KMCloonan
Member
I read many posts on this site about how difficult Black Palm is to work with - I am not from Missouri, so I don't say "Show Me", but I do like to see for myself.
Well, 1.5 black palm blanks later, I was able to complete the pen below. I just bought a lot of different blanks from Steven Davis (who, by the way, provides outstanding service, and excellent blanks). Included in my purchase were 3 Black Palm blanks. I set off right away to make a Jr. George pen. I cut the blanks to length, drilled them, epoxied in the tubes, etc.
I started turning the barrel blank, and it was going fine, and I started thinking, "this is not so bad". It seemed to turn very nicely. I actually turned the blank down to about 0.010" proud of the bushings with no trouble whatsoever. I decided to take one last gentle stroke of my carbide tool to level the blank with the bushings and WHAM!! The most spectacular blow out I have ever had. The blank literally blew apart. It reminded me of the cartoon cigar that explodes on the guy smoking it.
I went upstairs for dinner and calmed down. I returned to my shop after dinner, cleaned off the tube of the damaged blank, cut a new blank, drilled, glued, etc.
I was extremely cautious the second time around, and I think the final pen turned out well. I will definitely make more pens with Black Palm, I just need to be very careful.
Thanks for letting me decompress!
Well, 1.5 black palm blanks later, I was able to complete the pen below. I just bought a lot of different blanks from Steven Davis (who, by the way, provides outstanding service, and excellent blanks). Included in my purchase were 3 Black Palm blanks. I set off right away to make a Jr. George pen. I cut the blanks to length, drilled them, epoxied in the tubes, etc.
I started turning the barrel blank, and it was going fine, and I started thinking, "this is not so bad". It seemed to turn very nicely. I actually turned the blank down to about 0.010" proud of the bushings with no trouble whatsoever. I decided to take one last gentle stroke of my carbide tool to level the blank with the bushings and WHAM!! The most spectacular blow out I have ever had. The blank literally blew apart. It reminded me of the cartoon cigar that explodes on the guy smoking it.
I went upstairs for dinner and calmed down. I returned to my shop after dinner, cleaned off the tube of the damaged blank, cut a new blank, drilled, glued, etc.
I was extremely cautious the second time around, and I think the final pen turned out well. I will definitely make more pens with Black Palm, I just need to be very careful.
Thanks for letting me decompress!