Thula burl

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mmayo

mmayo

Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2013
Messages
3,159
Location
Tehachapi, CA
This is the oiliest wood I have used. I like it, but it makes me wonder if I know enough about treating this wood correctly. I cut and drilled easily though I needed to cool the bit and clear chips more often. Once drilled the hole looked like I buffed it. I used acetone to remove some oil and employed my usual 5 minute epoxy to glue the tube. It turns well but I went to my skew earlier than with almost all other woods. I sanded well, though it clogged sand paper quickly so I moved to abranet right away.

Any suggestions? I'll show the pen as soon as I can get the finish right.
 
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I made several pens from Thuya burl about 10 years ago. I wet sanded with denatured alcohol to resolve the sandpaper clogging issue. I set the blanks aside to dry overnight and then used a CA finish successfully.
 
Thuya is one of my favorite woods to turn. It takes WTF very well, but sanding to 2000 and polishing with Renaissance Wax also produces a nice finish.
 
I realize you have had success with thula burl, that is assumed.

Here is the completed pen. As you can see I agree that thula burl is a great wood and that CA glue makes it look great. I also know that many of you have had success with it and have shown stunning pens.

What I asked about is how to be sure the oilyness of the wood did not interfere with securely gluing in the tube. It could be I bought wet blanks or extra oily blanks. I was hoping one of you had this issue and had suggestions for me.
 

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My newest idea is that the wood was a bit wet. It was an international eBay purchase and the way it acts has improved as the other blanks have dried out in my shop.

Thanks for the help
 
I am fairly new at pen turning, but Thule Burl Is one of my favorite woods to use on pens. Of the 12 or so pens I have made with Thula Burl, I have had no issues with using 5 min epoxy with the tubes or CA for the finish.


Sent from my iPad using Penturners.org mobile app
 
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