Why did THIS blowout happen?

[RonSchmitt]

Ok, this wood is 2 pieces joined together. It was part of an aircraft carrier flight deck. Darker color is teak, lighter color is open to suggestions.
Each piece I have turned has had the same result. I have tried cutting it both across and lengthwise. I have removed the teak, turned it 90 degrees and replaced it, same result.
ANY ideas???

Starting block


And the results.

 

[ericw95]

I would try turning a bit, add thin CA, and repeat as often as necessary. Oh and before someone else types it - light touch and sharp tools.

 

[alphageek]

Ron,

Teak is kinda a bugger to turn for me. Any more info you can give? What speed and tools?

Looks like your getting some tear out (rough areas) other than the break. I turned a pentel (tubeless) out of teak and although it survived turning, it could be crushed with 2 fingers.

You using a skew? or some other tool?

 

[ctubbs]

It looks, to me, like you are not so much cutting as tearing the wood. What tool are you using and how sharp is it? It also appears that the tube is very close to the surface and well off the center of the blank. Eric has two very good suggestions, especially if the wood is the least bit punky. It would be great if you could give more info on tools and condition of the wood.
Charles

 

[Hess]

Try to round it on a sander 1st may take some of the stress off Ca the crap out of it

What ship was it off of I was on the Forestall most of our deck burned in late 60s

 

[ThomJ]

The wood under the teak on old carrier decks is doug fir

 

[robutacion]

Ok, this wood is 2 pieces joined together. It was part of an aircraft carrier flight deck. Darker color is teak, lighter color is open to suggestions.
Each piece I have turned has had the same result. I have tried cutting it both across and lengthwise. I have removed the teak, turned it 90 degrees and replaced it, same result.
ANY ideas???

Hi Ron,

After a little looking/zooming, etc., I can say that there are a number of reasons why you are having that sort of trouble.
The wood is extremely dense, very dry (brittle) and the layers on the compressed material are made of various materials which will provoke havoc with most of cutting tools.

The whole wood "block' construction is/would/will a nightmare to turn, using normal wood turning techniques and tools.

I could spend the rest of the day being technical about it and confuse the living life out of you so, and cutting a long story short, or should I say, if you want to make pens successfully out of that stuff, keeping everything simple my effective, follow me...!;

*- Cut the square corners on the bandsaw , if you want to make a jig or see how I do it, have a look here

*- Grab yourself a couple of 4" Flap disks from the hardware store one 40 grit, the other 80 grit, you can get also the next step up the 120gr, this will give you the cutting/shaping, the medium and then the fine sanding, living the blank just right for you normal hand sanding process...!

Simply use a 4" grinder and those 2 or 3 grits Flap discs to do what you are trying to do with the gouge/cutting tool.
Lathe speed should be about 2.000, use the tool rest if you like to have a support on the grinder (I don't use it), grab the grinder with both hands and approach the blank from the top part, moving left and right in gentle movements.
Let the disc cut, don't force it, the similar way as if you would be grinding a piece of metal.
Make sure you leave enough wood for the other grit(s) and the hand sanding.
Void touching the bushings with the Flap discs, you can protect them by rolling a few layers of masking tape to them. This will also help you to know how far you can go with the Flap discs, by using the surface of the tape as your "stop" point.

A little info here about Flap discs system

Hand sand and finish as per normal, and voila, you got the pen barrels done successfully EVERY TIME...!

This Flap disc technique is particularly effective for any blanks that are "difficult" or fragile in many possible ways.

You are welcome to not wanting to try this Technique, for whatever reason, but if you do, and if you can prove to me that doesn't work, I offer you $500 worth of any of my woods shipped to you, no problem...!:wink:

Remember, this is my solution and suggestion to problems like yours, that is my story and I stick with it...!:biggrin:

Good luck with it...!

Cheers
George

 

[RonSchmitt]

Dean: High speed, tried skew, spindle gouge, and bowl gouge. All sharp enough to cut me if not careful.

Charles:Wood is SOLID.

Hess: Wood is from the USS Yorktown.

Thom: That's what I thought, but wasn't sure.

George: I'm off to Harbor freight TODAY, finally a reason to get a grinder!!!!
I read your other post and will be trying that on some scrap for practice today, and hope to post some good results on the finished product.
Thanks for the info.

 

[alphageek]

Ron,

I have to say - I've never had to resort to Georges answer, but at this point given the source of the wood... I'd say go for it. I would rather be safe than sorry with that as I assume the amount is pretty limited!

 

[jttheclockman]

That is end grain you are dealing with. The 2 key factors you need to do is round the corners off so basically there is no more flat surfaces and the next is use a sharp skew the reast of the way to shape and then let sandpaper be your friend,. Each time you take a tool to the end grain you are actuallly tear away another layer of grain or in this case year of growth,.