a couple new ones

[Russianwolf]

Amboyna Burl Click
Bowling Ball on a Chrome Cigar
African Blackwood Burl on a Platinum Cigar

[Uncle Cracker]

Very sharp, Mike! Wanted to knock a couple out today myself, but car needed brakes, oil change and tire rotate, so I just spent the afternoon doing all that...

[BerniePA]

Very nice, Mike. You guys sure do put out some good looking stuff!!

I was going to make a "comfort" pen and pencil set out of zebrawood today, but yesterday when I was squaring up the blanks, I had two of them splinter on me down to the brass tube. One was within the inch I would have to remove anyway, so I figured I was OK with that, but the other went the entire length of the blank. I tried to glue it up and left it overnight and tried to turn it today and got to within about a mm of where I needed to be and it blew out on me. I took the remnants and ended up making A slimline pen.

What's that old saying -- "when the world gives you lemons, get some tequila!!!"

[Uncle Cracker]

I was going to make a "comfort" pen and pencil set out of zebrawood today, but yesterday when I was squaring up the blanks, I had two of them splinter on me down to the brass tube.

Are you saying this is happening when you are milling the ends (facing off) your blanks? Even with a good pen mill, you can compress, or burnish, the wood, which might lead to a darkening near the ends after you turn the blanks to final size. If you have a disk sander, try squaring the ends on that. (Use a jig with a metal rod through your tubes.) You'll never blow out with a pen mill or get dark circles again...

[Russianwolf]

I trim the ends on the lathe now and never have an issue anymore, but the first thing to look at when you have a full failure like that is the surface of the tube and mated surface of the wood. You should see glue on both pieces and if it's not there then you need to change your gluing technique. I use GG for all wood blanks since it is a good gap filler. I also push the tube in and out so I can see that the glue is covering the entire tube.

For trimming on the lathe, here's what you need and do.

1) Drill and glue the tubes in the blanks as normal. (I do the drilling on the lathe also as it's much more accurate)
2) put the tubed blank between centers and spin them round (a few unturned spots is okay, but you want them mostly round based on the tubes. Do this between a 60 degree dead center and 60 degree live center.
3) put the blank in a self-centering scroll chuck (reason it needs to be mostly round based on the tubes). Now I've heard of people using a scrapper to work the end grain, but I use a skew and cut the ends from the outside in with a slight inward angle (maybe 2 degrees). I lay the skew flat on the toolrest and cut with the long point.
4) flip the blank in the chuck and do it again.

I get much better results from this technique than I ever did with a mill. The slight inward taper prevents the hardware from making contact with anything before it meets the outside (I've had it happen a couple times as the mill didn't trim the tube to the same height as the wood). And I have much greater control over how much material is removed as I can see it as it's happening.

The click pens above are very specific on the tube length. trim is a bit too short and the refill won't retract all the way. I haven't even come close to this happening on my efforts.

[BerniePA]

Are you saying this is happening when you are milling the ends (facing off) your blanks? Even with a good pen mill, you can compress, or burnish, the wood, which might lead to a darkening near the ends after you turn the blanks to final size. If you have a disk sander, try squaring the ends on that. (Use a jig with a metal rod through your tubes.) You'll never blow out with a pen mill or get dark circles again...

Exactly what is happening. Being new at this, I thought the darkening was normal since that always seems to happen. THis was on the zebrawood and I thought that with the exceptional long grain in that wood that that might have had something to do with the "snag" that ripped off the peices. Thanks for the info about the sander.

[BerniePA]

Mike,
remembering I am new to this turning, what is a self-centering scroll chuck? I think I understood all the rest of your post, but that part has me confused. I know it has to do with holding the blank with one end free while you trim the free end, but I'm not sure what you mean. The only chucks I have at this point, other than the dead and live centers you mentioned, is a Nova Midi chuck and a drill press chuck. Are you telling me I need to spend more money??

Thank you for your input also. I bought some of those type click pens and one of these days will be attempting them.

[Whaler]

A great looking trio there Mike.

[Whaler]

Mike,
remembering I am new to this turning, what is a self-centering scroll chuck? I think I understood all the rest of your post, but that part has me confused. I know it has to do with holding the blank with one end free while you trim the free end, but I'm not sure what you mean. The only chucks I have at this point, other than the dead and live centers you mentioned, is a Nova Midi chuck and a drill press chuck. Are you telling me I need to spend more money??

Thank you for your input also. I bought some of those type click pens and one of these days will be attempting them.

Bernie, your Nova midi chuck will do the job, that is what I use.

[SARGE..g-47]

Very nice pens. I'm not crazy about the wild looking one but.. my wife loves it which goes to show.. different strokes for different folks.

[Uncle Cracker]

I'm not crazy about the wild looking one but.. my wife loves it which goes to show.. different strokes for different folks.

Men are from Mars, and women are from Venus...

[BerniePA]

Bernie, your Nova midi chuck will do the job, that is what I use.

Thanks for the input, Dick. I can tell today will be a day of testing with no real "work" being done!!

[Russianwolf]

yeah, mine is a PSI universal chuck I think (got it for free during one of the great Amazon glitches). Four jaws that can be used to grip the workpiece, that all come in at once equally.