Russ,
I don't really deserve to be in conversation with most on this forum as I still do not turn pens with half the quality as most of you make. Having said THAT, I would like to say thanks for the recent article on DNA.
The DNA ties into the topic of this post. I created one snakewood pen last spring for my daughter and it did well and is still fine. The next two snakewood blanks cracked (one cracked, one blew out at the end) when drilling and I took it very very slow and used sharpened bits.
On the last snakewood blank that I tried, I made a Baron. It came out perfect! But then small cracks developed in several places two months after wards.
The time line in creating the pen was like this: Early September drill the blanks (more detail below); mid Sept, glue up with epoxy; Turn in late October, finish, mid November. (The delay was actually because of work and lack of time to do it all in one week.)
Early January, notice two cracks, barely visible, mid January, notice 6 cracks total, all barely visible and nicely spaced.
My one suspect for the problem: When I was drilling this one, I wanted to get the drilling done within an hour or so and didn't want to wait for the blanks to return to normal room temperature after every 1/2 in as I had done on the ones that blew out, (a good habit to get into for sensitive woods). <b>SO, I used DNA in the drilling process.</b> I drilled 1/8 in and eased out, 1/8 in and eased out. Once down to 1/2 in, I would fill the hole with DNA. Cool bit and cool hole. Filled the hole with DNA with every 1/4 inch of depth drilled. (Hey, we use oil baths in drilling metal to help keep the bit and metal cool, so it did sound logical, at least to me, at that time before your DNA article.) [:I] [
)] [B)]
No cracks or blowouts during the drilling. The bit stayed reasonably cool. BUT I beleive that I payed for the exprience because it removed the natural oils and now I have uniform cracks almost systematically around both ends of the pen. And the cracks are very fine, tend to blend in with the snakewood itself. If I were to take the pen apart and put it back on the lathe, the cracks are so small that I believe that I could fill them with CA and they would be difficult to notice.
I believe your observations on DNA and wood reaction are the clue to what happened on my pen, especially since I poured DNA in the hole. There could be other reasons, but this is all that I have to go on for now.