Heartbroken (well maybe just cracked)

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Todd in PA

Todd in PA

Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2021
Messages
731
Location
Port Matilda, PA
I bought a set of these Bubinga blanks that are amazing. Seller said they were pomelle. I never heard that word before.
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Unfortunately, I managed to crack 2 of the three upon assembly. I've been spoiled using Berea and Dayacom kits. I forgot that with other kits I need to ream out the brass to slip-fit and then glue, which I did for the third.
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That is some pretty wood. You should have saved those for the Pretty Wood contest. Mother Nature sure knows how to do it.
 
Holy cow that's just gorgeous. Is that your normal finish or did you do anything else to bring it out?

Would you mind posting a photo or two of the cracked blanks? If you don't want to post could you send via PM? Pretty sure I have some of these kits sitting in my shop right now.
 
The first one went together fine but the crack showed up this morning. The second cracked on the spot. The third I widened the brass tube and should be ok.
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It's my standard finish, Gluboost thin and medium. +/-.005 mm.

The kit is Diamond Knurl. I believe it's an Exotic Blanks original. I like the kit. But the fit is on the tight side for wood pens.
 
Todd in PA said:
I bought a set of these Bubinga blanks that are amazing. Seller said they were pomelle. I never heard that word before.
View attachment 365980
Unfortunately, I managed to crack 2 of the three upon assembly. I've been spoiled using Berea and Dayacom kits. I forgot that with other kits I need to ream out the brass to slip-fit and then glue, which I did for the third.
View attachment 365981View attachment 365982View attachment 365984
Click to expand...
Wow! That is some amazing wood. Beautiful job!!
 
I have had this happen before (cracks upon assembly) and have had good luck disassembling sanding, filling/fixing the cracks with CA and refinishing. Since you know where to look, you will be able to find the cracks, but otherwise they can be almost invisible.

Those blanks are amazing.
 
When I started turning, I would clean my lathe, place paper towels below the beds and after turning save as much of the shavings, dust for that species in labeled jars. At one time I had 47 small jars of different species. They came in very handy when I had the occasional crack and wanted to save the blank. In my experience, very figured burls are very prone to cracking. I also would flood the inside of the drilled tube with CA, let dry, before gluing in the brass with epoxy.
 
I might try to rescue these then. I fill voids and such often with CA. But I figured an end crack was the kiss of death because if I filled it, it would just grow longer over time. Several have said it works, so I'll try it and let you know.

Here's one I from this weekend where I filled worm holes with yellow, white, and dark gray mica mixed into thin CA.

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That is a fantastic set of blanks. So said that they cracked.

I had a couple of kits from Lazerlinez which did that and I've never gone back to turn the blanks down and give it another go. I guess I should revisit them since they are some of the most expensive kits I've bought!
 
Todd in PA said:
The first one went together fine but the crack showed up this morning. The second cracked on the spot. The third I widened the brass tube and should be ok.
View attachment 365989View attachment 365990
It's my standard finish, Gluboost thin and medium. +/-.005 mm.

The kit is Diamond Knurl. I believe it's an Exotic Blanks original. I like the kit. But the fit is on the tight side for wood pens.
Click to expand...
I thought those were Diamond Knurl pens. I've cracked a couple pens this year but think it's more from user error than the pen kit. The exception to that statement being the Berea Carbine kit, it is just to darn tight.

Interesting that other people have had Bubinga crack on them too. I do agree that I would try to carefully pull the pen apart, sand back and fill the crack. I've done that with the pens I've cracked and it works amazingly well.
 
Those are some exceptionally beautiful blanks.

I've turned lots of Bubinga and never had a problem with cracks. One of my favorite pen woods.

Perhaps it's part of the fact they are so figured?
 
What a shame...those are gorgeous! I love your choice of the copper kit with those blanks.....let us know what you do...
 
Absolutely beautiful blanks. I agree with the others - sand the finish off, fix the cracks and re-finish. They will make fantastic display/demonstrator pens for your shows.

Or - add bubinga to your banished list and send me the blanks! :D Or I can pick them the next time I visit family in PA.
 
They're gorgeous!

Oddly enough, I thought of this post over the weekend. I saw that one of my pens has cracks all over the body and have no idea why. It lives in a zippered pouch holder on my desk. Not sure if it was dropped or something else happened to it. How hard was the pen to take apart and put back together?
 
The caps are difficult to disassemble without damaging the plastic thread insert. In this case the cap didn't crack, so I didn't have to navigate that for this repair. For the body, I simply tap out the inserts using a transfer punch.
 
Todd in PA said:
The caps are difficult to disassemble without damaging the plastic thread insert. In this case the cap didn't crack, so I didn't have to navigate that for this repair. For the body, I simply tap out the inserts using a transfer punch.
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I just took a look over my pen in question and have a small crack I almost didn't see. A TON of cracks all over the body of the pen that I can't figure out how they got there. Have debated getting a single light bulb and quizzing various members of the household but already know those answers... Not sure what to do. May try to save it just for the experience if nothing else. It's a pen I like which is a bummer.

It's red mallee which I love turning, kind of bums me out that it's cracked
 
Todd, what kind of CA are you using? I often wonder why the finish on these kits don't crack all the time? I mean why wouldn't they, when you're forcing a too-large piece of hardware into the tube? But they don't for me. I use the Mercury Adhesives flex CA, maybe that's helping. Curious what others here have experienced.
 
cmiller said:
Todd, what kind of CA are you using? I often wonder why the finish on these kits don't crack all the time? I mean why wouldn't they, when you're forcing a too-large piece of hardware into the tube? But they don't for me. I use the Mercury Adhesives flex CA, maybe that's helping. Curious what others here have experienced.
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I'm not Todd, but I feel compelled to chime in on this...
Now that I've transitioned to entirely kitless pen turning, I am realizing a lot of the issue with cracked bodies and finishes likely does stem from the tube expansion process of assembly. Sure, many/most woods are somewhat flexible and can absorb the stress, but super dense woods that get a lot of complaints in these forums (ebony, snakewood, etc) often don't hold up. I've used a *lot* of ebony (and some snakewood) in many of the kitless pens I've made and as long as all of the tolerances are slip fit and secured with adhesive instead of interference fits, there are no "dramas" (as the Aussies like to say).
I also use Mercury flex CA for added cracked finish prevention. My front page featured Amboyna kitless fountain pen is one example.
 
Nice save indeed!

I've used GluBoost several times to save cracks in my pens and also repair cracks in pens made by other turners - I believe GluBoost's original purpose was for repairing defects in finish. I find it very versatile as a finish and a repair aid. That said I have become terribly sensitized to their accelerator and require active carbon respirator or PAPR protection.
 
cmiller said:
Todd, what kind of CA are you using? I often wonder why the finish on these kits don't crack all the time? I mean why wouldn't they, when you're forcing a too-large piece of hardware into the tube? But they don't for me. I use the Mercury Adhesives flex CA, maybe that's helping. Curious what others here have experienced.
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Gluboost.
 
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