Dealing with chipping...

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Marc Phillips

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Not sure if this is the right place... but I would really like some input on this....

I turned this pen, and no matter what I tried the stupid maple kept throwing little chips off.... so I would take the skew (REALLY sharp!) and make a very careful pass.... and it would remove the chip! .... yea!... then I would see a new chip... GGGRRR!!! .... this went on and on... about 5 times at least, until I was out of wood and just had to go ahead and finish the pen or throw it in the trash...

So... what can I do if this happens?

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Marc,

My $.02:
I've been very lucky so far and haven't had any chipping (or catches) like that. I've had
bloodwood blanks flat come apart along the grain and had DIW chip while drilling too fast, but not while turning.

However, I think it'd be the same treatment one might use for woods that can crack --
coat with CA while turning and re-fill with CA and fine shavings.
I would do that rather than fill a chip with CA only in a case like shown.

I've got a magnolia pen that's got a bughole w/ CA and it looks like I filled a chip;
it's darker like the spot your red arrow on the left points to.
I personally don't like it much, and won't ship it.
Since it's not a production defect, if someone sees it and likes it, I'll sell it.
There's no surprises that way.

- G -
 
Marc, you are missing the point.
We only turn pens because we enjoy the torment. [;)]
Seriously, it sounds like you were doing what should be done with something like this. Sometimes mother nature's creations don't yield to mans messing around. Specifically, figured maple can be frustrating to work with. Small figures and curlies can just come out at the worst possible time. Maple is a great wood to work with but you must understand it's potential for disaster. I believe that is what happened with your, otherwise beautiful, pen. Except for stabilizing, before turning, or with lots of CA during the process, I'm not sure it would be 100% avoidable with maple that has any figure in it.
p.s. I just had a stabilized big leaf maple burl blank blow out on the drill press. it was a bit undersized and I was drilling the 37/64" hole for the top. [:(] Stuff happens.
 
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