Antler Pen Cracks

[aggromere]

I haven't made any pictures yet. I turned an antler gent a couple of days ago. It was my first. I finished like acrylic using micro mesh and ren wax. I thought it would look more natural than with a ca/blo finish. The nite i made the pen it was perfect. The next morning it had a small crack at the end of the upper barrel. This morning it has two cracks at the same end and the one previous crack has grown longer.

I drill on the lathe at about 500rpms. I did have some issues when drilling the blank that is cracked. The bit caught a couple of times.

Can i disasemble the upper barrel and fix wih CA or will it just keep cracking? Also, should antler be finished like wood with CA/blo and will that retard the cracking issues or is it okay to just finish with micro mesh and wax. Other than the two cracks the pen looks very nice.

 

[rherrell]

I always soak the inside of the drilled blank with thin CA, let dry and re-drill. Then glue in the tube and turn. After I turn but before I sand, I soak the outside of the blank with thin CA, let dry and sand. All the CA on the surface gets sanded off but some of it soaks in and kind of "stabilizes" the antler. This works especially well when you have alot of marrow showing.
I never put a CA finish on antler, just sand to 600 and buff.

 

[aggromere]

thanks for the tip

 

[jimm1]

Peter, are you letting the antlers age? I turn the previous years antler harvest. You

Jim

 

[mickr]

yep, they must be dry (dry as a bone, ha) and do the ca as rherrell suggests..done it this way for a decade or two and it works very well

 

[Rifleman1776]

Jim may have hit the problem/solution.
I have worked, in many ways, with antler and have never encountered this kind of problem. But, then, all the antler I have used has been aged or really old. I have never worked fresh stuff.
Personally, with your pens, I would just take a wait and see attitude. If it cracks no further, just let it be. Antler is a natural thing and has character, sometimes including cracks.