Stabilized wood and chunking out

[txcwboy]

I set up 2 pens last night so I could turn them today. Both stabilized wood. BOTH chunked out on the left end. I got to thinking, of all the pens I have had chunk out on me, most have been stabilzed wood. Super glued turn at normal speeds and it wasnt even trued yet ! big chunk to the tube on both.Is is me ? and what am I doing wrong? or others have issues with it also ? Been turning pens 15 yrs +.

Dave

 

[Monty]

Dave,
What were you doing when the chunks came off? Milling? Turning?
Was there glue residue on the inside of the chunk or tube where it came off?

 

[gwilki]

Dave: Are you turning from the center of the blank off the end? That will frequently take chunks off the end of the blank. If you turn from the ends into the center, it will avoid that.

 

[Vince_Hoffmann]

What Grant said is true.

Also, sharp tools will help eliminate your problem.

 

[thewishman]

The only stabilized woods I turn are burls, so they are naturally prone to "chunking out." Just a price to pay for the beauty of the materials. Usually I just glue them back together and keep going (sometimes I have to glue in chunks more than once.)

 

[Blind_Squirrel]

Treat stabilzed wood as if it were an acrylic blank; essentially it is just that.

 

[txcwboy]

Im not sure exactly what i was doing when it happened. It all happened so fast ! ) I was in that area though. I do start at the ends though. I also tried glueing them back but one was a few pieces and couldnt find them all. Other you could see the crack in it. I guess its me and I ll have to be more careful at the ends.

thanks for the tips guys
Dave

 

[marcruby]

I found two tricks that help. The first is to cut the segments long and not drill through completely. Then I sand or bandsaw the blank to clear the hole. The other one is to use a backing (actually an ending) block so that the drill continues into wood rather than suddenly spinning free.

Marc

 

[wolftat]

If you have the lathe running at too high of a speed, you are more likely to have a problem also.

 

[RMB]

Try roughing it with a parting tool, 1/8" at a time, from ends to center.

 

[TellicoTurning]

Dave,
I think everyong has their own technique... I haven't done a stabilized blank in a while, but normally when I turn, I turn pretty fast and use a skew ... if it's really sharp, I have little trouble with chipping or knocking chunks out.
When drilling I do the same as Marc, I have the blank resting on a scrap board to catch the drill bit into wood rather than into air.. drill slowly and clear the flutes regularly.