Cocobolo and Box Elder Burl

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Shane

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Northern, Utah.
Turned some more Wall Streets this weekend but tried a couple things different on these.

First I took a try at stabilizing my own blanks. The wood in the pics to the left of the pens is a rotten punky piece that I could pick apart with my fingers. The BE pen in the center is from this same piece of wood.

IMG_0390.jpg


To stabilize the blanks I put them in a glass vacuum canister and poured in some Minwax wood hardener. Hooked up my vacuum pump and pulled a vacuum on them for about 30 minutes. I then took off the canister lid and placed the canister with the hardener and blanks in it inside my HF pressure pot and put it under 60 lbs pressure for another 30 minutes.

I repeated these two steps about 5 more times. Each time I noticed fewer and fewer air bubbles coming out of the blanks. By the time I was done there was no more bubbles and the blanks where no longer floating. Next I put them in a small toaster oven and backed them for about 2 hours at 175 degrees. When I took them out they were hard as a rock. :D I took one of the blanks and cut it in half and could see the hardener had soaked completely throughout the blank. I forgot to mention above that I drilled the blanks before stabilizing. I figured I was going to have to drill them again after I was done but I didn't have to, the tubes still fit nice and snug.

Another thing I tried was using just CA for the finish instead of my normal CA and BLO finish. I have had great results with CA/BLO but every once in a while on the real dark wood, especially cocobolo, I would get a slight cloudy/hazy finish. I don't if this is from the BLO or the oil in the wood or maybe the wood just wasn't dry enough, but I didn't get it with the straight CA finish. I was also able to get the CA to build up a little thicker than I could when I used it with the BLO. Anyways, I'm not trying to start any arguments here about which finish is the best but after the great results I got with the CA I think I will eliminate using the BLO.

The CA buffed out to a very nice glossy finish. I had to diffuse and bounce the light to take the pics because of the high gloss which eliminated the hot spots but doesn't show off the finish all that great.

(same pens, different view)
IMG_0389.jpg


Thanks for looking ... Comments/Critiques always welcome.

Happy Turning,
 
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Those are quite nice looking.
How much time did you personally invest in stabilizing and drying these blanks?
I'm asking so that I can compare my time/effort vs. sending it to someone else to do.
I realize there's pride and value in self-sufficiency. For me, the trade-off is time.
Thanks,
Gary
 
Originally posted by GaryMGg
<br />... How much time did you personally invest in stabilizing and drying these blanks?
I'm asking so that I can compare my time/effort vs. sending it to someone else to do.
I realize there's pride and value in self-sufficiency. For me, the trade-off is time.
Thanks,
Gary
Click to expand...

Thanks Gary and Steve. Gary a half hour on each step and two hours to bake is aproximately 8 hours, but I didn't have to sit there and baby sit them the whole time. Just a couple of minutes spent for each step to move them and hook up the vacuum pump or compressor.
I could of also just used the pressure pot for both vacuum and pressure but I liked being able to see how much bubbles I was getting when I used just the glass canister for the vacuum.
So actual working time for me was only about 15 minutes or so, plus like you stated I get the satifaction of doing it myself and not paying someone else to do it.

Thanks again,
 
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