got out a not very attractive looking blank, sort of a muddy blue, wonder why I bought it, must have been cheap!

Decide to use some spare Sierra tubes that came with my last order from Bear Tooth Woods, so needed to drill a 27/64" hole (about 10.7mm).

Got out my trusty centre punch to mark the centre starting point...........

Strike 1

, cut to length blank split in half with just a gentle tap
on the centre punch.
Hmmmm........this stuff doesn't behave like wood at all (wonder whether acrylic will do the same thing?)

So, use the other half of the blank, don't use the centre punch, boy this stuff is pretty hard to drill.

Oops, 3/4 down the blank it splits again.

Obviously need to go slower and clear the hole more often than you do with wood.

OK, try another colour, this time a muddy brown, very uninspiring....

Easy does it, eureka got it drilled, do another blue one, yep got the hang of it.

Glue tubes in, used 5 min epoxy, let it dry overnight, belts and braces and all that.

Back at the lathe this afternoon, start turning the muddy brown one. First used 15mm gouge to knock it into a sort of round shape, boy this stuff is hard!

The on to the skew chisel (15mm), had to sharpen it twice before I was almost finished, should have sharpened it again (thank heavens for the Triton Wet Grinder!), didn't and just pushed a bit harder.

Oops, two chips came out of the edge nect to the bushing, bugger.

Tried to repair with CA and some shavings/dust, but wouldn't stay in.
Decided to finsh it off anyway to see how it would polish up. As you can see in picture 3, this stuff polishes beautifully, Ubeaut EEE only on that, done on the lathe (fingers get a bit warm but!)
Muddy colour all gone, looks almost like an expensive wood blank.

]

OK, try one of the muddy blue ones
This time sharpened the skew more often, and we have success!

Went through the same sanding routine as on the brown one (320 al oxide dry,
400 wet&dry used dry, then 800 wd, 1200 finally 2000 wd and lastly 0000 steel
wool).
This gave quite a good result, just needing a polish.

As I now knew the EEE would do the job, wanted to try the polishing kit I bought at Carbatec at the same time as the blanks. It has 3 x 4" mops and some polishing compound, finest is white diamond.(picture 4)

So put the mop on the lathe

and at fairly high speed applied some
white diamond compound, quick polish whilst the blank was still on the mandrel
(along the length of the blank) and it came up very nicely (picture 6.

All in all not a bad afternoon's learning session.

 

[fiferb]

Welcome to the pains and successes of Dymondwood. Wish I could say I haven't done exactly the same thing. The only one you're missing is having the blank fly apart while sqaring the ends with a mill. You may want to check this out for the next try:
http://www.woodnwhimsies.com/dwood_ info.htm

 

[Rifleman1776]

Failures, blow-outs and other disappointments with Dymondwood are, in my experience, the norm. I stay away from it. Last time I used was for a duck call. Weeks after making the call, while in storage unused, it delaminated. Never again for me. Any come into my house, it will be trashed.

 

[leehljp]

Next time Frank, use better glue on the lamination!

 

[karlkuehn]

I'm not a big fan of Dymondwood, either. I've turned three of them and that's enough for me. That 'muddy' brown one looks for all the world like cocobolo, though.

 

[rhahnfl]

I'll share my success with it. The secret, I believe is to soak it in minwax wood hardener. I cut the blanks slightly long and drill a slimline hole 7mm or 9/32". I never use a punch as I use a PH drill jig. Then I soak them in a quart jar of the wood hardener. Heck... some I soaked for weeks as I forgot them. I fish them out and dry them on a rack with cut piece of coat hanger through the holes for a couple of days. Then carefully drill the hole to the size kit I'm going to use. The tough part is squaring. As said previously, they tend to blow apart at this point. The hardener helps but you need a sharp & clean mill or better yet a rig to sand them square. Be gentle. To turn I crank up the speed and use a sharp spindle gouge. When I get close to the size I want I switch to sand paper... 80 grit and take it closer to size then 120, 240, 300, 400 and on to the finishing. EEE works real good and it finishes up real nice. Makes some nice pens. They are some of my better sellers. Hope that helps.

 

[hilltopper46]

Dymondwood will also absorb thin CA. A bit on th eblank as you approach final sizing is good, and a touch on each end before you square it can be useful as well.

When it comes out, there is nothing else like it, if that sort of pattern appeals to you.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Originally posted by rhahnfl

I'll share my success with it. The secret, I believe is to soak it in minwax wood hardener. I cut the blanks slightly long and drill a slimline hole 7mm or 9/32". I never use a punch as I use a PH drill jig. Then I soak them in a quart jar of the wood hardener. Heck... some I soaked for weeks as I forgot them. I fish them out and dry them on a rack with cut piece of coat hanger through the holes for a couple of days. Then carefully drill the hole to the size kit I'm going to use. The tough part is squaring. As said previously, they tend to blow apart at this point. The hardener helps but you need a sharp & clean mill or better yet a rig to sand them square. Be gentle. To turn I crank up the speed and use a sharp spindle gouge. When I get close to the size I want I switch to sand paper... 80 grit and take it closer to size then 120, 240, 300, 400 and on to the finishing. EEE works real good and it finishes up real nice. Makes some nice pens. They are some of my better sellers. Hope that helps.

It is basically a stabilized wood product. The customer should not have to screw around with it to make it usable. And, considering the price, you REALLY should not have to screw around with it to make it usable.

 

[rhahnfl]

I agree Frank. I just had so many requests for it that I had to find a way to make it work. I think if they used a little more pressure in production then it would be a little better off.

 

[TellicoTurning]

I love Dymondwood and Colorwood... I've made and sold a number of my game calls from both.. you do have to have good sharp tools and don't get too agressive with your cuts.. I will have to say that Dymondwood was the reason I went to a full face shield.. before I only used safety glasses until a pen blank shattered and hit me just under the glasses... toooooo close to the eyes for comfort, so a full face shield...
I've had one game call crack.. my fault for getting the stopper too tight and forcing it.. I've blown a few pen blanks from getting too agressive, but for most part, it works well for me.

And the women love the pens from it..

 

[edstreet]

Ahhh yes the ugly dymonwood rears it's head one more time. Here check this out how it is made (same with plywood, etc) and then look at the methods used to turn it This has caused me to think real hard and twice, or more, about what methods I use when working with the stuff. Also note the type of resin used and extra dust protection is in order.

Ed

The veneer-based materials Compreg and Impreg were developed in the early 1940s at the USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory (Stamm and Seborg 1955). The polymer used is a low molecular weight phenol-formaldehyde resin. The material is made by impregnating veneer with a water solution of the resin and drying to remove most of the water. The resin is heat-cured in veneer that will not be densified. For veneer to be densified, the resin is left uncured or partially cured. Next, glue is applied and the veneers are laid in a stack and hot-pressed to glue them together. Just enough pressure and heat for bonding is used to make Impreg. To make Compreg, the pressure used is sufficient to collapse the wood and cure the resin and the glue.

 

[Jarheaded]

Maybe we should get a collection of blanks together for Fred to work with and learn the problems associated with the various woods.

 

[BigShed]

Thanks for the comments guys, it is all a learning curve!

Picked some of these up at a local retailer of woodworking machinery and paraphernalia, Carbatec, who selling a few different colours and laminations in a close-out sale (10 for $5).

At that price it is worth the experience, have certainly learned a lot.

Must try out some of the multi-coloured laminated ones, particularly the 45deg ones.

It may be a bit difficult to work with, but it certainly teaches you to keep your tools sharp!

On our local, Australian, forum someone came back to say that he uses water to cool the blank during drilling.

Any comments on that?

 

[rhahnfl]

I drill at about 800rpm and back the bit out to clear it very frequently. My local Woodcraft store sells a teflon type spray that is supposed to help but I haven't tried yet.

 

[R2]

I bought some CT blanks at the discounted price of$2 each. Will try to learn from your tutorial, Fred.

 

[Rudy Vey]

I have done a lot of Dymondwood pens, mostly from the angle cut variety.
Some things I learned: do not use a center punch, no need for this - get a drilling vise for pen blanks. These are wood laminates and as you saw, it can be split easily. Use very sharp drill bits. Drill carefully, and retract your bit often to clear chips. Don't force the bit. The best bits for Dymondwood are parabolic flute bits. I drill at around 1300 rpm. When turning, sharp tools again is the trick. Knock off the corners carefully, and round the ends over first - then the rest of the blank.

 

[BigShed]

Originally posted by R2

I bought some CT blanks at the discounted price of$2 each. Will try to learn from your tutorial, Fred.

R2, I wouldn't presume to post a "tutorial", this was just a record of my "journey" with Dymondwood.[:I]

I think to be able to post a "tutorial" one needs to have a lot of experience in a particular skill to be able to pass it on.

I just thought some other poor beginner might benefit from my mistakes.

 

[scroller99]

I bought a few "dymondwood blanks on Ebay and still have a few of them I have never seen anything harder, I have used regular dymondwood blanks and they come out nice but this person must have got cutoffs or made his own because I could never turn them so I would try to stay with a name brand on such things Howard

 

[tnick]

There are definately some things to do and not to do. I don't turn very often and tried Dymondwood, what a mess I made. Tim told me to read his Dymondwood Do's and Dont's that he gathered from his trilas plus others hints. I'm not kidding, I read them and haven't had a problem since. You can't be in a hurry that is for sure. I must tell you though, I found that women really seem to love the variety of colors, I know I prefer them over the natural woods, maybe it's a girl thing!

If you email me I'll send you the Dymondwood Do's and Dont's to look over.

Tracey

 

[randyrls]

Originally posted by tnick

There are definately some things to do and not to do.
If you email me I'll send you the Dymondwood Do's and Dont's to look over.

Tracey

To join the thread; I always cut blanks long, drill short and trim to length. Just before you mount the blanks in the lathe, coat the ends with thin CA, let cure and mount. This prevents end grain chipout.

 

[Rmartin]

The first pens I ever made was from Dymondwood. I think I blew about 3 out of the first 10. After that, acrylics were a walk in the park.