I thought wood dust was bad... Tru-Stone

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Dave_M

Dave_M

Member
Joined
Dec 10, 2005
Messages
769
Location
Clovis, CA, USA.
So far just cutting & drilling the tru-stone has been surprisingly messy. At least using the Black Matrix tru-stone. Can't wait to turn it. The table saw cuts it up very nice. Drilling is also easy but the bit does get hot quick so I went at it slow and used a little cutting oil to help the bit.

At one point a screw came lose on my Rockler Pen Drilling vise and the blank shifted. The drill started chattering so I stopped to see what was going on before it destroyed the blank. I tried running the bit down the hole with drill off to check the alignment and the bit caught an edge inside the tru-stone and jammed. Smart as I am, I grabbed that oily drill bit and attempted to pull it out. Hand slipped on the oily drill bit and sliced my thumb wide open.

So now I have oily black tru-stone shavings everywhere and I'm adding a lot of blood to the mix. What a mess. No one told me tru-stone was so messy and I haven't even started turning it yet. Seven stitches later my thumb and the tru-stone mess is all cleaned up. Can't wait so see what happens when I put it on the lathe and turn it. I'm just glad the blank is still good. I would have been really upset if I destroyed my first tru-stone blank.

My wife said I need to find safer hobbies, but it's not the hobbies. It's my propensity to take any activity and turn it into an extreme sport.

Are the harder tru-stones like blue lapis and black matrix more messy than others or is this part of playing with tru-stone? Just curious because this stuff gets everywhere and it doesn't clean up very easily. I've scrubbed my hands a few times and yet they still look like I've been overhauling a diesel engine or something equally nasty.

Thanks,
Dave
 
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Yep, it takes forever to go away. I still have blue spots on stuff in the shop, and that was from 9 months ago. It doesn't vacuum up for anything, and compressed air can't quite get everything. I suppose water is the best answer.
 
I find the black with gold matrix to be the messiest of the True Stone blanks. I turned one this past weekend and ran into a problem I've never experienced with a True Stone blank before. Just as I was about finishing the sanding, I felt a soft spot on the blank. It turned out to be a void/bubble in the True Stone material which collapsed down to the tube, ruining the blank. I've never experienced this with a True Stone blank before but I guess there's a first time for everything. As you know, they are a bit harder material and they can be messy, but overall they are terrific blanks and make beautiful pens.

Jim Smith
 
Jim Smith said:
I find the black with gold matrix to be the messiest of the True Stone blanks. I turned one this past weekend and ran into a problem I've never experienced with a True Stone blank before. Just as I was about finishing the sanding, I felt a soft spot on the blank. It turned out to be a void/bubble in the True Stone material which collapsed down to the tube, ruining the blank. I've never experienced this with a True Stone blank before but I guess there's a first time for everything. As you know, they are a bit harder material and they can be messy, but overall they are terrific blanks and make beautiful pens.

Jim Smith
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I came across air bubbles in a banded ivory blank before but only that once. I will say chrysocholla was horrible to work with. fine blue powder EVERYWHERE! Hard as hell and heated up easily. The only good thing about it is that it made an awesome pen and ended up as the sample pic on r&b's site!:biggrin:
 
I turned 5 deer antler casing pens today. Pretty dang messy, and makes you want to puke as soon as you open the door. Still got about 20 more to turn.
 
Sorry to hear about the ordeal Dave. After all of that, I hope you will post a pic of the finished pen when it is completed. If the Black/Gold tru-stone is the first color that you started with the rest should be much easier for you. The blacks variations are some of the hardest ones and definately the messiest. Make sure you use water when you get down to the sanding stages and that should help you with the dust and the heat. Feel free to PM me if you need any additional help/advice.
 
I would suggest not adding any fluids to the drilling process. Sounds like you made a soupy paste out of the shavings and that is where your mess is coming from. I don't see the need for the fluids, just drill slow and if the bit gets warm, STOP drilling, then proceed when it cools down, no need to hurry with a $8 blank. I learned early on that these blanks will get soft when hot and they will break apart.

I've made over 5 dozen pens using just about every color truestone available and can't recall making any messes more than I would drilling any other type of blank.

Now that I'm thinking through the process, wet sanding got a bit messy so I put a terrycloth towel over the bed of my lathe then a small plastic bucket of water directly under the blank. When wet sanding, all of the truestone blanks I have encountered created a creamy smooth paste so be prepared for that.
 
Wheaties said:
Yep, it takes forever to go away. I still have blue spots on stuff in the shop, and that was from 9 months ago. It doesn't vacuum up for anything, and compressed air can't quite get everything. I suppose water is the best answer.
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You know whats weird the trustone from each of the different companies acts completely different like psi's and some others dyes my hands and csusa's and packards don't and i dont know why. and also lacquer thinner gets the stuff off.
 
Texatdurango said:
Now that I'm thinking through the process, wet sanding got a bit messy so I put a terrycloth towel over the bed of my lathe then a small plastic bucket of water directly under the blank. When wet sanding, all of the truestone blanks I have encountered created a creamy smooth paste so be prepared for that.
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George; I use a heavy duty shelf liner from Harbor Frieght. It is water proof and keeps water and CA off the lathe ways.
 
randbcrafts said:
Sorry to hear about the ordeal Dave. After all of that, I hope you will post a pic of the finished pen when it is completed. If the Black/Gold tru-stone is the first color that you started with the rest should be much easier for you. The blacks variations are some of the hardest ones and definately the messiest. Make sure you use water when you get down to the sanding stages and that should help you with the dust and the heat. Feel free to PM me if you need any additional help/advice.
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No problem. Against doctor's orders, I couldn't resist trying to turn it with my new Woodchuck today. That tool does a great job of taking it down. Just gotta take it slow and be careful. I turned it down to size, but the polishing will have to wait until the thumb heals. So far it looks great.

Should tru-stone polish out to a glass smooth mirror finish?
 
I've done Wild Horse Jasper, Turquoise, Red Jasper, and Yellow Dino Bone. All but the Dino Bone got shiny with micro mesh and polish. I did discover that a buffing wheel makes the Dino Bone shinier, though. I haven't done the hole pen, but I spot tested on the Dino Bone, and I think a buffing wheel with compound might make it shiny like the rest.
 
I just set up a vacum to pull the dust right off the truestone while I work. Does seem to have very fine powder. I just go slow. I have cracked more ts blanks than anything when I have tried to hurry.
 
With Trustone one must not hurry. Heat build-up above just getting warm most often leads to total destruction. VIBRATION is another destroyer of Trustone blanks.

We sand our blanks edges down until we have a some-what eight sided blank. Then the turning process begins ... slowly and with extremely sharp tools.

As for using oil as a cooling agent ... I would never consider Trustone and oil together. NEVER. :eek: If the blank is hot to the touch you have possibly done enough damage and are just waiting for a failure. Just turn slowly, let everything coold down, have patience, and in the end you should finish a great looking pen.

All turning is NOT a race. Besides, just who are you racing against in your own shop?
 
Fred said:
With Trustone one must not hurry. Heat build-up above just getting warm most often leads to total destruction. VIBRATION is another destroyer of Trustone blanks.

We sand our blanks edges down until we have a some-what eight sided blank. Then the turning process begins ... slowly and with extremely sharp tools.

As for using oil as a cooling agent ... I would never consider Trustone and oil together. NEVER. :eek: If the blank is hot to the touch you have possibly done enough damage and are just waiting for a failure. Just turn slowly, let everything coold down, have patience, and in the end you should finish a great looking pen.

All turning is NOT a race. Besides, just who are you racing against in your own shop?
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Do you have any particular reasons for that? I use 3 in 1 oil and never had any issues...
 
GLYCERINE ... Sorry to be late to your question.

I would not use any type of oil as the Trustone material is made of minerals and resins. I have never had good results when mixing oil and resins. Over a perod of time what I have had happen is that the material would start to degrade and crumble. I have no experience with Trustone and oil, but since resins are present I believe even it would have some long term problem with the oil.

Not to mention the oil might/will possibly give one fits when trying to det a finish to do well.
 
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