I was reading a string in which the person was looking for a cheap source of wood. Somebody stated that they get thiers from the side of the road. Other than the obvious, what do you have to do to get a suitable blank for a pen? Does it have to be dried? If so, how long? Stabilized? how? Very curious!
Wood from the side of the road?
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mdburn_em
Member
No offense intended but I'm chuckling inside at your use of the word string.
Now, to your question.
You do want any wood to be dried. It will crack if its not dried.
HOW to ensure it's dried is another question. It takes about 1 year per inch of board thickness to air dry wood. (as long as air is able to circulate freely between the boards.)
I don't want to wait a year or years for pen blanks. I have often taken wet wood, drill a hole in the blank I've cut to appropriate size and let it air dry for several days. The walls will be much thinner and air can circulate from the inside and outside.
After several days, I redrill/ream out with a hand drill. The wood will probably have moved while drying. Then I glue in the tubes.
I turn the wood so it's proud of the bushings and let it sit a couple more days. Still acclimatizing (in my mind.)
Shortens the process considerably.
This is also part of the process I use for creating pens from ebony and snakewood. (woods prone to cracking)
I have never had to have any blank professionally stabilized. That's what thin ca is for.
drizzle - cut, drizzle - cut, repeat as necessary. CA and sharp tools.
I love Siberian Pea Shrub. I would go cut a piece, bring it to my shop, cut it to blank size and have a pen out of it in 10 days or so.
You can also dry the blank by microwaving it. (buy one at a thrift shop. DO NOT USE YOUR WIFES!) Run it 30 seconds followed by 10 minutes of resting. Repeat until it stops losing weight. Cut and drill.
Now, to your question.
You do want any wood to be dried. It will crack if its not dried.
HOW to ensure it's dried is another question. It takes about 1 year per inch of board thickness to air dry wood. (as long as air is able to circulate freely between the boards.)
I don't want to wait a year or years for pen blanks. I have often taken wet wood, drill a hole in the blank I've cut to appropriate size and let it air dry for several days. The walls will be much thinner and air can circulate from the inside and outside.
After several days, I redrill/ream out with a hand drill. The wood will probably have moved while drying. Then I glue in the tubes.
I turn the wood so it's proud of the bushings and let it sit a couple more days. Still acclimatizing (in my mind.)
Shortens the process considerably.
This is also part of the process I use for creating pens from ebony and snakewood. (woods prone to cracking)
I have never had to have any blank professionally stabilized. That's what thin ca is for.
drizzle - cut, drizzle - cut, repeat as necessary. CA and sharp tools.
I love Siberian Pea Shrub. I would go cut a piece, bring it to my shop, cut it to blank size and have a pen out of it in 10 days or so.
You can also dry the blank by microwaving it. (buy one at a thrift shop. DO NOT USE YOUR WIFES!) Run it 30 seconds followed by 10 minutes of resting. Repeat until it stops losing weight. Cut and drill.
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"No offense intended but I'm chuckling inside at your use of the word string" .....Hahaha.....Reasons to NOT post close to midnight! Thanks for the advice, that is something I think I will try. Buying the same old blanks at the usual shops will eventually get old.
sbwertz
Member
If you see a cheap dehydrator at a thrift shop, grab it. It will speed dry pen blanks. Here in the southwest with temps over the hundred mark most of the summer, I have an old gas barbeque sitting in the sun. I put blanks in that to dry. The sun heats that metal bbq up to about 150 degrees every day.
low_48
Member
I cut all my blanks oversize to around 1" square x 6" long. Let them air dry a few days, but then either put them up in the house attic, or on the dash of your car. It'll be dry in a week this time of year. No need to use electricity unless you want to turn some in a day. Then use a microwave. In the winter, I cover the top of my furnace trunk line. I gets warm and then cools with each cycle. Again dries quickly. If you cut small branches, stay at least 1" away from the very center. Too much stress there and will crack every time. If you want to get a little more accurate, get a small scale and weigh the blanks every few days. When it stops getting lighter, it's dry. If you leave the sap wood on the blank, it has more moisture in it and will often pull the blank a little crooked. Sapwood will also crack easier during drying.
I lived in AZ for 27 years..
and for a number of reasons moved to Alabama. When I worked on wood in AZ, I had to use different parameters than I use now.
I could put completed cherry cabinets outside in the sun and in a week to 10 days I could get a patina that will take years in Alabama to get.
and with the damp weather Alabama has, if I put blanks in the BBQ grill, it would not surprise me that it would be covered with green or blank mold in no time.
I usually rough green wood and then put it in a paper bag of sawdust for a couple months. Check it out from time to time. If it starts to crack, put CA in the cracks and back into the bag.
But drying here is an odd happening. Some people here think that 35% humidity is dry. In Mesa and Tucson, it probably never got that high more that 8-10 times a year.
and for a number of reasons moved to Alabama. When I worked on wood in AZ, I had to use different parameters than I use now.
I could put completed cherry cabinets outside in the sun and in a week to 10 days I could get a patina that will take years in Alabama to get.
and with the damp weather Alabama has, if I put blanks in the BBQ grill, it would not surprise me that it would be covered with green or blank mold in no time.
I usually rough green wood and then put it in a paper bag of sawdust for a couple months. Check it out from time to time. If it starts to crack, put CA in the cracks and back into the bag.
But drying here is an odd happening. Some people here think that 35% humidity is dry. In Mesa and Tucson, it probably never got that high more that 8-10 times a year.