Repairing Blown Out Blank---Crazy Idea

[anapolis7]

I was just turning a piece of mesquite burl from Arizona Silhouette and the blank blew out. I attempted to glue it back to the tube as the part of the grain i blew out was only moderately curvy and had shattered into big pieces.

Believe it our not, I was fairly successful for a few minutes; however, I had not waited long enough for the CA to dry before I started turning the piece again. Soon one of the original slivers went flying somewhere in the garage.

As I was searching through the garage for this sliver (which is about the color of concrete if anyone locates it) I was pondering possible solutions to this problem. I stumbled upon a possible solution and wondered if it was just plain crazy or crazy enough to work in the opinion of those more experienced than me.

Could you glue the pieces back to the tube, wrap a paper towels around the freshly glued pieces (assuming that the blank is not close to finishing and you can still spare some waste shavings), coat the towel in THIN CA and let it dry?

I may be crazy but it is pretty hard to tell for yourself, ya know. Please post your replies. Should I happen to find the missing slivers, I will let you know the outcome of this experiment.

 

[fiferb]

If you are able to find the big chunks and are able to glue them back on the tube, you could fill the cracks/gaps with sawdust and thin CA. Not sure what you have in mind for the paper towel, hold it all together like a clamp?

 

[jkeithrussell]

Why not just glue it back together and wait for it to dry?

 

[TribalRR]

I have used medical gauze to hold segmented blanks together while drilling (Eagle trick), but I'm not sure it would help with turning. Unless you turned small sections down to the finished sized at a time... I think the best way to deal with troublesome blanks is to soak it with thin CA, remove a 16th of an inch or so, and repeat.

 

[Chris Bar]

Use rubber bands here to hold segments in proper orientation.

 

[anapolis7]

Thanks for the advice!

As of yet, I have been unable to locate the shard of pen blank in the garage to complete this pen, but I have not given up.

 

[Texatdurango]

Thanks for the advice!

As of yet, I have been unable to locate the shard of pen blank in the garage to complete this pen, but I have not given up.

When I started turning pens, I tried to repair every blank that was on the lathe for almost any reason and got pretty good at hiding mistakes with ca and dust or shavings, gluing back slivers and chunks even making a few "oops" bands and hiding small goofs behind the clips.

Now, when I have a mishap and a chunk of the blank goes flying off, I don't try to salvage it, I simply trash it and get another blank.

I changed my habits because last year while showing some pens to a friend I noticed one in the display that I had made back in 2007 just after starting. It was a blank that I glued back together and at the time felt pretty good about it. But as soon as I picked it up I noticed a line and it wasn't a grain line! I figured if I can see it anyone could and why sell anything but my best work.

Just a thought.

 

[bitshird]

Smack the blank with a hammer pick up the bigger pieces and cast them, spare tubes are cheap, nice wood isn't. I blew up a beautiful 7/8 Amboyna yesterday and I'll cast it when the weather warms up a bit.