Been thinking about re-casting snakewood in Simlar 41 to see if I can get around the cracking problem everyone seems to have. Though what I would try is to turn a snakewood pen about .003-.005 under size. Then cast the turned pen blank in resin. Let cure for several days and then return and finish as a resin pen. I should be able to get a high shine without having snakewood exposed. Thought is that the resin should make the pen stronger as it will encase the snakewood and should fill any extremely fine cracks that I can not see when turning or finishing. I have a lathe that will allow me to turn a blank with .001-.003 tolerances. So has anyone else tried this or will I be the first to fail down this road? I learn more from my failures than I do from my few successes.
Snakewood casting
- Thread starter jfoh
- Start date
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its_virgil
Member
What you describe has been done and a wooden blank encapsulated in PR looks really nice. I don't remember if encapsulating snakewood in PR to help control cracking has been done. Doesn't really matter...go for it and tell us how it worked and what you found out.
Do a good turn daily!
Don
Do a good turn daily!
Don
toolcrazy
Member
Snakewood cracks due to heat. Heat when it is cut up, heat when it is drilled, heat when it is sanded. To prevent cracking, buy from a reputable dealer that cuts Snake wood with water. And be very careful when you machine it, do not produce any heat.
The only thing I can think of when casting snakewood in PR, is the heat when curing. It may produce enough stress on the PR from the wood that when you turn it so thin, it may just crack right through the PR. But as Don says, it is worth trying.
The only thing I can think of when casting snakewood in PR, is the heat when curing. It may produce enough stress on the PR from the wood that when you turn it so thin, it may just crack right through the PR. But as Don says, it is worth trying.
JohnU
Member
I made a snakewood pen a while back that did not crack upon finishing. But.... about three weeks later I found a crack down the side, and it was stored in a clear tube in my air conditioned house, in the shade. It hadnt even been used yet. Had a CA finish. ?
toolcrazy
Member
Yep, that is about right. The cracks don't always show till days or weeks later.
JohnU
Member
Ah... just making sure there wasnt something else going on, or something else I needed to worry about. Thanks
Russianwolf
Member
If it was me, I'd try to make the PR thickness more than a few thousandths, I would think the thicker the PR level the better.
Well I turned three snakewood pens as an experiment. One was finished as I would any other snakewood pen. The other two were turned, cast, returned and finished. These pens all came from the same piece of wood, cut consecutively. Bored using three increasing drill bits sizes. All turned the same day. The cast pens were turned .015-.018 smaller than the non cast pens. One will be kept on my desk as a control. One will be carried and used daily. The last will be left in my truck for three or four weeks to expose it to as many abnormal temperatures as possible. If all three crack then I have learned nothing but if one or both of the recast pens make it a month or more without cracking I will be very happy. I will post about these pens as cracks happen, or at the end of a few weeks.All that I am out in the worst case is a little cracked wood and a few bucks.
Fred
Member
And if you are gracious enough to post your findings then we all will learn something ... which is what this Forum is all about. :wink:
Thanks for the 'experimenting', and I for one truely hope your endeavors work very well for you!
NewLondon88
Local Chapter Leader
I think if I were going to cast the snakewood in PR, I'd thin it down a little
to help get the PR into the pores. You can usually buy styrene from the
PR suppliers and use that to thin the resin.
to help get the PR into the pores. You can usually buy styrene from the
PR suppliers and use that to thin the resin.
glycerine
Member
I would think instead of casting in resin, you could just put alot of CA coats on and accomplish the same thing... especially if your PR coating will end up being so thin anyway.
The pen I put in my truck still has not cracked. The one I have used everyday is fine. So far nothing to report for any cracks. It has been fairly warm here but not those 100 plus days we had last year. I would have bet that one or more pens would have cracked by now if asked before I started. They look great and so far have not cracked. Knock on wood.
Well the pen which I left in my truck now has a small crack in it. The one I carry and the control pen are still fine, so far. Can not say that it has been so hot here that the truck ever got much past high 90's. Very cool August and September so far. We will see how long before the next one cracks, as all Snakewood seems to crack for me. 
MartinPens
Member
What about stabilizing the blank instead of cast in in PR? Anyone have any luck with that? It would be interesting to compare the results of stabilizing with PR casting. I like how you are testing it in different environments. Thanks for the info.
Martin
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Martin
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NewLondon88
Local Chapter Leader
I was just about to suggest recasting with a resin thinned with styrene, but I
see that I already did .. a year and a half ago! I would think that the thinned
resin should give some amount of penetration and then harden. But I never saw
if this pen was cast or CA'ed
see that I already did .. a year and a half ago! I would think that the thinned
resin should give some amount of penetration and then harden. But I never saw
if this pen was cast or CA'ed
MartinPens
Member
Nothing like throwing a 2009 thread to the top of the heap again! I didn't even notice the thread date, I was doing a search on snakewood. Fun
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