Is pith ok when making a blank?

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TheCraftyCarver

TheCraftyCarver

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So, I usually make my own banks out of random wood i find in the scrap bin at woodcraft, but yesterday I was wandering around my yard and found a branch on the ground. It was about 2.5 inches across and I cut it up into segments to see what was inside.

I'm not entirely sure what kind of wood it is (I'm thinking white oak? Maybe maple? We have a variety of trees in that corner of the yard), but as I was cutting it into chunks I noticed that it was spalted on the inside with some nice lines running thru it (& not too many worm holes once you got away from the ends).

The wood isn't wet, but isn't stone dry either and I was wondering if I could just try cutting it into blanks as is, or if i needed to work around the pith and get it out of there. I mean, most of the pith would be removed when drilling out the center for tubes, but I didn't know if using wood right around the pith would cause cracking or warping down the road.

Thoughts? Give it a try? Rough cut the blank and let it sit/dry for awhile? Ditch the wood and keep "scrap bin diving" in future when making blanks?
 
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Does this diagram's depiction of "pith" concur with your intended meaning ?

It's a term which has confused me at times, but this diagram suggests it is the extreme central portion of the "log" or "stick".
 
Well, can't say much about whether the wood will dry and radially crack around the pith...I suspect it could, but I haven't tried it.

At 2.5" across, if you decide you cannot use it for pens, you could try using it for some small twig pots. I love branches, with bark on, for such little things. I turned some birch branches (I'd say 3" across) not too long ago to do just that:

IMG_20210809_145849.jpg


These can be made pretty small. Great way to use wood (with a pith, even! I haven't had too many problems with that) that you can't find a use for any other way.
 
Don`t worry about the pith on anything that diameter . It may give you some grain contrast if you drill so that it will show on one side of a pen barrel .

Best way I`ve found to deal with drying small diameter pieces rapidly without heat is to wax seal the ends and debark the piece . That allows moisture to move out radially - bark is designed to hold it in . I have seen it drop from >35 % to 15% in less than a week , with zero end checking or pith cracking . Weigh the pieces regularly to monitor them . Some woods are more difficult to separate the bark from the cambium layer than others .
 
1080Wayne said:
Don`t worry about the pith on anything that diameter . It may give you some grain contrast if you drill so that it will show on one side of a pen barrel .

Best way I`ve found to deal with drying small diameter pieces rapidly without heat is to wax seal the ends and debark the piece . That allows moisture to move out radially - bark is designed to hold it in . I have seen it drop from >35 % to 15% in less than a week , with zero end checking or pith cracking . Weigh the pieces regularly to monitor them . Some woods are more difficult to separate the bark from the cambium layer than others .
Click to expand...
Excellent advice.
 
magpens said:
View attachment 320308

Does this diagram's depiction of "pith" concur with your intended meaning ?

It's a term which has confused me at times, but this diagram suggests it is the extreme central portion of the "log" or "stick".
Click to expand...
Yes- when doing some projects (like wood spoon carving) you never use pith wood as it can warp/crack/twist as it dries. But as a pen blank it seems like it would be bored out. But I've never tried it 🤷🏻‍♀️
 
A few woods have a (central/ center) pith 1/8th inch to 3/8" diameter or so - that is not nearly as dense as the surrounding wood, and will crumble or blow out, not worth using as a pen in the majority of cases. But if dense enough it can be used.
 
I have made windfall branches into pens. I take the branch and cut it into an oversize pen blank on the bandsaw. I take candles and melt the wax to cover the ends, then let them sit out on stickers (scrap sticks or popsicle sticks) for six months or longer. The stickers let the air flow on all sides. After the six months of drying, I turn them into pens.

We have a huge Brazilian pepper tree and a well-established bottlebrush tree that I tried.

Frankly, my test turnings worked out better than the actual pens. The tests were colorful and beautiful. When I turned the pens, I turned the wood slightly deeper and the colors all came off, leaving very bland, plain brown pens. YMMV, of course. Give it a try and good luck!
 
When wood dries, it shrinks. There is relatively little axial (longitudinal) shrinkage, but radial shrinkage can be noticeable, and circumferential shrinkage is often very significant. The actual amount of shrinkage depends on the size of the wood and the species. As the wood shrinks circumferentially, checks tend to form starting at the pith and extending radially outward.

If the chunks of wood you have are 2.5" in diameter, then I think the smart approach would be to split each chuck axially, cutting as close to the pith as you can. Don't worry about trying to cut the pith out - just cut through the pith so that when the wood shrinks as it dries, there is less stress to form checks. Be careful - cutting round wood can be tricky, and you fingers are already short enough! Then, as the wood dries, you will end up with chunks are are semi-circular in cross section and about 1.25" at the widest point - so you should be able to get two good pen blanks from each piece of wood. These will shrink circumferentially, but because the wood has already been cut axially, it is less likely that checks will form. And if there are checks, they are more likely to form at the ends of the blanks, so if you cut each length longer than you expect to need, it is less likely that any checks that do form will interfere with subsequent turning as pens.

The other problem with the pith is, as Hank noted, pith wood is sometimes softer than heartwood. And now much of the cross section is affected by this characteristic is species-dependent. Several years ago we took down a Thundercloud Plum tree, and I saved some of the wood for turning. Its very pretty wood - a dark honey color with interesting, tight grain, and it turns beautifully - but the pith is extremely soft. In fact, after a few years of drying, the pith almost completely disappears leaving an axial hole in the blank that was up to 3/8" in diameter in some places.
 
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