Segmented Cigar

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egnald

egnald

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Joined
Jun 9, 2017
Messages
4,190
Location
Columbus, Nebraska, USA
Hi all,

Today I pulled out a segmented blank that I've had for quite some time. It is Sonoran Desert Ironwood with simple segments made from SimStone Malachite and Black Marble with brass strips as separators. The kit is a Gold and Gunmetal Cigar. It is hard to tell the difference between a standard Gold and Black Plastic kit because the Gunmetal is really dark. I used my standard CA and MicroMesh regimen.

I really like the Desert Ironwood. It turns nicely and it has some similarities to the grain and color of Cocobolo.

Regards,
Dave

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Mixing the materials made for an interesting and compelling blank.

It also made a beautiful pen.

Well done, Dave.
 
Woodchipper said:
All of the above. How did you glue the square blank components and keep them from slipping due to the angles? Thanks for your answer.
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I made a jig from a piece of hardboard and a couple of pieces of 3/4-inch outside corner molding to form a "V" notch. In the pictures you can see that I glued some strips of HDPE on them. They were intended to prevent gluing the blank to the wood, but they really didn't work too well. I use a small piece of parchment paper now, so if I were doing it over again I would not have glued in the HDPE.

I simply cut the blank parts to size (as close as I can) before starting. I scuff up the metal much as I would for gluing in brass tubes. Then, I clamp the biggest piece and the jig itself down to keep it from moving. I apply epoxy to the bits and pieces and simply press them together by hand as tightly as I can, keeping downward pressure to align two of the sides with the bottom of the "V" notch. I don't do any additional clamping as it would just make things slide around in the jig and I've found that it really isn't necessary. Things don't move around much with the epoxy after I press them into position.

I keep the blanks and segment pieces as close to the same size as I can. Two of the sides stay pretty even and the other two I clean up on a small belt sander to bring the blank back into square (square-ish). Usually it is just a bit of epoxy squeeze out and the metal separators that need to be sanded down to square.

It is a very simple approach. Alignment using the "V" notch jig and the Parchment Paper are the real magic behind how it works. The pictures tell the story better than anything I can say.

Dave

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Any trouble drilling through the brass at an angle? I seem to have a devil of a time trying that myself.
 
Darios said:
Any trouble drilling through the brass at an angle? I seem to have a devil of a time trying that myself.
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I haven't had any problems since changing to standard 118-degree high speed steel drills. Drilling with brad points was a disaster - every single time.

I also use peck drilling, essentially drilling only about 1/4-inch deep before retracting the bit to clear out the chips. When I think I'm getting close to the metal I retract the drill and let things cool for 2 or 3 minutes before continuing. Heat from various reasons is the usual cause of drilling failures.

If I don't have enough blank to drill to depth and saw off the excess to expose the hole, I stop before I break through the bottom and let things cool off again.

Waiting minutes to let the drill and blank cool off seems like an eternity to me, but I've learned my lesson too many times. I keep a few prize blanks that have huge cracks and blowouts on my drill press table, just as a reminder to be patient.

Dave
 
Thanks... I gave up on the brad points a while ago, but can't remember if that was before/after I gave up on angled metal.
 
Beautiful. You've been on a roll lately with these beautiful pens. I keep saying that I'm going to get some desert ironwood, but I have sooooo many blanks already.
 
Instead of HDPE, could you use plain wax paper? I start to cool the bit with a damp cloth. Learned years ago, to take my time when drilling acrylic or any synthetic. Hard to remove the blank from the bit.
 
Woodchipper said:
Instead of HDPE, could you use plain wax paper? I start to cool the bit with a damp cloth. Learned years ago, to take my time when drilling acrylic or any synthetic. Hard to remove the blank from the bit.
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I use parchment paper - sort of the modern version of wax paper, it's silicone impregnated paper. Not that it matters, but it is just a little more non-stick than wax paper and it can handle heat (like up to 450F) where wax paper can not. That's not why I use it though. I use it because my wife always has parchment paper on hand to line baking sheets for making cookies, pizza, and stuff. - Dave
 
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