Red Jasper Issues found

[ashaw]

I have been using Red Jasper TruStone for many years now. Up until recently this was a very easy blank to work with. In another thread I spoke about the issues I have been having. This week I received three new blanks very a new batch. The issues are still occurring.

1. Heat is not your friend. You will not see the cracks until the blank is turned down.
2. Large diameter holes must be drilled with at least 2 to 3 smaller to large bits until the final diameter hole is drilled. Again just like 1 you will be seeing the cracks until turned.
3. No longitudinal pressure. When on a mandrel or pressure fitting the hardware. It will crack.

1 and 2 seems like a random process, sometimes they occur sometimes not. Just go slow and use water when drilling to keep the heat down.
3. I went tubless and epoxy the hardware in.

After four attempts only one worked. That is a 75% failure rate.

This is a poor failure rate from a product that is beautiful when polished and finished. I will be talking to them tomorrow with my results. As a result and only until Red Jespar is dependable again I can not use this color. Right now I am working with Jonathon to see if he can up with an alterative.

So far I have not been having the same issue with the other colors of true stone.

The cracks show up as a white line with in the material and are not fixable since they go through the whole blank. Will try and a get some pictures up.

Alan

 

[Rangertrek]

Thanks for the info Alan. I just finished up tow pens in red jasper and did not experience any of those issues. Both were magnetic graduates, long barrel to drill, done with only one bit. Did not see any cracks. Maybe I was fortunate. These were apparently new since I had just ordered them for a client.

 

[PMisiaszek]

I am not, by any means, one of the experts on this forum. But, I turn a lot of red jasper TruStone, and just finished a red jasper TruStone PSI "Exec" a few minutes ago. I have never had a failure like you describe. I do all of my drilling on the lathe using, until recently, a Beall collet and jacobs chuck, and now a Nova chuck with pen jaws. I do not use water to cool, but do back off the bit several times to clear it. The only other precaution I take is to drill in from both ends rather than drill all the way through from one end of the blank. My only drilling failures came when I tried to drill all the way through and would up with a broken end as the bit cleared the blank. I would guess that the problem either is the result of overheating or some sort of vibration being introduced to the process. I use high-end drills to drill TruStone. Maybe a real good drill would solve your problem.

 

[gbpens]

Have you tried contacting R.T. Research? They are the people manufacturing this material. "Trustone" is a made up name from one of the suppliers, not the manufacturer. It used to be sold by the pound in block, half-block and quarter block sizes.

 

[ashaw]

Yes I have been talking to them since the problem first occurred. I had two pieces of old stock left that I used for a previous project and could abused the blanks and no problems. It is happening on new stock that I have bought from 3 different source and stock from R.T. Research directly. All blanks that I had problems with were sent back to them to look at. It appears this started happen after their explosion at their plant 2 years ago.

This is not occurring just with drill but also during turning and assembly. If too much heat is built up. I had to use the product to make a pen that a customer has been waiting for. I had to go tubeless and glue in hardware in. This solution is not a problem to do. But even going with this approach I lost three out of four blanks. Other colors do not seem to be a problem so it may be a problem with the dye that made the blank more brittle.

To date I have turned about 50 red jasper pens.

Alan

 

[ashaw]

I posted this not to bash the maker but to let everyone know so they could just keep an eye out. I have worked with R.T. Research before on another project, and they are great to work with. Just hoping this is not like snake wood where cracks start appearing out of the blue. Also do not use a pen mill instead use sand paper to square the blank.

 

[Swagopenturner]

One thing that came to mind when I read you problems - Are you turning Regular Tru-Stone or PLIABLE Tru-Stone? It makes a world of difference! When you order for pen turning make sure you specify PLIABLE Tru-Stone.

 

[ashaw]

It was PLIABLE True Stone. Right now I am trying to come up with another solution. These problems came up after their factory explosion. Maybe a change to their formula.