glen r
Member
Yesterday's final tally - Veneer blanks blown 3, veneer blanks finished 1.
I had some 1" x 1" x 30", 15 layer birch veneer that came as packaging with appliances that we bought and thought that this wood, cut at an angle, should make for a nice turning. I cut 4 pieces at an angle that I thought would work for Sierra tubes. I cut the blanks and epoxy glued 2 tubes, let the glue dry, cut the excess material off, squared the blanks, used thin CA on the ends and proceeded to start rounding the blank off using my round carbide cutter. Just before I got to the point of sanding the blank I see a blue stain in the wood so garbage. The second blank got turned to the point of sanding when a number of layers blew from the blank and it was unrepairable.
Time for a different tactic. This time I ran thin CA down the inside of the 2 remaining blanks after the holes were drilled. I redrilled the holes for the tubes to fit and used thick CA to set the tubes. The excess material was removed, the tubes squared and then the plywood layered sides were coated with thin CA. Started turning and continued to coat the tube with thin CA. Got part way on the turning when I see a void in the plywood which may be fixable but I was not in the mood to try that repair. Blank #4 finally gave me the result that I wanted when I started this project. Finished by sanding to 400, then sanding sealer, spice stain, 8 layers of CA, MM to 12,000, Hut polish and finally Turtle Wax ICE.
Its all a learning process that takes time. The other thing I learned that if you happen to have any CA on your exposed skin and you happen to get accelerant on the CA it BURNS like being touched with a match.
Here's the finished pen. My picture taking sucks but that too in time will improve.
I had some 1" x 1" x 30", 15 layer birch veneer that came as packaging with appliances that we bought and thought that this wood, cut at an angle, should make for a nice turning. I cut 4 pieces at an angle that I thought would work for Sierra tubes. I cut the blanks and epoxy glued 2 tubes, let the glue dry, cut the excess material off, squared the blanks, used thin CA on the ends and proceeded to start rounding the blank off using my round carbide cutter. Just before I got to the point of sanding the blank I see a blue stain in the wood so garbage. The second blank got turned to the point of sanding when a number of layers blew from the blank and it was unrepairable.
Time for a different tactic. This time I ran thin CA down the inside of the 2 remaining blanks after the holes were drilled. I redrilled the holes for the tubes to fit and used thick CA to set the tubes. The excess material was removed, the tubes squared and then the plywood layered sides were coated with thin CA. Started turning and continued to coat the tube with thin CA. Got part way on the turning when I see a void in the plywood which may be fixable but I was not in the mood to try that repair. Blank #4 finally gave me the result that I wanted when I started this project. Finished by sanding to 400, then sanding sealer, spice stain, 8 layers of CA, MM to 12,000, Hut polish and finally Turtle Wax ICE.
Its all a learning process that takes time. The other thing I learned that if you happen to have any CA on your exposed skin and you happen to get accelerant on the CA it BURNS like being touched with a match.
Here's the finished pen. My picture taking sucks but that too in time will improve.
