I'm turning a cocobolo blank and hit a small knot (or some kind of imperfection) right at the tip. At first I thought I'd be able to keep turning until it disappeared, but now it looks like it may go almost all the way to the brass tube. Does anyone have a suggestion on how to stabilize this thing so I don't loose the blank?
It sounds like you'll need to be careful with this one. Normally, adding glue
to the blank to fill small voids is no big deal, we all do it all the time.
Leatherman described how to do that, but with cocobolo you might want
to be extra careful with it, since cocobolo is one of those woods that
sometimes doesn't like to take glue at all.
Some have suggested wiping down the wood with denatured alcohol, while
others say to use the CA activator. This might make it difficult to get any
glue in there!
First thing is to clean the oil from the area. Alcohol, activator .. your
choice as long as you can get rid of the surface oil so glue will stick.
I think I would get a good sized magnifier over the hole, fill it with sawdust
that closely matches the color, drizzle some thin CA into the sawdust and
then hit it with the activator to hold it in place.
That's my guess..