¿Cutting blanks from figured wood?

[underdog]

I noticed somewhere that to make a pen blank more interesting, that you should cut it on a diagonal so that the grain became more prominant.

Does this hold true for figured wood like Tiger Maple?

 

[Dario]

NO. Tiger figure is always best cut along the grain (perpendicular the tiger figure). IMHO

 

[Rifleman1776]

This is a touch-point subject. Cross and bias cut blanks can be very attractive. But, too often they will blow up on the lathe. And when they don't can be hard to turn. I don't like screwing around with things that have a high chance of creating problems. I think most woods are beautiful as they are and do very few cross/bias cut pens.

 

[ilikewood]

It also depends on how much wood you have. Angle cutting produces more waste and woods that are rare should be conserved as much as possible.

 

[underdog]

heh... I don't do "rare" unless it's been given to me. I don't "buy" wood when it grows on trees...[] Yep. I squeak when I walk....[]
I also work in a cabinet shop and figured wood (around knots etc.) big enough for pens is frequently thrown away. (Every day!) I can get lots of Cherry, Maple, Alder, Poplar, Walnut, Hickory, and ocasionally Mahogany.

So no, I'm not going to be making lots of exotics anytime soon....[^]


Good answers guys. It helps me make decisions on the material I have.

 

[bob393]

If the wood is free scraps than you should definatly try diagnal/bias cut blanks and turn them.
They do add a differant look to a pen.
And we should all reconfigure a blank occasionally![]