Goonies woods revisited

[qquake]

Well, I got another chunk of the Goonies wood, so I'm trying again. I may be able to get four tries from this one, at least two. I'm taking many more precautions this time. I chose a kit with a smaller, shorter tube; I cleaned the bore with solvent; and I flooded it with thin CA. I'll be using T-88 epoxy once the CA has set. I'll take the lightest passes I've ever taken on a blank. And if I get that far, I'll use 100 grit sandpaper for final shaping. Pray for me!

 

[qquake]

The kit I decided on is the British made Pratchett, from Turners Warehouse. Never saw a kit packaged like this before.

 

[1080Wayne]

Certainly should be possible to get a nice pen from that . My experience with similar ones though tells me that a polyurethane foaming glue improves the chance of success , because it provides maximum support to the wood .

 

[PatrickR]

After seeing what happened to you with these before. I would agree with using gorilla glue, also resort to sandpaper for final shaping. Crosscut, wide growth ring pine will always be problematic. Good luck!

 

[qquake]

After seeing what happened to you with these before. I would agree with using gorilla glue, also resort to sandpaper for final shaping. Crosscut, wide growth ring pine will always be problematic. Good luck!

It looks more like douglas fir to me, but I'm not sure. And is Gorilla Glue as strong as epoxy?

 

[PatrickR]

Very well could be. Either way hard to turn. I use GG when I am going to turn thin and then cast. I switched after failures with epoxy. I think it adheres better to the metal.

 

[1080Wayne]

It looks more like douglas fir to me, but I'm not sure. And is Gorilla Glue as strong as epoxy?

It isn`t so much a question of glue tensile or shear strength as it is of support . It foams and fills all of the irregularities caused by drilling . From the cross cut blanks point of view , tool pressure is constantly changing as it rotates . It needs the most uniform support possible . Granted PU foam has minimal compressive strength compared to epoxy , but something is better than nothing at any point where the wood has zero support .

 

[qquake]

I don't know. I've had thousands of successes with epoxy over the years, but zero success with polyurethane glue. It may be a mistake, but I think I'll use the T-88 epoxy on this one.

 

[jrista]

Jim, I also recommend giving a nice, sharp roughing gouge a try. I know you like the sheer cutter, but whenever I turn wood blanks, I've found that the cleanest, lowest-effort CUT that I get, is with a sharpened roughing gouge. I turn my wood blanks entirely with a roughing gouge now, and have stopped having problems with blanks cracking or exploding.

When first starting with the square blank, just some light cuts to shave down the corners works really well, takes just a couple minutes. If you trim off the corners first, then you just rough normally. I tend to use a highish angle with my roughing gouge. Rather than push it strait in, which in the end gives you about as much "scrape" as "cut", I try to lower the tool rest a bit, so that I can actually rest the bevel on the wood. Then pull the tool back till it starts cutting. You can ease into the cut this way, with minimum force, keep it clean and light. Should help in the preservation of the blank.

 

[qquake]

Jim, I also recommend giving a nice, sharp roughing gouge a try. I know you like the sheer cutter, but whenever I turn wood blanks, I've found that the cleanest, lowest-effort CUT that I get, is with a sharpened roughing gouge. I turn my wood blanks entirely with a roughing gouge now, and have stopped having problems with blanks cracking or exploding.

When first starting with the square blank, just some light cuts to shave down the corners works really well, takes just a couple minutes. If you trim off the corners first, then you just rough normally. I tend to use a highish angle with my roughing gouge. Rather than push it strait in, which in the end gives you about as much "scrape" as "cut", I try to lower the tool rest a bit, so that I can actually rest the bevel on the wood. Then pull the tool back till it starts cutting. You can ease into the cut this way, with minimum force, keep it clean and light. Should help in the preservation of the blank.

I do have a roughing gouge. I might sharpen it, and give it an at least initial try.

 

[qquake]

I chased the bore with the 11/32" bit after the CA set. Made a mess, got it all over the place. I cleaned the tubes with lighter fluid, after the PlayDoh. I warmed up the epoxy in hot water before I mixed it. It's a trick I've used with cold spray paint. I mixed and applied the epoxy in the warmest room in my house, with a space heater running. Hopefully it won't take a week to set.

 

[jrista]

I chased the bore with the 11/32" bit after the CA set. Made a mess, got it all over the place. I cleaned the tubes with lighter fluid, after the PlayDoh. I warmed up the epoxy in hot water before I mixed it. It's a trick I've used with cold spray paint. I mixed and applied the epoxy in the warmest room in my house, with a space heater running. Hopefully it won't take a week to set.

Hmm, I don't understand the cleaning with lighter fluid bit. Could you explain that?

 

[qquake]

Hmm, I don't understand the cleaning with lighter fluid bit. Could you explain that?

To make sure there was no residue left from the PlayDoh.

 

[PatrickR]

lighter fluid would be low on my list for cleaning. It is naphtha, a petroleum product, fairly oily and slow to evaporate. my opinion is that your previous problems weren't necessarily gluing issues but the nature of the blank.
turn it close to size and break out the sand paper. It appears to me the blanks were cut (from flooring or siding) to minimize waste, not to produce the best blanks.

 

[qquake]

lighter fluid would be low on my list for cleaning. It is naphtha, a petroleum product, fairly oily and slow to evaporate. my opinion is that your previous problems weren't necessarily gluing issues but the nature of the blank.
turn it close to size and break out the sand paper. It appears to me the blanks were cut (from flooring or siding) to minimize waste, not to produce the best blanks.

It's not naphtha, naphtha is illegal in California. Just trying to cover all the bases.

 

[egnald]

Living here in Nebraska it is easy to forget the limitations on solvents and other materials in other states like California. I have Acetone, Denatured Alcohol, MEK, Xylene, Tolulor, Naptha, and Mineral Spirits in my workshop, bought from our local DIY store. Shucks, I even have 190 Proof Everclear (nearly pure ethanol) on my home bar. About the only things I used to use that were outlawed (mostly due to the Montreal Protocol) is 111 Trichloroethane and Carbon Tetrachloride.

One of the divisions of Vishay I worked with is Spectrol in Ontario, CA. I think we used Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) Free Flux Removers like UltraClean and VeriClean which are based on siloxanes. We also used something called Universal Contact Cleaner which is a Hydrofluroolefin (HFO) based solvent to clean Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs).

Since they are primarily for industrial use I don't know if any of those are readily available to consumers.

 

[qquake]

I usually use lighter fluid or Goof Off.

 

[qquake]

I'm taking all the precautions I can think of this time. It took two days for the T-88 epoxy to set. Woodpeckers doesn't have an 11/32" pilot for the Ultra-Shear barrel trimmer I use. So I dug out an old one. It's basically a piloted end mill, with a 5/16" drill blank cut down to 1/4" to fit in the mill. I was a little bit concerned about trimming it, afraid one or both of the ends would chip out. But when I initially flooded the drilled hole in the blank with CA, it flooded the ends too. I was able to trim both ends with no problem. I knocked the corners off in preparation for roughing it round. And finally, using some PSI non-stick cones, I flooded the outside of the blank. I'll start turning it tomorrow.

 

[jrista]

Best of luck! Hope it goes well this time!

 

[qquake]

Best of luck! Hope it goes well this time!

You and me both!

 

[MedWoodWorx]

Well, I got another chunk of the Goonies wood, so I'm trying again. I may be able to get four tries from this one, at least two. I'm taking many more precautions this time. I chose a kit with a smaller, shorter tube; I cleaned the bore with solvent; and I flooded it with thin CA. I'll be using T-88 epoxy once the CA has set. I'll take the lightest passes I've ever taken on a blank. And if I get that far, I'll use 100 grit sandpaper for final shaping. Pray for me!

what is goonies wood?

 

[qquake]

It's from the Goonies movie. My son loved it when he was a kid.

Goo nies House Wood

House Wood This wood came from the house in the Goo nies. Included 1 blank and 1 COA **sizes will vary, image shows multiple varying sizes**You will be able to get at least 1 pen out of each blank. Sourced from the house in Astoria, Oregon known as "The Goo nies House"This wood was cut from...

turnerswarehouse.com

 

[MedWoodWorx]

It's from the Goonies movie. My son loved it when he was a kid.

Goo nies House Wood

House Wood This wood came from the house in the Goo nies. Included 1 blank and 1 COA **sizes will vary, image shows multiple varying sizes**You will be able to get at least 1 pen out of each blank. Sourced from the house in Astoria, Oregon known as "The Goo nies House"This wood was cut from...

turnerswarehouse.com

oh i see, good luck with ur project then, cheers

 

[qquake]

So far, so good (knock on wood). I tried a roughing gouge, but found that the negative rake cutter cut it MUCH better. I don't know if it's the cutter, or a better piece of wood, but overall this is cutting easier than the first two I tried. I've been flooding it often with super thin CA. I tried a test with some 50 grit sandpaper, but it sure doesn't take material off very fast. I've almost got it to the final diameter, so I need to decide if I'll use the chisel or sandpaper for final shaping.

 

[jrista]

Since you flooded it with CA, you are more cutting a resin than wood, so it makes sense the sheer cutting would work better. The gouge works better on pure wood in my experience, but you no longer have pure wood.

Looks good so far...very interesting grain.

 

[qquake]

I don't believe it! I was successful! I flooded it with CA several times, rotated the negative rake cutter to fresh edges twice, and used sandpaper for final shaping. I found that 150 grit worked better than 50 grit, for some reason. I followed that with 220-600 grits, then synthetic steel wool. This is such a relief! Third time was the charm! I finished it with Pens Plus, which I normally use on wood. It's stained on one end, and kind of ugly, but the history makes it cool.

 

[qquake]

I wasn't taking any chances with assembly. I scraped the inside ends of the tube and used a grinding stone in a Dremel. Didn't want any cracks when I pressed the components in. I probably could have done better with shaping the body, but I'll take it.