Denco
Member
I just came into some teak wood. It makes great boxes, but I'm having problems with making pens from it. I'm making slimlines and the wood keeps splitting off of the barrel. Is there something in the nature of teak wood that is hard to make pens from? I haven't had this problem with any other pens, so with the facts below, could you offer any suggestions where I might be missing something? This wouldn't be a big deal, but the pen set if for the man who gave me the wood. Thanks in Advance.--Den
1. Cutting the blanks about 1"x1" going with the grain.
2. Using 5 min epoxy and letting it sit over night. Have used it successfully in the past. Could it be getting old, it seems to be setting fairly quickly. Should I go back to 15 min epoxy or a different glue?
3. The wood came from 4x4 stalks that sat in the owner's backyard for who knows how long. Not kiln dried, but sun dried. I live in California, so the temperature doesn't get that drastic where I live.
4. My tools are sharp. I can stop with the pen and start turning a box w/o problems.
5. I tried 3200rpm and 2000rpm on the lathe. Didn't seem to make a difference.
6. I'm being patient. Not taking off much at a time. The problem happens when I get the pen thinned down close to 8mm or so. Maybe this wood just can't handle being that thin? I don't know.
Your thoughts? Questions?
1. Cutting the blanks about 1"x1" going with the grain.
2. Using 5 min epoxy and letting it sit over night. Have used it successfully in the past. Could it be getting old, it seems to be setting fairly quickly. Should I go back to 15 min epoxy or a different glue?
3. The wood came from 4x4 stalks that sat in the owner's backyard for who knows how long. Not kiln dried, but sun dried. I live in California, so the temperature doesn't get that drastic where I live.
4. My tools are sharp. I can stop with the pen and start turning a box w/o problems.
5. I tried 3200rpm and 2000rpm on the lathe. Didn't seem to make a difference.
6. I'm being patient. Not taking off much at a time. The problem happens when I get the pen thinned down close to 8mm or so. Maybe this wood just can't handle being that thin? I don't know.
Your thoughts? Questions?