Amboyna Burl Question

[George7]

I turned my first pen from Amboyna burl yesterday. It is pretty wood, but I found it to be very hard on my tools. I had to sharpen my skew twice to complete a single cigar pen. I've never had anything like that happen before. Is that normal for Amboyna?

 

[Dario]

Nope. Never had that problem and I turned my share of amboyna.

 

[EeyorIs21]

Was it stabilized?

 

[Rifleman1776]

From a turning standpoint, it is just ordinary wood. Even stabilized you shouldn't have to sharpen like that. I do a lot of Osage Orange which has a high silica content and is hard on cutting tools but it doesn't give those kinds of problems. By chance, are you using some really el cheapo tools made from soft steel?

 

[alamocdc]

I've not had that problem with Amboyna burl, or even Mesquite (which also has a high silica content). Like Frank, I would be tempted to suspect tools made of a low grade carbon steel.

 

[SteveRussell]

Hello George,

I turn Amboyna quite frequently and have never experienced the conditions you describe. It turns and cuts quite easily and therefore I would suspect either your sharpening method (stone that needs resurfacing perhaps), or your tools (Carbon Steel in lieu of HSS) as the likely culprit. Good luck to you and best wishes in all of your woodturning endeavors!

 

[beamer]

I'd first look at technique. The only reason I say that is I've seen lots of guys use their skews as scrapers NOT as cutting tools. This really beats the heck outta that edge and I wouldn't be surprised if you had to sharpen a bunch if that was the technique.

How are you holding the skew to the wood and making your cuts?

 

[George7]

Thanks for all of the replies. To respond to some of what has been said I'll make these statements:

The skew is a Marples from Sheffield, England. I believe that it high speed steel. I've turned about 150 pens with it without problems.

I got the blanks from Ebay. They were not described as stabilized.

I wasn't scraping with the skew. Yes, I have been known to do that, but I wasn't at that time. I rough the black round with a 3/8 inch spindle gouge and then use a skew to shape the pen.

I've got 5 more pieces of this material, so I will have to see what happens with the next one. I had never read about Amboyna being hard to turn and I was shocked when I had trouble with it. I'm going to use something else for tomorrow's pens and see if I've lost my ability to turn pens.

Thanks again.

 

[Rifleman1776]

It's a puzzler. Like you say, I think you have lost it. []