Problem with teak pen

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Denco

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I just came into some teak wood. It makes great boxes, but I'm having problems with making pens from it. I'm making slimlines and the wood keeps splitting off of the barrel. Is there something in the nature of teak wood that is hard to make pens from? I haven't had this problem with any other pens, so with the facts below, could you offer any suggestions where I might be missing something? This wouldn't be a big deal, but the pen set if for the man who gave me the wood. Thanks in Advance.--Den

1. Cutting the blanks about 1"x1" going with the grain.

2. Using 5 min epoxy and letting it sit over night. Have used it successfully in the past. Could it be getting old, it seems to be setting fairly quickly. Should I go back to 15 min epoxy or a different glue?

3. The wood came from 4x4 stalks that sat in the owner's backyard for who knows how long. Not kiln dried, but sun dried. I live in California, so the temperature doesn't get that drastic where I live.

4. My tools are sharp. I can stop with the pen and start turning a box w/o problems.

5. I tried 3200rpm and 2000rpm on the lathe. Didn't seem to make a difference.

6. I'm being patient. Not taking off much at a time. The problem happens when I get the pen thinned down close to 8mm or so. Maybe this wood just can't handle being that thin? I don't know.

Your thoughts? Questions?
 
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dmadis

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Probably the oiliness of the wood is keeping the glue from sticking properly. Try scrubbing with a q-tip inside the drilled hole with acetone or even alcohol to get some of the oil off the glueing surface. I guess if the glue isn't holding the blank is more likely to break when it gets thin.

Darrell
 

DCBluesman

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Den--Teak is usually wonderfull wood to work, so there could be a couple of problems. If I understand you correctly, the wood is either turning off or breaking off of the brass tubes. If that's the case, make sure your tubes are scuffed up and down the entire length. As Darrell indicated, running some denatured alcohol through the blanks will pick up any surplus oil. Make sure your epoxy mix is exact. Too much resin will result in epoxy that will not hold. Next, when glueing your tube in, gunk up the last 1/4-3/8" of the tube with epoxy and insert it partially in the nib or cap end of the blank, twisting as you go. That will get good adhesion in that area. Then apply epoxy to the rest of the tube and insert the tube from the opposite end, twisting as you go. That should get adhesion that will resist just about anything you're throwing at it. Let us know how it goes.
 

Rudy Vey

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Maybe try some CA glue that set very fast, especially when you used some Acetone to de-grease the wood. Acetone is better to remove the oils than alcohol.
Rudy
 

ldimick

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When I turned my teak pens last week I used CA without any problem. It really is a nice wood to work with. I am very iterested to see if the denatured alcohol turns out to be your solution.
 

Fleabit

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I did a laminate Teak/Mahogony pen a while back. I had no problems with it or the glue up. I agree with the above, that you have to make sure the brass is scruffed good and you do the twisting motion when putting the tubes into the blanks. The only blow out I have had was due to operator error. Hope this helps.
 

Denco

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Oakley, CA, USA.
Thanks, All, for the input. I failed to mentioned that I indeed scuffed the tubes up. I ended up buying some new epoxy with a longer set time. I think my old glue had just gone bad. All is well now.--Den
 
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