Various problems...

[CameronPotter]

Hi,

Yesterday I had some mixed success - I turned my favourite pen so far (jarrah with a crosscut insert of sassafras that comehow went chatoyant).

Fantastic, problem is that I tried several other things that all failed.

1. Black wattle. This was looking really great, but then suffered blow out on an end. I turned down to the tube and glued on a section of jarrah as a highlight. This worked well, but then the other section tore out in the middle. Right! I thought, I will have one part black wattle with a highlight, the next part will be jarrah. So doing this, I thought maybe the wood is playing up a bit, so I decided I would try to finish it to shape (it wasn't far off) with the ol' 80 grit gouge. Even this caused blow out!! Grrrrr. Any suggestions about what went wrong?

2. Tried a myrtle burl pen. The only problem is that it wouldn't grip on the mandrel. I tightened the screw and the wood still spun almost freely. Then, I checked the ends and it appeared that the wood had receded from the brass tube a bit (don't ask me how). So I went and used the pen mill to sort it out again - went back to the lathe and tried again - same problem. At this point I gave up in disgust and went inside deciding that maybe it wasn't my afternoon for turning.

Anyway, any hints or tips about what might have gone wrong would be gratefully appreciated.

Cam

 

[redfishsc]

I had a similar problem a couple times that you had with your myrtle blank. I cheated, I have a can of whoop-@$$ contact adhesive. I sprayed a goodly amount on the mandrel and inside the brass tube, let it dry for a minute, and jammed the blank on (was NOT easy, this is some tough stuff). Tightened the nut to hold the other one secure, viola. Getting it off wasn't easy, I had to debond it with lacquer thinner, which would ruin most finishes. I hand-sprayed this one with lacquer for that reason.

Never did find what was wrong, seemed like it would have been easy to figure out.

 

[terrymiller]

For the Black Wattle you may want to try stabilizing with CA while turning your pen. Did the wood seem punky real light weight. If so you may want to consider stabilizing the blanks prior to using them.

What type glue did you use for the Myrtle some woods contain alot of natural oils and the glues do not work very well. Some tips I've heard of are to use some DNA after you drill the blank before you glue in the tube, and also make sure you scuff the tube really well to make sure that the glue has enough of a mchanical tooth to bond to.

 

[CameronPotter]

I am fairly sure that the tube glued in OK. The glue was gap filling CA and I did scuff up the tube. Anyway, the tube doesn't move in the blank, but the blank moves on the mandrel...

As for the wood, I didn't think that it was punky, or light weight. The funny thing is that I have turned the same wood for other things, just no pens. It does seem to have a weak grain structure. Some stabilisation as I go probably wouldn't hurt... But at first I really didn't think it needed it. [?] Hmmm... Anyway, I am stabilising some sassafras now which I hope turns out well.

Cam

 

[Johnathan]

Make sure your tools are very sharp, use a light touch, and turn the ends down first before the center. That might help.[]Good luck! post some pics when your done.

 

[CameronPotter]

Thanks Johnathan. I did that check list and I would have suspected that something was wrong with one of those if it wasn't for the sandpaper causing blow out too!

I reckon that it was just one of those days.

I will be posting pics when I get a few more pens ready (to make the photo-taking procedure worthwhile...[]

 

[AirportFF]

Originally posted by CameronPotter
<br />Anyway, the tube doesn't move in the blank, but the blank moves on the mandrel...

Put your blanks on the mandrel as if you are going to turn them. Then before you put the nut on, throw on an extra bushing (slimline) and then put the nut on. I've had some bushings that comeright to the end of the thread and the nut tightens down (on the end of the thread) but doesn't tighten the blnks/bushings. Use the extra bushing as a spacer and see how that works.

 

[CameronPotter]

Thanks for the advice Airport, but I actually tried that too.

It was really strange. So far as I could tell everything was right, the blank just spun relatively freely...

 

[AirportFF]

Hmmm...ya got me beat. I know that it's happened to me and that solved the problem.

 

[CameronPotter]

Yeah. I posted this on another board too (Australian Wood Working Forums) and got the simple response - "Some days are coal, some days are diamonds..."

I reckon that must have been it it something like that. Things just went wrong. I don't know why and maybe I won't find out.

Thanks for trying though!

Cam