Ca glue and pen blanks?

[carsonbm]

I have been told that I should soak my Thuya pen blanks in CA before I turn and again after the blanks get round. I cannot find out why I need to do this and I also need to know how long I should soak them and if I have to throw away the glue when I finished, won't the glue harden sitting in a bowl.
I hope this makes sense to everyone, if I haven't explained this right, let me know.

 

[ed4copies]

Sounds like you are describing a "primitive" way to stabilize.

Another thought, drill your blanks as you normally would, not all the way through. Stop short of the end, so you have a block of wood left at the end. NOW, put thin CA in the hole and swish it around a bunch.

Let sit overnight to cure completely, make certain the room is not cold. You will have to redrill your hole before putting in the brass tubes.

Now,turn close to finished dimension and then, again, douse with CA (thin) while slowly turning on the lathe. If you are not neat, take it OFF the lathe first so you don't CA your blank to your mandrel.

Again, let set overnight to cure.

Finally, turn pen to finished size---then, you probably want to use a CA finish (LOTS of threads will give you LOTS of ways to do this)

Then, post pictures here so we can all tell you what a fabulous job you did!!!

 

[lazyguy]

I am not quite sure about the "soaking" literally. Perhaps they meant to saturate with thin CA to stabilise the blank.

Ed beat me to it sounds like a plan.

 

[Lenny]

Sometimes, as with Spalted Maple for example, the wood can be soft and "spongy".... Is that the case with your Thuya?
In these cases you can treat the wood with CA to stabilize it enough to turn. You might have to turn a little, stop and apply more as needed.
There is another method where blanks can be left to soak in minwax wood hardner. Could THAT be what you were told?

opps .. late again =0)

 

[DurocShark]

I've used that method for brittle woods and burls. Soak the hole, then re-drill. Soak with thin CA frequently during the turning process.

 

[David Keller]

I've never seen thuya that would require this kind of glue treatment. I'd drill it, glue the tubes, and turn it like normal. If it's really soft, you can 'stabilize' as you go with thin CA, but I've never seen thuya that needed it.

Ed's suggestion is a good one for soft, punky woods, so if that description fits your blanks...