I just turned my second pen. For some reason I keep exploding the wood. I don't know if I'm cutting too deep, or just need to sharpen my tools. I would appreciate any help I can get. I have managed to make two pens though.
Welcome. I am sure you will love it here. I know I have. I have also learned a lot here from the great members.
Answer to your Question: It can be a combination of both. Always make sure your tools are sharp (especially with acrylics). Do not push to hard let the tool do the work. Do light clean passes. If you press to hard you can catch and dig a big junk off if its a bad one. We all have our blow outs from time to time. I just had my first one a couple of weeks ago.
Ohhh....and make sure you have no gap from the tube to your blank when glueing it in. When you drill a hole in acrylic if you exit to fast it may take a chip out the end. This can cause a blow out aswell.
Hope this helps. Cant wait to see some of your work when you can get some pics posted. We all love pics here.:biggrin:
Thomas,
Welcome to the IAP, you'll love it here. Anyway, I have made over 700 pens and just last night, two blew up on me. I am blaming it on the spalted birch and its unstable condition. It is usually due to unsharp tools, holding the tool handle too high or pushing too hard. But I would NEVER do that! So I am sticking to the punky wood excuse.
Good luck.
Hi Thomas, I would like to add to your growing list of possibilities-the angle of the grain in the blank combined with the position of the tool and pressure used could cause a blow out. Also, I have read someplace that the moisture content of the wood being too high, could cause a blow-out. Welcome aboard!
Having just been where you are, having had 9 consecutive blow outs, I solved it by doing two things:
1. buy a decent set of HSS tools if you dont already have a set
2. keep them razor sharp
On the sharpening side I found hand sharpening on a stone is much easier for me than on a grinder or disc. I use 35 degrees on all my tools and since doing this havent, touch wood, had another blow out. (I use a small piece of wood cut at 35 degrees to keep the angle constant)
Good luck and post some pictures, would love to see your work.