Aaarrgghhh..don't force it, stupid!

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JimMc7

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Joined
May 12, 2009
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Location
NE Oklahoma
Everything was going so well: beautiful desert ironwood blank with my best CA finish to date...

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...and, of course I crack the cap assembling :mad:.

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Oh well, I guess I can turn an alt ivory cap and have Ken engrave something like "Don't force it, stupid" and keep it as a reminder. Sorry for the rant but figured several of you might relate! Think it's time to quit for the day.
 
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Did you examine it to figure out the cause? I cracked a tube once and couldn't for the life of me figure it out... until I dissambled it and had a look. It seems in my rush to square the blanks I got the blank square alright BUT not flush with the brass tube. The wood was a few thousandths above the brass tube, just enough to cause the problem.

Everything went smooth until I pressed the parts together and the cap came in contact with the woob before it contacted the brass so when I pressed, ALL of the force was on the wood and, well that was that!
 
Yep. Been there too A few times. Sometimes you can fix them somtimes you can't. Some thin ca and a insulin typ syringe inject behind crack alongthe blank and brass tube. I have done this a few times and crack was long gone. Just had to touch up the CA again.
 
Texatdurango said:
Did you examine it to figure out the cause? <snip>
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Good point, George, and I should have pointed out what I think is the cause. This is the 1st time I've applied a very thick CA finish and I didn't clean the excess off the cap end well enough. I think just a bit of thick CA finish proud of the end was enough to put pressure on the wood and it cracked. I didn't have the same problem on the pen portion because I'd used a parting tool to trim the CA at the ends to make sure I could get the finishing bushings off easily. This was after I'd had a tough time getting the bushings off the cap portion because of the thick CA. I'll try to salvage it, but IME the crack will still be obvious after filling with sanding dust. I've already glued up an alt ivory cap and will get something engraved on it so I can at least salvage the pen portion and make something positive out of my mistake!
 
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Jim, Yep, that little ridge of CA has probably gotten all of us at one time or another. Here is something you might want to consider.... I have a few fine emory boards (fingernail files) on my work table and one of the last things I do before assembly is to grab a 10x loup and make sure the blank is level with the brass. If not, I take the blank and rotate it on the emory board a few times. It doesn't take but a second but might alleviate the agony of having an hour's work go down the drain.
 
Thanks for the tip, George. I think I've salvaged it at least as a "family & friends" pen. The crack closed to where it's hardly noticeable when I knocked the cap off. I rotated the rough end on a flat piece of 600g sandpaper to knock off the high spots and re-assembled with the crack under the clip. I can't see the crack now without a loupe.

I got a bit lucky on this one and now I know better!

I won't sell it though because I'm a bit worried the crack could expand over time.
 
Fix the crack and if it blends end decent enough place the clip section over it and it should cover it enough not to be to noticable. :wink:Ben there before so it became my everyday pen now but i have had people want to buy it but i did not sell it because i knew it was not perfect so i made others to sell.
 
Man, i cant count how many pens i have cracked. It is the worst thing in the world. Not only is all the work you have done wasted, and not only do you have to spend however long fixing it, and not only is your finished product ruined, You also have to disassemble your new project. For me, that is the worst part about it. I don't mind the time at the lathe turning, and i don't mind all the other stuff, But i cannot stand disassembly. SOOOOOOO counter productive. In fact, I hate it so much, I have a dresser drawer in my shop with probably 30 or so various kits and half assembled products, or fully assembled pieces with a problem.


Sounds like you have figured out a good solution. I would at least put some CA in the crack to try to keep it from spreading. But then again, You probably know a guy that could redo the cap later if it does get bigger (the crack that is).
 
Ron, my intent was to disassemble the cap, wet sand with CA to fill the gap and refinish. The cap/clip knocked out fairly easily but the center band coupler didn't budge after several good whacks. I don't like to dis-assemble pens either -- but that humongous center band coupler on the Jr Statesman II is a particular pain to knock out in my experience. I've tried to disassemble 3 of these: 1 knocked out fine, 1 the blank started separating from the brass tube and this one didn't budge at all. Since I was happy with the pen otherwise, I decided not to tempt fate, left it alone and hid the defect under the clip.

I won't sell the pen, but my son's wedding is coming up soon so I'm sure a friend or new/old family member will be happy to get it. If a member of the new family takes it, any warranty work depends on how well we all get along after the excitement of the wedding wears off!
 
As much as we all hate to dis-assemble any pen I have taken to cutting the plastic center band coupler with and excato down to the size of the Jr. Gent and Jr. Retro on the statesman before assembling.This make for dis-assembling a little easyer....


JimMc7 said:
Ron, my intent was to disassemble the cap, wet sand with CA to fill the gap and refinish. The cap/clip knocked out fairly easily but the center band coupler didn't budge after several good whacks. I don't like to dis-assemble pens either -- but that humongous center band coupler on the Jr Statesman II is a particular pain to knock out in my experience. I've tried to disassemble 3 of these: 1 knocked out fine, 1 the blank started separating from the brass tube and this one didn't budge at all. Since I was happy with the pen otherwise, I decided not to tempt fate, left it alone and hid the defect under the clip.

I won't sell the pen, but my son's wedding is coming up soon so I'm sure a friend or new/old family member will be happy to get it. If a member of the new family takes it, any warranty work depends on how well we all get along after the excitement of the wedding wears off!
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