Purposely cracking wood.

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crabcreekind

crabcreekind

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Feb 16, 2011
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I had an idea the other day, as I wanted to hurry up some already cracked wood for casting, and it had some moisture in it still. So I threw it in my toaster oven, and I figured it would crack more and it did. (which is good, because I was casting it anyway)

So my question is, would purposely cracking wood lessen the chance of saying a ebony or snakewood pen cracking in the future, Because it has already been released of stress? And then casting it to make the blank stable.

I know there are some woods that just cannot be made into anything without cracking: ebony,snakewood,bloodwood. To name a few.

Is this just wishful thinking?
 
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I don't know, sounds like a good idea though. Try it and tell us!
Never heard of bloodwood being an issue, and I just made one for a friend. Is it really that bad?
 
Joe S. said:
I don't know, sounds like a good idea though. Try it and tell us!
Never heard of bloodwood being an issue, and I just made one for a friend. Is it really that bad?
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Yea, every piece of bloodwood I have had in my shop has cracked and almost every piece I have seen in a store had cracks in it.
But I will definitely try cracking it and casting it.
 
I've been making pens out of bloodwood for years and have never had any crack on me or my customers. Pre-cracking might be a good idea for some blanks and worth a try, in my opinion. So are you going to cast them like the worthless wood blanks?
Tim.
 
Also never had a problem with Bloodwood cracking, that includes a 3' tall plaque I made hanging in my daughter's school for 2 years now....knock on Bloodwood!
 
Tim'sTurnings said:
I've been making pens out of bloodwood for years and have never had any crack on me or my customers. Pre-cracking might be a good idea for some blanks and worth a try, in my opinion. So are you going to cast them like the worthless wood blanks?
Tim.
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WOWZER,
Every piece of bloodwood cracks I have had. But yes I am planning on casting them like worthless wood.
 
This is good, creative thinking. My thoughts, after working with Ebony, is that anything you can do to stop expansion or contraction due to normal or forced aging is a good thing. Let's give it a try !!! I have some Ebony left and might make a daily fountain pen writer out of it after trying what you suggested. Keep in touch.
 
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