Snakewood Sierra

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PenWorks

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Well everthing went as planned.....
cut and oiled these Friday night....
by Saturday they had all cracked, GREAT !
Filled in the crackes and finished, hopefully that's it for the cracking [:0]



20063270514_sierra_snakewood.jpg



Oh, and some free wood from BB, Thuya burl & curly Koa


2006327061_sketcher_pen_thuya.jpg
 
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Dammit Anthony, I just drilled a piece of snake wood for a Sierra since I hadn't seen one. Not only do you trump me, yours look so good I likely won't even show mine! Nice work, as usual.
 
William, hurry up and turn it, the sooner you turn it, the sooner it will crack [:D]
Then you can finish it, and show it off [:)]
This photo is kinda of lousy, a quikie, but two are real light and two are real dark.
 
Originally posted by PenWorks
Well everthing went as planned.....
cut and oiled these Friday night....
by Saturday they had all cracked, GREAT !
Filled in the crackes and finished, hopefully that's it for the cracking [:0]
Click to expand...
I like your attitude, Anthony! You're experienced enough not to expect Snakewood not to crack. You accept it as a fact and keep on trucking. Your pens are beauties!
 
I like that outlook Anthony- include cracking as part of the plan, then you aren't disappointed when it does! Although I wonder if you would have been disappointed if it didn't? [:D]

Anyway, they are very nice looking pens. They show a nice variability that snakewood comes in!
 
Originally posted by angboy
<br /> Although I wonder if you would have been disappointed if it didn't? [:D]
Click to expand...

Kinda yes, I made two closed end Statesmen in Snakewood, the tops have allready cracked, but the pen bodies being a bit thicker have not. Anyone know of the best way to INDUCE cracking [:D]

Thanks for the comments
 
I think there is a pill for that![:D] Nice looking pens there, Anthony. Don't ya just love snakewood.
Do a good turn daily!
Don
[/quote]
Anyone know of the best way to INDUCE cracking [:D]
[/quote]
 
[/quote]

Anyone know of the best way to INDUCE cracking [:D]

Thanks for the comments


[/quote]

I haven't sold any of my pens, but I would bet you induce cracking by NOT planning it into the plan, and having a looming deadline that you have to get the pens to the buyer by, and then you throw in a few hopes that it won't crack, and I bet that'd be a sure fire recipe for a crack! [:D][;)]
 
Originally posted by PenWorks
<br />
Originally posted by angboy
<br /> Although I wonder if you would have been disappointed if it didn't? [:D]
Click to expand...

Kinda yes, I made two closed end Statesmen in Snakewood, the tops have allready cracked, but the pen bodies being a bit thicker have not. Anyone know of the best way to INDUCE cracking [:D]

Thanks for the comments


Yes, find a really bad soprano and ask her to sing! [:p] That should do the trick! Anthony as always, your work looks great.
Click to expand...
 
What did you do to repair the cracks? I recently turned some pens in ebony and had some crack on me. I think I was using a dull drill bit. It sure would be nice to be able to repair these but I'm not sure how.
 
Thanks. I'll have to let them sit awhile before finishing. These are already completed and assembled. Anything I can do at this point? I've tried using CA and clamping on one but it didn't close the entire crack.
 
Trying to repair it while assembled is pretty iffy it will come out right. A suggestion that I used before on ebony is, I filled in the cracks with polymer clay in brite red. It will change the look of the pen, but looks really good.
 
I also make wooden flutes and irish whistles, in addition to pens. Cracking is a constant danger, especially around the metal tuning slide. When I bore the blank, I let it "rest" several weeks. Then I re-bore it using the same bit, more material will be removed because the wood shrinks slightly. If i were to immediately place a tuning slide (much like a brass tube into the barrel of a pen) the blank will eventually crack because the wood will continue to contract over time whereas the metal will not.

This should translate well to pen-work involving suspect woods. I would bore out the blank, if possible rough-turn it to round, and put in a drawer for 2-3 weeks, then re-drill the bore, give it a few more days then glue your tube.

I have a whistle-making comrade that has made a number of snake-wood penny-whistles, without any cracking issues at all using this process.
 
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