Hairline Cracks Appearing after Finishing?

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
G

gmreeves

Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2010
Messages
98
Location
Birmingham, AL
I turned a nice piece of Amboyna for a Tycoon kit and it looked great after turning. I applied about 8 coats of thin CA and polished and waxed it. I installed the hardware and everything has been fine for a few days. Now, all of the sudden, I am noticing that the finish is a little wavy and I have three or four hairline cracks beginning to form in the finish. Is the wood changing because of the humidity causing the cracks to form? I bought the blanks from PSI and they were not coated with any wax and appeared nice and dry. I don't have a moisture meter to determine the level though. I turned a Cocobolo the same night and so far it is fairing well. Any thoughts on what has happened and ways to prevent it in the future? Can I salvage this pen?
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
All right. Here they are. Don't mind the black line on the cap section. That is just a dog hair.

CIMG5558.jpg


CIMG5559.jpg


CIMG5560.jpg
 
That's kind of what I was thinking but dang it it looked like a good pen until this happened. Oh well, I guess I can wait a little while before finishing it. Are there any inexpensive moisture meters that are reliable that any of you would recommend I look at purchasing?
 
suspect the wood is still drying out . I would disassemble , sand the finish off , let sit for a couple weeks inside the house (not in direct sunlight) , and re-finish .

Exactly my thoughts. Still drying. A little inexpensive moisture meter in the shop sure is handy.
 
gmreeves said:
That's kind of what I was thinking but dang it it looked like a good pen until this happened. Oh well, I guess I can wait a little while before finishing it. Are there any inexpensive moisture meters that are reliable that any of you would recommend I look at purchasing?
Click to expand...

Greg,
I had one that I did for a pen swap and after I sent the pen to my swap partner, he discovered the cracks and wavy finish... I don't have a moisture meter either and didn't realize how wet the wood was... was a disappointment for both of us as by the time he got the pen, it was really crappy... it was beautiful when it left here... I have it back and hope to refinish it for myself...
 
A small postage or other scale capable of weighing in 2 gram increments is much more accurate (but a lot slower) than a moisture meter for determining if a blank is in equilibrium with your local conditions . Weigh it , leave it a week , re-weigh . If less than 5% change , you are probably okay to turn it if it is a local wood . If a very dense exotic , I would personally wait a month or longer .
 
Hi
Here is my experience with the same problem you got. I had these cracks appear in some of my Amboyna Burl Pens and thought also that they hadn't been dry all the way. Wrong!! As i thought about this problem i recalled that all the blanks i used had come from the same Burl i cut for blanks myself. So i was wondering how it could be that some blanks from the same burl crack and others don't. To make a long story short, i put to much heat/friction to the blank while i was sanding/finishing. Look at your process and see what you could do different. I watch now more closely that i don't allow the sanding/finishing media to heat up the blank.Since then i'm "crack free" lol...

Robert
 
It could be from not sanding/chamfering the tubes before assembly. When it is pressured at assembly it can cause small cracks to appear from the pressure of assembly...
 
This is wood movement. I've had this annoying problem over the years and have given up on all but commercially stabilized blanks. Don't bother trying to fix.....it's a waste of time as I will guarantee cracks will appear again.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom