Corn cob

[biednick]

Hello all,
I have some nice dry corn cobs i would like to stabilize and turn. Ive gathered all the info i could find together but none seemed to be from people with first hand knowledge of the proses. I was hoping to find someone who could give me some pointers on the proses. Any help is greatly apperciated.

 

[RDH79]

stabilized cobs

Well I have stabilized cobs 2 different ways and they seem to turn out the same. I have used Min-wax wood hardener then I have tried Polyurathane and mineral spirits 50/50. Today I just mixed up a batch of Polyurathane and denatured alcohal. The mix is 50/50. I use a pressure pot but only use vaccumn. It takes awhile to dry after you take them out also. And try to find the smallest in diameter cobs you can find. If they are too big you can turn off the kernal marks. I try to buy indian corn in the fall. the cobs are usually smaller around and longer.
Hope this helps. I know there are other ways to do it. You can even have them sent away to get sabilized. Give it a try your self first

I almost forgot You can drill them with a 7mm bit to help get the mix to the center better and sometimes I ssand a little of the cob so I dont waste mix.

 

[jimm1]

Well, I will never consider myself an expert at anything, but what I do with Corn cob...
I Simply use the cobs from squirrel cobs you can get at Walmart. If your cobs are as dry as these, follw this:
Cut your blanks to length with a little overage. Generously apply Minwax' wood hardener. Let dry completelty. Drill your hole for bushings. Apply more wood hardener, both inside the hole and on the out side. Dry. Re drill your hole. Install your tubes. square the ends with your barrel trimmer or sander. Start turning.
Now what I do is after I get them round, I reapply the wood hardener. Dry. turn again. Keep your CA glue nearby. Keep your chisels real sharp.
Good luck.

 

[its_virgil]

Corn cobs don't need to be stabilized, unless using CA during the turning is considered stabilization. I use much the same steps found here: http://content.penturners.org/articles/2004/corncobpen.pdf
You must have missed this article. Not much more first hand info than what is included in this article. Also, if you can find it, there was an article on turning corncob pens in Woodturning Design a couple of years ago written by Emory McLaughlin. His website is http://www.asthewoodturns.com Maybe he has the article on his website.

Do a good turn daily!
Don


The

Hello all,
I have some nice dry corn cobs i would like to stabilize and turn. Ive gathered all the info i could find together but none seemed to be from people with first hand knowledge of the proses. I was hoping to find someone who could give me some pointers on the proses. Any help is greatly apperciated.

 

[biednick]

I must have skimmed over it, and thankyou to all. I have enough cobs to try all these so ill see what works best for me.

 

[biednick]

Got one half done, last pass with my skew on the other part and i find myself picking up chunks of corn cob from the shop floor. Gonna try again tomorrow.