New pen turner
- Thread starter Wyomingraidersfan
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Beautiful pens, you must have a typo in your post though. It's hard to believe you've been at this for only a week.
The splitting may be associated with your gluing. First, make sure you are getting glue along the length of the tube. I will add glue from one end of the blank and then add glue to the tube and insert into the opposite end of the blank. Helps ensure glue along the entire length of the tube. The other issue can come from having glue in the tube. When you press the parts in, any glue in the tube will cause the tube to expand too far splitting the wood. I use modeling clay to plug the tube end before gluing. I also use a tapered reamer to clean out dried glue from the tube.
Those slimline pens are also a challenge because you have to turn the wood so very thin.
Checkout the Sierra/Gatsby/Wallstreet type kits. They can be a bit more forgiving and are economic as well. One blank makes two pens.
Danny
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The splitting may be associated with your gluing. First, make sure you are getting glue along the length of the tube. I will add glue from one end of the blank and then add glue to the tube and insert into the opposite end of the blank. Helps ensure glue along the entire length of the tube. The other issue can come from having glue in the tube. When you press the parts in, any glue in the tube will cause the tube to expand too far splitting the wood. I use modeling clay to plug the tube end before gluing. I also use a tapered reamer to clean out dried glue from the tube.
Those slimline pens are also a challenge because you have to turn the wood so very thin.
Checkout the Sierra/Gatsby/Wallstreet type kits. They can be a bit more forgiving and are economic as well. One blank makes two pens.
Danny
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Wyomingraidersfan
Member
Thank you I will definitely try that. I will also try some of those pens you suggested.
Keep at it! That's the best advice I can give as someone who has been at this for less than a year. Ask lots of questions and find someone (maybe at the local supply store) that you can use as a "mentor" of sorts.
Dan is dead on with his comments on glue. I split several pens my first month or so because I got in a hurry to assemble the pen and didn't notice excess glue inside my tubes.
Here are a couple things I do now to eliminate that issue:
1. I buy a barrel trimmer/pen mill for every tube diameter I make. They are about $12 each but I believe they are totally worth it. Gets a good square end but also helps clean out any glue that might be in your tube.
2. I keep a pistol cleaning rod on my workbench that has the steel bristle attachment on it. This is a great tool to "sand" and clean the inside of your tubes. Not many other tools can get in there quite like a gun cleaning rod.
3. I bought the handheld chamfering tool from PSI. This tool allows you to make a small bevel on the ends of your tubes to allow the components to enter the tube smoothly. Be careful to not use it too much though as it's easy to over do it.
That's just my two cents...good luck and stay at it! You'll be amazed at the pieces you start putting out just a few short months from now!
Joey
Dan is dead on with his comments on glue. I split several pens my first month or so because I got in a hurry to assemble the pen and didn't notice excess glue inside my tubes.
Here are a couple things I do now to eliminate that issue:
1. I buy a barrel trimmer/pen mill for every tube diameter I make. They are about $12 each but I believe they are totally worth it. Gets a good square end but also helps clean out any glue that might be in your tube.
2. I keep a pistol cleaning rod on my workbench that has the steel bristle attachment on it. This is a great tool to "sand" and clean the inside of your tubes. Not many other tools can get in there quite like a gun cleaning rod.
3. I bought the handheld chamfering tool from PSI. This tool allows you to make a small bevel on the ends of your tubes to allow the components to enter the tube smoothly. Be careful to not use it too much though as it's easy to over do it.
That's just my two cents...good luck and stay at it! You'll be amazed at the pieces you start putting out just a few short months from now!
Joey
Great advice from Danny and Joey already. I will add that I seem to get a better glue-up when using epoxy versus CA. There is a lot of debate on the forum, and people have their reasons to prefer either, but to me the epoxy gives me more time to work and get the glue spread evenly on the tube.
Another trick that isn't obvious is to put a little thin CA on the blank before you get it down to size. I do this whenever I am using wood that is cracked or seems brittle.
The thin CA will stabilize the weakness in the wood and keep it from blowing apart as you are turning.
Keep at it, you will pick up on plenty more tricks as you go. You have some really nice pens there already!
Another trick that isn't obvious is to put a little thin CA on the blank before you get it down to size. I do this whenever I am using wood that is cracked or seems brittle.
The thin CA will stabilize the weakness in the wood and keep it from blowing apart as you are turning.
Keep at it, you will pick up on plenty more tricks as you go. You have some really nice pens there already!
Tim'sTurnings
Member
Another possible problem is if the wood blank is not dried wood. If it is green wood as soon as it starts to dry on the pen it can split. The build-up of glue residue is most like the issue but green could also cause the problem of splitting. Good luck.
Tim.
Tim.
And get you one of these for about $3 from Harbor Freight. To clean the inside of the tube and deburr the end.
Danny
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Danny
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