Inlay for pens already turned.

[prjfreak]

Hi there everyone! I'm still pretty new to the game here so i was wondering if there are any veterans out there that can help a rookie with this problem. You see I made myself some inlay using Lapis Lazuli to fill the cracks of a blank. Now i've made some pens already and I'm sure alot of you can sympathize when I tell you how upset I was when I made a very good friend of mine a pen, but then out of nowhere a HUGE crack appears! He still loves it and uses it but I have to ask, is it possible to fill a crack with the Inlay that I have even though the pen has already been turned?

 

[edstreet]

Welcome to the IAP.

Second everyone here has had things like Lapi Lazuli crack on them, if they have not then either they are liars or they have not worked with it

In the bowl turning community we use a diverse range of material to fill voids with. You will also see many turners part down the cracked area and put something else on it. BTW most of the cracks like this occur from pressing in the fittings and causing the brass tube to expand and crack the blank so either ream out the end of the tube FIRST or pre-expand it then glue in the tube. Also gluing in the fittings will be a must in this case.

Depending on how big the crack is you might be able to fill it with sanding dust or chisel shavings from the blank, grate them down with some fine grit sandpaper, fill the crack so it would be hidden then CA it up and do a CA finish over all of it.

 

[Cwalker935]

Buy yourself a set of transfer punches:
Transfer Punch Set - 28 Piece

Knock the pen apart, fix and refinish. Push-in transmissions are tricky to remove and you may have to replace the old one. You might need to add some CA or loctite when reassembling.

 

[wyone]

Depending on what the pen kit is, I agree with the above to use transfer punches to knock it all apart so you can do the repairs properly. As long as the kit is a current one, worst case is you might have to buy a replacement transmission or so other part. But he could end up with a pen that has a great repair, and possibly a new transmission so it would be like he is getting an entirely new pen.