Pen Turning Question

tom_k/mo · Post by **tom_k/mo** » Sat Nov 21, 2009 5:04 pm

I've been getting a lot of requests from others for me to turn pens & bottle stoppers for them to give as Christmas presents. My son's Mother-in-law just dropped off kits & blanks for me to turn 2 pens, 2 pencils and a letter opener. She picked out the kits & blanks herself (luckily I already had bushings for the kits she chose)...

2 of the blanks that she chose were called Dakota Burl (from Rocklers), which is actually crushed sunflower seeds that have been compressed with resin to make a substance that looks similar to particle board. It's fairly light and drilled easily.

Has anyone else had any experience with this material? I'm wondering if it's going to be porous enough that I'm going to have to fill/seal it with a CA finish or if my "normal" finishing routine will suffice. Here's a pic of the Dakota Burl blank.
[ATTACH]6648[/ATTACH]

tom_k/mo · Post by **tom_k/mo** » Sun Nov 22, 2009 4:40 pm

Well.... if anyone ever has the urge to buy one of these blanks and turn one... DON'T. I've never seen anything so porous (full of voids) and break so easily in all my life.

a1gutterman · Post by **a1gutterman** » Sun Nov 22, 2009 4:52 pm

tom_k/mo wrote:Well.... if anyone ever has the urge to buy one of these blanks and turn one... DON'T. I've never seen anything so porous (full of voids) and break so easily in all my life.

I wondered...just looking at the picture...it looks like a piece of s...!

navycop · Post by **navycop** » Sun Nov 22, 2009 5:12 pm

It says last post by a1gutterman. But when you open it up, there only two post by tom_k/mo. Why is that???

mickyd · Post by **mickyd** » Sun Nov 22, 2009 5:38 pm

Would it have made a nice looking pen had it held together? How could the voids have been filled? Epoxy coating?

tom_k/mo · Post by **tom_k/mo** » Sun Nov 22, 2009 5:48 pm

mickyd wrote:Would it have made a nice looking pen had it held together? How could the voids have been filled? Epoxy coating?

Mike, it would have been "interesting"... but the blank was made by compressing the crushed shells, and therefore there was definately a top/bottom and side to the pattern. Looking at the top or bottom you could see the shell pieces and it had interesting patterns. Looking at the side, it was just looking at the side of compressed shells, like a piece of plywood.

You could have stabilized and filled the voids with CA glue, much like when turning a corn cob, but it split before I could even get that far.

I found out this afternoon that when they went into Rocklers to choose their blanks, they had seen some burl pens I'd turned before and knew how nice they turned out and just looked for a piece of burl. Didn't find out until when they dropped them off at my house that it was "synthetic" burl made out of crushed sunflower seeds.

I went on Rocklers web site this afternoon and looked at the reviews people had written in for this blank... it was rated a 1-Star (out of 5).

nomoman · Post by **nomoman** » Sun Nov 22, 2009 6:26 pm

http://cgi.ebay.com/HAND-TOOL-SET-8-PIE ... 27ad3cb5c1
Would these work? For about $15.00 (with shipping) it doesn't seem like a bad starter kit. That way if I don't like it, I am not out a lot.

cocacola1012 · Post by **cocacola1012** » Fri Nov 27, 2009 5:51 pm

Just ordered my 60 degree #2MT live center from Amazon. I had a gift card so it didn't cost me anything. Even got free shipping. Now all I need is the mandrel, chisels, bushings and kits. But I am on my way. How does this stay in the tailstock? Is it held in place by the headstock and mandrel?

fjimp · Post by **fjimp** » Fri Nov 27, 2009 6:46 pm

cocacola1012 wrote:Just ordered my 60 degree #2MT live center from Amazon. I had a gift card so it didn't cost me anything. Even got free shipping. Now all I need is the mandrel, chisels, bushings and kits. But I am on my way. How does this stay in the tailstock? Is it held in place by the headstock and mandrel?

Cogratulations you are embarking on a fun and rewarding new hobby. I prepared nine sets of pen blanks this afternoon for turning tomorrow. The live center is pressed into the tail stock. When you see it I suspect it will make sense immediately. Depending on which Mark V you have you will either have one or two Allen screws on the tail stock which will allow you to center the live center from side to side. You can then get the height correct by raising or lowering the tail stock. I should mention you will want to line the live center and the mandrel up by installing the mandrel into the headstock and then move the headstock and if necessary the quill to where the tail stock almost touches the end of the mandrel. Then line it up so there is no side or top/bottom tension in alignment. Good luck. Jim

tryinhard · Post by **tryinhard** » Sat Nov 28, 2009 12:10 am

cocacola1012 wrote:Just ordered my 60 degree #2MT live center from Amazon.

Are there different angles available for live center points?

Thanks, Mike