Interesting tip from Bill B

[Old Griz]

Bill and I were discussing the fact that my soapstone pen developed stress cracks about an hour after assembly...
My answer is to ream out the tubes a bit the next time so that they do not expand against the material as much.. might need a touch of CA to lock them in place, but hey we do that on some kits anyway...

Bill suggested using silicone sealer to glue the tubes in place also.. he said on some woods that are real prone to cracking when the kit is assembles (snakewood, ebony, and the like) this helps because unlike epoxy or CA, which become brittle, the silicone sealer will give and not cause excessive pressure on the turned blank... I may have to try that and also relieve the tubes a bit..

 

[KKingery]

That is a good tip. Thanks for sharing!!

 

[mik]

polyurethane glue - I use a litle water down inside the blank this helps it to foam quicker and when it sets - never sets rock hard - has some flex! I can turn within four hours!

Cheers

 

[Old Griz]

Mik, the soapstone was glued with Poly glue and poly glue does not set up soft... it expands to fill the space, but sets up hard... if yours is not setting up hard, there is a problem, you might have some that is out of date..

 

[Rifleman1776]

Hate to argue with an expert,,,,,but. No, actually, I love it. [] My experience with poly glues is if you spill a drop, it will foam swell and cure hard as in 'hard-hard'. It does release easily with heat however, even the stress of turning will cause that. I have switched to epoxy.

Originally posted by Mudder
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Originally posted by Old Griz
<br />Mik, the soapstone was glued with Poly glue and poly glue does not set up soft... it expands to fill the space, but sets up hard... if yours is not setting up hard, there is a problem, you might have some that is out of date..

I beg to differ with you Tom.

Polyurethane glue, according to OSI Sealants Inc (Makers of PL Polyurethane wood glue) sets up HARD when it is beyond it's shelf life. It also sets hard if you do not give it room to expand during curing. I routinely drill a 9/32 hole for a slimline blank so there is room for the glue to expand. Furthermore, I drill a a hole as big as an "L" bit if the material I am planning to use is prone to splitting and checking.

Take a dab of Polyurethane glue and put it on a piece of waxed paper and spray a mist of water on it so it can cure or put a dab on a wet cotton swab and let it cure. If it foams up then it has to be flexible. Polyurethane itself IS flexible, It is used where I work to make flexible couplings.

Silicones are nice but until the Polyurethane lets me down, I'll stick with it.