How do you make your center bands?

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DocRon

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This one was made from a bubinga blank that blew up on the lathe, so already had the brass tube glued in. I cut it down with a parting tool, then cut the brass with a razor saw (Exacta hobby saw) and sanded it flat. Do you make them with the tube in, or just drill a mandrill-sized hole in the wood and go from there? I am guessing that the tube makes it stronger. Also, I glued the ring to the upper pen barrel, figuring it would make it harder to lose.
The pen is a "fat" slimline, pink ivory, CA/BLO finish, buffed with white diamond. Apologies for the color balance, not yet right in the photo - I'm still working on it.

Second question. do you see the color banding in pink ivory often? This is only the second one I have turned.

2006126215817_pink-ivory1.jpg
 
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Here is a starting place for making your own centerbands. http://tinyurl.com/y87ydq

Scott Greaves wrote and article in the AAW journal a yuear os so back. Maybe we could get him to have Jeff post a copy of it in the library, if possible. What about it Scott. Would a copy for the library be available, or where can it be found out in cyber space?

Do a good turn daily!
Don
Originally posted by DocRon
<br />This one was made from a bubinga blank that blew up on the lathe, so already had the brass tube glued in. I cut it down with a parting tool, then cut the brass with a razor saw (Exacta hobby saw) and sanded it flat. Do you make them with the tube in, or just drill a mandrill-sized hole in the wood and go from there? I am guessing that the tube makes it stronger. Also, I glued the ring to the upper pen barrel, figuring it would make it harder to lose.
The pen is a "fat" slimline, pink ivory, CA/BLO finish, buffed with white diamond. Apologies for the color balance, not yet right in the photo - I'm still working on it.

Second question. do you see the color banding in pink ivory often? This is only the second one I have turned.

2006126215817_pink-ivory1.jpg
Click to expand...
 
Originally posted by its_virgil
<br />Here is a starting place for making your own centerbands. http://tinyurl.com/y87ydq

Scott Greaves wrote and article in the AAW journal a yuear os so back. Maybe we could get him to have Jeff post a copy of it in the library, if possible. What about it Scott. Would a copy for the library be available, or where can it be found out in cyber space?
Click to expand...

Just had a look at that article and I have to say I don't agree with it. If you glue your centerband to the blanks before you drill there is always the chance that the band will not be square with the finished pen.

I always drill my blanks, glue and turn them as normal. Then I use a thin parting tool to cut the end of the upper blank back down to the brass tube. Cut a piece of material for the centerband, trim the end flush. I put a tube inside but do not glue it in. When the end is flush glue it to the upper tube where you cut the blank with the parting tool. Trim the end again and complete your pen.

Sound like a bit fiddly but you can do it really quick.
 
I don't do them that way either, but that was the only tutorial I could think of on CB's and I was trying to answer the question asked by DocRon. Actually, I'm a 'sans CB' kind of guy for slimlines. There are several ways to do CB's and maybe the article I referenced and the hints you gave will get DocRon on his way.
Do a good turn daily!
Don


Originally posted by Pikebite
<br />
Originally posted by its_virgil
<br />Here is a starting place for making your own centerbands. http://tinyurl.com/y87ydq

Scott Greaves wrote and article in the AAW journal a yuear os so back. Maybe we could get him to have Jeff post a copy of it in the library, if possible. What about it Scott. Would a copy for the library be available, or where can it be found out in cyber space?
Click to expand...

Just had a look at that article and I have to say I don't agree with it. If you glue your centerband to the blanks before you drill there is always the chance that the band will not be square with the finished pen.

I always drill my blanks, glue and turn them as normal. Then I use a thin parting tool to cut the end of the upper blank back down to the brass tube. Cut a piece of material for the centerband, trim the end flush. I put a tube inside but do not glue it in. When the end is flush glue it to the upper tube where you cut the blank with the parting tool. Trim the end again and complete your pen.

Sound like a bit fiddly but you can do it really quick.
Click to expand...
 
DocRon,

I have an article that talks about custom centerbands that i downloaded from this forum.
If you want a copy of this send me a pm and i will email it to you.


Leon
 
Way to go Lou! That's the one I was trying to find for DocRon but I was having no luck. You win the prize.
Do a good turn daily!
don

Ah! I had forgotten it(Scott's CB article) was part of the AAW article on turned pens.
 
Don - between the articles that you, Scott and others have contributed to the site you have turned me from all thumbs to where I can actually make a pen. It's a pleasure to remember and re-visit these gems. Thanks for all who have contributed articles during this three years!
 
Eventually you will find your own method of making CB.I normally part off the material and add a "fake one"
AS for your question on the color band in pink ivory I don't think it was in the wood before you turned it.
YOu may have overheated that area while sanding, not sure of the cause but it doesn't look natural to me.Too uniform and goes opposite direction of the grain.
 
I make the centerbands a permanent part of the upper barrel this way. I think this is the same as what Don described.

http://www.woodturnerruss.com/Pen51.html

I agree with Eagle. Bright or dark uniform rings are rarely a part of the wood. Sanding heat is usually the cause, and a result of sanding too fast and holding the sandpaper too long in one place. Slow down the lathe for sanding, and always stop the lathe and sand with the grain between grits. They can also be caused by bruising the wood with dull tools and/or too much pressure on the wood, again from getting the wood too hot.

Having said that, sometimes these things are a part of the wood; but you will never convince anyone of that. Whatever the cause, when such things happen to me, the pen never gets put together.
 
Thanks, everyone for all the info and comments. Found all the articles quite informative.
Re: the color band. All that is possible, though I do try to use very sharp tools, and sand at abut 500 (about as slow as it gets). For this particular pen, I sanded with the lathe OFF, with the grain, until I got to the MM, and I don't press very hard with that. Best possiblity I can think of is maybe burnishing with the paper bag, or the final buffing, where I probably pressed pretty hard. Anyhow, thanks for the heads up!

Ron
 
I'm glad Lou came up with that link for you, since I wasn't around! But he and Don are always faster tham I am anyway! [8D]

Scott.
 
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