bottle stoppers are cracking

[maverick31]

I ordered a few bottle stoppers from pennstate industries in the US and recieved my kit about a week ago. Made a couple of stoppers over the weekend and now they are cracking on the end of them. These 2 are the first 2 I made. Bocote and Cocobolo, sanded 100,150,220,500. finished with boiled linseed oil and wipe on poly. How can I keep them from further cracking and prevent this in the future. The blanks came waxed and I assumed they were dry.

[maverick31]

here are the pics

[rsser]

They're pretty dense woods if memory serves.

You can get checking if you generate too much heat in the turning and sanding.

[maverick31]

the sand paper did get pretty hot when sanding the ends. I just got into wood turning and this is only the 2nd and 3rd projects I have made. If I use ca glue do you think it will keep it from checking/cracking further, or should I keep these in my lessons learned pile and not sell them?

[RETIRED]

The latter.:D

It helps sometimes to slow the lathe (yes, I DID say that:p) sometimes when sanding the harder timbers.

[Texian]

Have read that if a blank comes waxed, you should assume that it is NOT dry. That made sense to me. If it was dry, why would they bother to wax it? If your stoppers are not permanently assembled, suggest that you disassemble to allow the center of the blank to dry (before using CA). The cracks may close as the interior of the blanks dry.

[maverick31]

thanks for the quick responses. I think I am going to keep these to see what happens to them over the next few months. Only 4 of the 10 blanks I recd were waxed. I will turn one of the non waxed blanks tomorrow and see what happens. I will also use very light pressue on end when sanding to see if this solves my problem.

Thanks again. I can see how this gets very addictive!!!!!!

[hughie]

maverick,

you can also blow compressed air onto the job as you sand to reduce the temps. This is useful o n those timbers that a are prone to opening up with sanding etc.

[rsser]

And even if the blanks are sold as dry and waxed, they may have been waxed in a humid env't. Move them somewhere drier, or turn them in an air conditioned shop, and you can expect some moisture loss and potential checking.

Next time, along with the sage advice above, monitor them as you go. If nec., before sanding, if there are checks give them a rough sand, squirt some thin CA in, sand again and repeat until filled.

With the timbers you've used you'll prob be the only one to notice the fill.

[Tim the Timber Turner]

The blanks may have been supplied as part dried.

One definition of part dried is "It has the leaves knocked off".

Best to weigh the blanks on a weekly basis.

If the weight is stable consider the blank is dry.

Small blanks need a set of scales that measure to a tenth of a gram.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Tim

[dr4g0nfly]

When your sanding, if you can smell Pork cooking, your pressing to hard!

[bellyup]

Maybe check that the hole you bore into the wood to accept the threaded rod is not too tight?
Bruce.