Snakewood - What kit to use with it?

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KingBubbaTruck

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Ok, So all this talk about snakewood got me fired up and I went on Ebay and won like 4 auctions of some wood from Chitswood. All this talk about 'snakewood' made me have Chit throw in 5 of the jumbo blanks with my order (Should have paid more attention to the prices on those, but what the hey! [:p])

So, Now I'm going to have some really nice blanks and I'm wondering what kits I should buy to turn for them. What do you guys think would really set this wood off? I tend to like the larger pens and am not a big fan of gold, but what do you think?

Thanks!

Brent
 
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Mac In Oak Ridge

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I'd finish the four sides of the blanks like you do a pen and put them someplace to look at them. Snakewood is very well known for cracking after the pen is made and I wouldn't waste a good set of hardware on a chance that one may not crack.
 
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KingBubbaTruck

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Cracks, Schmacks ! [:D]

These are the guaranteed crack free blanks [;)]

A couple of the first pens I ever turned were made out of ebony, over a year ago, and they have yet to crack. Admittedly, they only have a friction finish on them and were turned pretty thick on a 7mm tube, so maybe the extra mass has helped to keep them from cracking.

My shop pencil, made of an ebony (Not sure it's the real deal, more brown than black) is a homebrewed pentel pencil with no tube and is really quite thin. I made it several weeks ago and it's still in one piece, no cracks.

I figure that the snakewood just looks so good, I'll put it on a nice big pen, make sure the tube doesn't fit too tightly in the wood, glue it in with poly and give it a try.

I'll keep them around a good long while before assembling. If they do crack, I'll just fix them and refinish. Doesn't seem like a huge deal to me.... Am I missing something? [:eek:)]
 
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KingBubbaTruck

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Ok, Here it is. I did the suggested Sterling Silver Churchill with the Snakewood.

20065432838_snakechurchill.jpg


Oh, and I did a cigar with it too. Already posted this one somewhere else, but this is a better picture (I think)

20065432914_snakecigar.jpg


I'll probably hang on to these and wait to see if any cracks develop, but I have to say, I'm pretty hopeful. Oh, very minimal finish on both of these. I read Russ's post on snakewood.

Basically, what I did was to wet sand with BLO up through 600 grit WD, and then wet sand with Water and MM through the range up to 12000.

Put a little more BLO on, then burnished it in lightly, then a little crystal coat, some wax, then a tripoli and diamond paste buff, then a little renwax. I've been using the Cigar as my work pen for the last several days, and I quite like the finish. I've done several CA/BLO finished pens, and I like those too, but I'm not sure it's necessary on these pens.

Thanks for the tip on the Churchill. I really like this kit. For some reason, I think I like it with darker woods, and I just got a set of random blanks, with a couple of slant cut really dark blanks. Good thing I got an extra kit. I'll be working on that next...
 
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KingBubbaTruck

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It really turns smooth. I like to keep my tools very sharp, and the shavings just came off very smoothly, with very little pressure.

I'm not sure how to describe it, but I could tell it had been treated with something. The shavings just didn't seem, well like untreated dry wood. All I've turned up to this point have been plain dry wood and acrylics. I haven't turned any stabilized or treated wood, so all I can say is that it turned a little more plastic like, than say, some of the untreated ebony I've turned before. I don't think this is a bad thing, but it was just, a little different.

Finishing was great. Once I got to the 12000MM, I serious, it was almost done except the polish. No pores, no filler needed, etc...

Not sure if the pictures show itbut the shine on these are surprisingly deep for something without a thick finish, like a CA/BLO. I was pretty surprised. Not as much Chatoyance (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatoyance) as something like the padauk pens I've made, but I really like the figure on the pens...
 
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OSCAR15

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Great looking pen ! To my knowledge, snakewood cannot be stabilized. My guess is that you turned just plain old dry wood. As to the cracking, snakewood is notorious for cracking days, weeks, or months after pen is made. Sometimes, luck prevails and it doesn't. Hope yours don't, but...cracked snakewood looks better than most uncracked woods.[:p]
 
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