The very best part of tree for pens

[jrc]

I go for the forks, up to 3". If you cut down the middle of a fork you will see highly figured wood. Sometimes it is the easiest to collect small branches to cut up for blanks. Often I see penturners with huge chunks of wood cutting up for blanks and when ready to use, they have a bunch of plane looking wood. That happened to me many times.
Now I sometimes use small branches up to about 2 1/2". Most of the time they have a light or white sapwood and the center or heartwood is darker. I'll drill them where they are two toned, both light and dark wood. People love the two toned pens. The photos are white oak someone cut from their camp on the lake

 

[spitfire]

So how long do you let the blanks dry after you cut them? Do you cut them 1/4" larger than what you want incase they shrink? I heard you can boil wood to dry it I thought I might that a shot but don't want to go through all that work just to have the wood crack after I make the pen. Thanks for any advice.

 

[Paul Downes]

I haven't tryed it yet, but.....You might boil the wood as mentioned and then microwave it to drive the water out. I know a kiln operator who drys small samples this way. Go slow, you don't want to burn the wood.

 

[Skye]

It's called the 'crotch' of a limb or tree, just so ya k now.

 

[monkeynutz]

Crotch figure is often very unusual and with great character, particularly if you can avoid patches of end grain when cutting your blanks.

 

[jrc]

I try to cut them up while wet and larger than 3/4" and in long pieces. After 2 or 3 months I'll cut them to a little larger than blank size and let dry a few more weeks.

 

[Fred]

Definitely give the article on boiling wood by Steven Russell a thorough read. You may be surprised at your end results. He is also a fellow IAP member and posts on occasion when his busy schedule allows him the time.

Here is a link to his site. Look on the left side for "Boiling Wood." I bet his procedure will be just what you need.
http://www.woodturningvideosplus.com/

I use and bought my turkey fryer from Northern Handyman since Harbor Freight does not handle anything like this item. They say they don't like the idea of exposure to liabilities ... Oh, well!

Northern Handyman has them right now for around $50 and the catalog number is 33638. Go to this link to view the item ... http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200186224_200186224

The propane tank is available from Home Depot - Lowes - local grocery store, etc.

I am extremely pleased with the results I get from boiling my green wood pen and bowl blanks. For another use, the hot water also removes ALL wax that may have been applied to the wood. Just skim the wax off the top of the water and there you have the cleanest wood around. The boiling process also kills every bug inside or on the wood. (I don't advocate eating any of them though!)

Give the process a try and post your results/likes/dislikes/etc. Me I am happy to say the least.

 

[redfishsc]

Originally posted by spitfire

So how long do you let the blanks dry after you cut them? Do you cut them 1/4" larger than what you want incase they shrink? I heard you can boil wood to dry it I thought I might that a shot but don't want to go through all that work just to have the wood crack after I make the pen. Thanks for any advice.

Drying pen blanks is a piece of cake. Here's the process I use and it works great.


1) Mill the hardwood to 1/8" thicker than you want it to be. DO NOT cut it to length. Leave it long.

2) Coat the ends with something that will seal them up, but something cheap. Old wax, old latex paint, old poly, etc...---- Still expect for some checking to occur, not all woods can be dried with a 100% yield.

3) Stack them in such a way that air can move around them. Stuff this thin doesn't really need a lot of protection from drying too quickly, only super-hard woods like Osage might need a few weeks of slower drying (wrap in newspaper for a few weeks).

I usually let blanks dry for a couple months before I use them, but I'm never really in a hurry anyhow.




BTW if you are drying a burl blank, soak the blanks in denatured alcohol (or even methanol if you have it, it's cheaper by far and just as effective, and 10000% more toxic so keep it away from kids).

An overnight soak in the alcohol has proven to me to be very helpful in reducing splitting/checking in burly or wild-figured woods. I take them out of the alcohol, wrap in newspaper (as per the osage above) and dry them carefully. I've done this with Manzanita root, osage burl, maple burl, oak burl, cherry burl, all with great results.

 

[JohnU]

Im with redfishsc. I soak all of my fresh cut blanks in dentured alcohol and wrap in newspaper. I put them aside for 30 40 days and that usually does the trick.

 

[1080Wayne]

Jim You are giving away one of the secrets to making great looking pens from plain old ordinary N American woods . Some people prefer to live in the fantasy world of exotics . The don`t believe that a customer would willingly return to the roots (or crotches) of the trees they grew up with when buying a pen . They especially don`t believe that he/she would pay a significant premium for doing so . I suggest we leave them to their delusions . It lessens the competition ! Wayne