Snakewood Questions

[truckerdave]

I purchased some snakewood pen blanks about 4 years ago and forgot I had them till last nite! They were stored in a box with a bunch of other pen blanks in my basement. The blanks have a light coating of wax? on them and appear to be straight. I know that snakewood can be very problematic to use if not dry. The question is, given the above conditions and the length of time, do you think those blanks are dry enough to make pens out of by now???
Are there any precautions I should take before using them?
How toxic is the dust from snakewood?
Anyone know where I can buy more in bigger quantities/sizes?
Thanks in advance for your time and help!

 

[BRobbins629]

Many will say turn, wait until it cracks, repair with sawdust and CA and it will look nice. The best trick I know of to avoid cracking is to drill very slowly, turn the blank just proud of final od without glueing to the tube. If you wait a few days, you will notice that the drilled hole is now too small for the tube. File or redrill the hole and keep repeating this process until there is no more shrinkage and the tube slides in easily a few days after filing/drilling. Then you can glue in the tube and turn to final size and shape. Also consider filing the press in fittings so they slide in the tubes instead of press in. Glue them in. This will avoid puttung radial stress on the blank. Follow these directions and the chance of cracking will be dramatically reduced if not eliminated.

Makes a beautiful pen.