Thread: Driving me nuts

I had the exact same thing happen to me on the weekend with some WA goldfields burl. I presumed I just ht a void or something and the edge of the blank decided to fly off. Watching this thread with anticipation.

Arry

Could be 2 things that I can think of.

First, the tube is not properly glued to the blank leaving a void between them that will chip away.

Second, your tools are not sharp enough or burred or you are trying to cut too much timber away in the one pass.

If you are getting close to turning it down to the desired size, swap to sandpaper to finish it off.

With burls they are mostly a conglomerate of grains and mostly non cohesive ,you need a good glueup ,epoxy is best for these, as the turning gets a bit close stop and examine to see if any minor cracks or seperation is occurring ,some thin CA will help with minor flaws, when ready to sand a thin coat of CA over the whole blank will be a big help as well
I also put a layer of thin ca on the ends of the blanks before turning to help stop the ends breaking up as well . Hope this helps with some of the problems stated, cheers ~ John

What John said. It is a bit hard to see with the pic's.
David

Originally Posted by plantagenon

Arry

Could be 2 things that I can think of.

First, the tube is not properly glued to the blank leaving a void between them that will chip away.

Second, your tools are not sharp enough or burred or you are trying to cut too much timber away in the one pass.

If you are getting close to turning it down to the desired size, swap to sandpaper to finish it off.

Hi Arrry, knowing that you are new to this those blanks were selected as they should turn as easy as any Eucalyptus burl you will find, particularly the light brown ones. So make sure your tools are really super sharp, I usually do the same as John and soak thin ca on to the ends. If it is a rugged blank I soak ca in periodically on others if I get the slightest catch I stop and inspect and flood that area with ca if necessary. Also I only use 2 part epoxy for gluing in the tubes.
Persevere mate, you will get there, cheers, Des

I used to have a lot of problems with glue ups until I started doing this.

I sand the tubes and put playdough in the ends then I mix up some super strength araldite (not the 5 minute one), I put on some disposable surgical type gloves then I roll the tube in the glue and then insert the tube into the blank whilst twisting it. I then take off the gloves and I have no gunk on myself to wash off. Leave overnight then turn the next day, this sounds laborious but if you get your s%^t in a sock and do half a dozen or so at a time it makes things much simpler, I like to do a heap of glue ups on a Friday afternoon/evening then I have the whole weekend to do the fun part.

With high quality blanks i use a high quality glue up. I start by drilling and then soaking the hole in thin CA buy putting some in and rolling. I leave that for an hour or so, then re-drill. I then use high strength epoxy to glue in the tube. I start by putting glue in the hole, ensuring every part is covered, then coat the tube before inserting it with a rotating action (excess glue can be used to coat the next tube). After that I leave overnight preferably before I start to turn.

Sounds a lot f effort, but glue is cheap relative to the cost of some blanks, so worth a little extra

This is the method I use on high quality blanks, I take a few short-cuts for others

Hey Arry,

What everyone has said above, Neil hit the nail on the head, you have to seal the inside of the hole, specially on burls as John said they have grains going all over the place, so good glue up and sharp tools, keep going you will get there
HazzB

Only thing I can add is make sure you sand the tube first.
Put glue all over it and twist it as you push it into the timber.

Your picture looks like it wasn't glued to the timber.

And sharp tools for burls.

Peter

Arry, use to happen to me too; Sand the tubes, use two part epoxy, apply epoxy to inside of the blank , make sure the blank is completely covered with epoxy, apply epoxy to the tube and insert with a twisting motion. One thing, the end of the tube going into the blank needs "plugging" , cut a spud about 1/2" thick slice shove the tube into it and the plug is done, wipe off the excess starch of the spud, then proceed to apply epoxy to the tubes, once it sets you will need to clean and trim the blank, that will stop the majority of blowouts. Amos

what i do
always sand tube
always use araldite 5 minute stuff on blanks that i think take a glue easy and 24 hour stuff on blanks that i think dont IE plastics and so on
always turn my pens with a sharp skew chisel only .

johno

Thanks for all of the advice guys, I am confused on a few points.....

Firstly what I have been doing

- Drill Blank
- Sand tube
- cover tube with thick CA
- insert and twist into Blank
- leave for at least an hour and then put onto lathe and turn

I think my tools are not very sharp.. I bought a jig from Carbatec to use on my bench grinder but I just cannot get the hang of shapening.

Does anyone have any good tips or videos to watch,

I have a DVD on turning by Richard Raffan and he does it so easily but I am struggling with sharpening.

So should I use a roughing guage or skew chisel?

I am also confused on these points that have been mentioned

- putting playdough in the ends, what does this do?
- soaking the hole in CA? why do this, how long to soak, how long to dry?
- applying CA to the entire outside of the blank?
- can anyone post a video of themselves doing this?
- I watched the videos from Timberbits and he does none of this?
- why put a spud in the hole?
- are all these tips only for burls or for turning all pens?

Cheers and thanks everyone for your responses?