Pen Blanks

[Wayne Blanch]

Hi all,
I have made a few pens using the wooden blanks that you get from Carbatec and have had no problems. A couple of days ago I bought some rollerball pen parts from Carbatec and decided to make my own blanks. I used several varieties of wood. Kwila, pine, camphor laurel, mangrove and mango. I tried making them with the grain going across the pen as well as down the length. After inserting the brass tubes and glueing in place with araldite, I tried turning them down. They turned fine until they were nearly to the correct size and then they all simply came away from the brass. After the first attempt I even went and got a new 10mm drill bit (the size indicated on the instruction sheet with the pen parts.) in case that was the problem.
I would really appreciate any suggestions that you may have as to what I am doing wrong. :confused:
Thanks
Wayne

[Toggy]

It seems that your glue is not holding up. I roughen the tube with emery paper and use a small bamboo skewer to thinly coat the inside of the blank and the tube. Before coating the tube I cut about a 5mm slice off a potato and stick the blank end into it. This makes a plug which stops the inside of the tube being filler with epoxy. Just push the plug out and it will take nearly all the glue in the end of the tube. I give the epoxy 24 hours to cure.
I have not had one glue joint fail this way. I use a single spiral drill made for drilling the blanks. It ensures that the tube is a good fit. I can't recall what it's actual size is. Maybe the 10mm ordinary drill is drilling oversize and leaving a dry glue joint because of the gap. If the bought blanks were predrilled, it appears that your drill may be the problem

Ken

[smidsy]

I don't know of anyone that use araldite for glue pen blanks.
The best thing is superglue because it is thin and will soak in to the timber whereas araldite is relatively thick and relies on a good solid coat to bond - the fine fit of the tube in to the blank makes it hard to achieve this with araldite.

About the best quality superglue is one called Zap which is a cynoacrylate (fancy name for superglue) and available from hobby shops that sell radio control gear.
if you can't get Zap any name brand superglue should do.
Cheers
Paul

[gatiep]

Paul

Correction: Heaps of people use epoxy glues including Araldite and I have come accross a guy that uses ordinary PVA ( White ) glue.
I use the thin ( red label ) Hotstuff ( super glue ) if the tubes fit snugly. I push the dry tube into the drilled blank, lign the end of the tube up flush with the end of the blank where they will meet the center spacer ring. Then I run a couple of drops of thin Hotsuff around the hole on each end making sure that the wood is wet. It sounds like a waste but at $22-00 for 56 g at CT it is cheaper than stuffing up tubes and blanks. The thin glue will suck up around the tube by capillary action. Besides the fact that it gives a good bond between blank and tube the other advantage is that it soaks into the wood and hardens it as well as stops it splitting like Wayne is experiencing. Another spinoff is that the superglued wood sands smoother and takes a finnish very well.

If the tube/blank fit is not snug, I use the medium thickness Hotstuff with the yellow label. It is the one that is gap filling not the thick ultra gap filling one. I apply it much like Toggy described except that I don't use a potato plug but rather a polystyrene one. Do to the poly what he does to the potato. With super glue you cannot use the potato as the moisture will kick the glue off instantaneously. I again run some thin superglue around the ends as in previous paragraph, for the same reasons, especially when the blanks are very dry. It works a treat on the prepacked, predrilled packets of blanks because some of them are extremely brittle due to virtually no moisture.

Thirdly, if the fit is even worse than above, I roughen the tubes and use any two part epoxy resin ( like Araldite ) that I have. Again I run a bit of thin superglue around the ends and thoroughly wet them.

I have found that the bonding of the wood by the thin superglue ensures excellent turning even on iffy wood.The superglue can be used to harden the center of corn cobs so that they can be turned as pens.

For the plastic pen blanks I use 2 pack epoxy glue like above.

Wayne, having the wood crossgrained on the tubes will cause a lot of problems as the wood will disintegrate when the timber thickness around the tubes get down to a mm or so. If you soak with superglue after you have turned the blank down somewhat, you'll get consistent good results. Please remember to remove the blanks from your mandrel before 'soaking' with superglue or else you'll have to grind the blanks and tubes off to free the mandrel. Also make sure that the inside of the tubes are dry before putting onto the mandrel.

I make 24 slim twist pens in 4 hours and that is from when I start cutting the blanks out of my timber supply untill I have finished the batch of 24 completely. The superglue surely saves heaps of time.


Have a good weekend

Cya

:)

[rsser]

Yeah, my only attempt to turn a cross-grained piece ended in failure too - the cutting edge just lifted the fibres nicely off the brass tube.
Thanks for the CA tip on this gatiep. I imagine fine-grained timber would help too.

[Wayne Blanch]

Thanks Guys,
I will give your suggestions a try and I will make sure that I have the grain running the right way. By the way Gatiep, I love the idea of using the corn cob for pens. Once I have mastered making the blanks I will try that. By the way what sort of finish do you use on them.
Thanks again guys
Wayne :D

[journeyman Mick]

.......By the way Gatiep, I love the idea of using the corn cob for pens. Once I have mastered making the blanks I will try that. By the way what sort of finish do you use on them......

Just drizzle on a bit of melted butter and sprinkle with salt. :)

Mick the gourmand

[prav]

Have just got into pen turning myself and loving it. A newbie myself. A good site is www.penturners.org. Even has an article as to how to do corn cob pens!
:)

[Alastair]

I don't know of anyone that use araldite for glue pen blanks.
The best thing is superglue because it is thin and will soak in to the timber whereas araldite is relatively thick and relies on a good solid coat to bond - the fine fit of the tube in to the blank makes it hard to achieve this with araldite.

About the best quality superglue is one called Zap which is a cynoacrylate (fancy name for superglue) and available from hobby shops that sell radio control gear.
if you can't get Zap any name brand superglue should do.
Cheers
Paul
Paul,

You do now!!

I have used nothing else, since the first time I tried, and ended up with the tube halfway in, and my fingers superglued to the blank :)

Jokes aside, the Epoxy has much better gapfilling properties, to make up for my ordinary drilling, and a more forgiving working time. As for the curing time, I am not as fortunate as my countryman, as I am still working full time, so do my pens in batches. When it comes to the gluing, I am sat in front of the TV of an evening, with a tray on my knees. When the batch is glued, they can cure overnight for turning the next evening.

I have never bothered with roughening up the tube. I smear a generous dose of epoxy on the brass tube, and then insert while twisting. This seems to leave a bead of glue around the tube/blank interface, which allows the glue to be drawn into the joint in an unbroken film. I stop short of the far end by a cm, and give a smear of glue on the inside of the blank before pressing all the way home.

I have not tried plugging the tube, as I just sand the blank ends back flush to the the tube on a disc sander. I then find that pushing them onto the mandrel in the lathe is sufficient to push out any glue in the bore. Very occasionally, (1 in 50) this is a bit difficult, but nothing that a thump with a piece of scrap won't fix. I will however be trying the potato trick on my next batch this week.

I have had the occasional tube give way, but this has usually been due to sloppy technique, or else where the wooden blank has developed a split during drilling

A rapidly turning Xmas to all!!!!

[JackoH]

All you pen turners should do yourselves a favour. Beg borrow or steal a copy of "Pens from The Lathe " by Dick Sing. Answer all your questions.
I have always used 'thick' super glue with no problems. http://www.ubeaut.biz/thumbupwink.gif

[rsser]

Thanks for the tip Jack.

Guess I'm just a cheapskate - epoxy is cheaper!

[Toggy]

Osage orange is great with CA. Instant #$%^$# grab. Must be some chemical in the wood that causes intant setup. After wasting the last of my osage this way, have gone the epoxy route. Since then I haven't had a single blank split from the tube. I also roughen to the tube.
I find that the extra drying time is no hassle. Just do them in batches.

Ken

[Dean]

I use 5 min epoxy :) rarely have a problem.
For finishing, I apply about 3-4 thin coats of Shellawax with a light 1000 grit sanding in between. Gives them a nice shine without looking too 'plastic'

[JackoH]

Always sand the brass tube to get rid of any grease etc left by those little Taiwanese people. Never drill your blanks and then try to glue them up, residual heat makes super glue instant glue. I have never had any trouble with osage or any other wood for that matter. I make all my own blanks from scraps of leftovers. Occasionally get a failure but not often. Usually due to not taking enough care in ensuring that the tube is properly coated.

[rsser]

Lotta wise practice in these posts.

Remember tho the initial question was about cross-grained pen blanks.

[gatiep]

Lotta wise practice in these posts.

Remember tho the initial question was about cross-grained pen blanks.
Already replied to that: use superglue to bond the wood fibres, then it turns like acrylic, no more grain worries.

:)

[ptc]

Good book on turning pens.
"turning pens and pencils "
Kip Christensen and Rex Burningham.
forward by Dale Nish.
isbn1 86108 100 6
masses of pics as well
Tasmanian State Library
has a copy
will be back in circulation in january.
good read.
ptc