Phew! That was close!

[turbowagon]

Just successfully drilled a 37/64" (14.7mm) hole in an 18mm round piece of Masur birch riddled with voids and bark inclusions.

Just enough meat left to make a full-sized gentlemen's pen. I applied a few coats of CA to strengthen the wood, and was very careful to center it in my collet chuck, and drilled incrementally with several drill sizes at slow speed, removing chips often.

 

[hehndc]

That will make a nice pen.
Steve

 

[nava1uni]

You are the bomb. That is a great drilling job. The blank looks really nice. Will make a great looking pen.

 

[Miles42]

Great job can not wait to see the finished project.

 

[MartinPens]

I love Masur birch. Congrats on keeping it in one piece. A little blood sweat and tears makes for a special pen. Those are usually the ones that end up in my personal collection. : )

Sent from my iPad using Forum Runner

 

[Brooks803]

Can't wait to see the finished pen! You sure won't be turning much to finish the cap!

 

[azamiryou]

Well done!

If you want to reduce the "pucker factor" in the future -- what's the fun in that? -- you can reinforce a blank from the outside. You can wrap it in string or tape and soak with CA (tape has to be something porous so the CA can sink in), or drill a hole in a piece of waste wood to match it and glue it inside the waste wood. When you go to shape the barrels, you just turn all the waste wood off.

This will provide support to prevent the blank from coming apart. You still need to do a good job of centering the drill and drilling straight, of course.

 

[Lenny]

There is a certain satisfaction that comes with a successful drilling of a pen blank on the lathe. When you pull it out of the collet and can see those perfectly even walls ... and in your case VERY THIN walls! It could be an add for collet chucks!

 

[mikespenturningz]

That is a very nice piece of wood! It is going to make a great pen!

 

[ironman123]

Phew! That was close!

That was some close drilling. Step drilling at slow speeds is very time consuming.

That should make a very nice looking pen.

Ray

 

[Bigj51]

Good job! Face turn blue from holding your breath? Great satisfaction to drill that beautiful piece and not have it blow up in your face.

 

[Ulises Victoria]

Oh Man! I just realized that the step I like the absolute less, is drilling holes,especially the larger ones.

Good job!!!

 

[Fishinbo]

Falling in line for the finished product.

 

[turbowagon]

Yeah, this is just one of the awesome uses of a collet chuck! If the hole came out even slightly off-center, and I wouldn't have been able to make a cap with this material.

I'll post photos of the finished pen in a week or so when it's complete.

(My tried-and-true CA application unfortunately still takes 4 days to apply, and then I wait another 2 days to off-gas for good measure). Luckily I have a dedicated finishing lathe for wood pens.

 

[Ulises Victoria]

Could you post a photo of how you use your collet chuck?
I have a set of those, and still, when I put a round piece of wood in them, the wood still seems to wobble. Maybe I don't know how to use them properly.
(Showing my "noobiness" here )

 

[TerryDowning]

Could you post a photo of how you use your collet chuck?
I have a set of those, and still, when I put a round piece of wood in them, the wood still seems to wobble. Maybe I don't know how to use them properly.
(Showing my "noobiness" here )

Makes sure that collet clicks into the retaining ring before tightening the retaining ring and securing everything down.

If the collet is not seated correctly, it will cause the object to wobble.

Here is how I secure things into my collet chuck

Choose the desired collet.
Fasten the collet to the retaining ring (you should hear or feel a positive click and it should not fall out).
Attach retaining ring with the collet to the chuck body
insert material into collet.
secure material by tightening the retaining ring.

 

[turbowagon]

Could you post a photo of how you use your collet chuck?
I have a set of those, and still, when I put a round piece of wood in them, the wood still seems to wobble. Maybe I don't know how to use them properly.
(Showing my "noobiness" here )

What Terry said... make sure the collet is seated in the retaining ring properly. Also,

1. make sure the wood is a constant diameter if possible... a tapered cylinder won't be as easy to grip true.

and

2. if you already have a centered dimple from when gripping between centers, you can pull the tailstock up and maintain pressure from the tailstock while you tighten the collet. (I did that in this case)

and

3. if it does wobble (which happens sometimes), unscrew the ring... wiggle the blank a bit and retighten. Repeat until it doesn't wobble noticeably.

 

[Ulises Victoria]

Aha!!! Guys you opened my eyes. I was doing things backwards. :redface:

Going to try your advise right away. I have an Emperor ready to be drilled right now.
Thanks a lot.

 

[adcox]

You have great patience grasshopper!!!!!!

 

[theidlemind]

And that's some nice photography.
What kind of lotion do you use to get skin like that?
Seems like mine is jags and barbs this time of year......

 

[Phillikl]

On a scale of 1-10 pucker factor: 12!!! Great job!! Would have never been able to accomplish a feat of that nature (would have passed out from holding my breathe)! LoL