Snakewood Pen

[penturner84]

It took a long time but I got a Snakewood pen finished.

 

I drilled about an 1/8" a day being very careful not to let the wood get hot and swabing the inside of the hole with thin CA glue after each drilling.

 

I then let the drilled blank set for two weeks to stabilize and it developed a small hairline crack during this period that was easly filled with CA.

 

I turned it with a light touch and sanded lightly again being careful to generate very little heat.

 

After finishing the crack blends in with the wood and is hard to see even if you know where to look.

 

I did not know if I would ever get this one done and it took a long time to do but I was determined to get one finished.

Edited November 22, 2007 by penturner84

[fatehbajwa]

Beautiful!!!!!!!!!

 

Do you sell the pens you make?

[penturner84]

No Fateh I'm sorry but at this time all the pens that I don't keep for myself I am giving away to friends and family as gifts.

 

Maybe one of these days I will have more time to work on them and be able to sell a few.

 

James

[fatehbajwa]

No Fateh I'm sorry but at this time all the pens that I don't keep for myself I am giving away to friends and family as gifts.

 

Maybe one of these days I will have more time to work on them and be able to sell a few.

 

James

 

 

If thats the case then can I be your friend? :ltcapd:

[CharlieB]

The pen is beautiful. Congratulations!

[OldGriz]

To those who do not know it....

Snakewood is probably the most difficult wood for a pen turner to work with...

You can do everything in your powers and techniques learned to make sure you do not introduce any heat or excess pressures when drilling and turning and then it will still crack...

Like James, I finally got one done that did not crack...

To give you an idea of what we go through...

1. drill the blank a bit every day so as not to introduce any heat to the blank...

2. allow the blank to stabilize to ambient temps and hunidity conditions in your shop for about 2 weeks or more.

3. glue the tubes in place using a glue that will not expand between the tubes and blank... that means you don't use glues like Gorilla glue.

4. allow the blank to stabilize to ambient temps and hunidity conditions in your shop for about 2 weeks or more.

5. mount the blank on the lathe and very very carefully take of light skimming cuts with scary sharp tools that will not heat the blank when turning... turn part way and stop

6. allow the blank to stabilize to ambient temps and hunidity conditions in your shop for at least a day or more

7. Turn some more as in 5

8. allow the blank to stabilize to ambient temps and hunidity conditions in your shop for at least a day or more

9. continue steps 5-8 until you are down to just above finished dimensions.

10. LIGHTLY sand the blank to finished dimension making sure you do not build up any heat

11. allow the blank to stabilize to ambient temps and hunidity conditions in your shop for at least a week or more

12. Finish the blank with you prefered choice of finish... mine is multiple coats of lacquer...

 

Now if you are like most experienced pen turners who have decided to work with snakewood, at some point between steps 4 and 11, you will most likely have turned the air in your shop blue with the language used when you find out that the blank has developed a longitudinal crack. If you are lucky as James was, it will be able to be filled and you can start working on the blank... if not, the crack will be so severe you will be able to see the tubes and you just wasted a whole lot of time and money... snakewood is not inexpensive.

 

So all I can say is...

JAMES, well done... I hope it stays just the way the picture shows for years to come...

[Eleazar]

Amazing! Beautiful pen. That is the first Snakewood Pen I have seen. Very nice.

[cwnidog]

I thought the pen was gorgeous when I saw the photo, but Tom's comment makes me appreciate it all the more .

 

-john

[Hoarder68]

Great artistic pen.

[bgray]

Great job. I've never had the courage to try snakewood...I've heard too many horror stories!

[Greg H]

It took a long time but I got a Snakewood pen finished.

 

I drilled about an 1/8" a day being very careful not to let the wood get hot and swabing the inside of the hole with thin CA glue after each drilling.

 

I then let the drilled blank set for two weeks to stabilize and it developed a small hairline crack during this period that was easly filled with CA.

 

I turned it with a light touch and sanded lightly again being careful to generate very little heat.

 

After finishing the crack blends in with the wood and is hard to see even if you know where to look.

 

I did not know if I would ever get this one done and it took a long time to do but I was determined to get one finished.

Hello I am new to FPN so I hope I am doing this right, I have made five pens frome snakewood and all do fine for abought a week then they start to crack I think I will try your way. Any other tip's would be nice, Thanks Greg H

[PrinceRandom]

That's an amazing pen. And to everyone who makes pens, what a craft!! It must be quite a feeling when you have created something that beautiful... and complex to work with. Congrats on the pen!

[GBM]

Has anyone tried stabilizing with PEG ?

The man who does the huge bowls soaks them like 6 months or something..

should not take that long for something this small...

I am offering this suggestion since it appears that some other methods are hit and miss...

Greg

 

Edit... the pen picture did not show the first time.... that is really pretty...

Have you considered , when you get a random crack, putting ground turquoise into it ? That wood is close to the color mesquite is ....and I have seen some really beautiful mesquite jewelry boxes done that way...

Edited January 16, 2008 by GBM

[Greg H]

What is the PEG method

[Ruaidhri]

PEG is super for stabilising wood (they used it for the Mary Rose!) but is really most effective with green wood.

I have used it with dried blanks, but after soaking them in water for a few days first, then about a week in a PEG solution.

I should also state - I have never tried it with snakewood

 

BTW - make sure it is PEG 1000

 

Greg - I've mailed a couple of links

 

Cheers,

R

[hamadryad11]

That's a beautiful pen. Knowing how much effort went into it makes it even more special.

 

 

Have you considered , when you get a random crack, putting ground turquoise into it ? That wood is close to the color mesquite is ....and I have seen some really beautiful mesquite jewelry boxes done that way...

 

This idea intrigues me. It makes me think of some gorgeous amber and turquoise jewellery I've seen. The contrast of the bright blue against that warm orangey colour could look really good.

 

[GBM]

I noticed the day after I mentioned PEG that you had mentioned it the day before ... I just have not seen the whole site yet... there is a lot of stuff...and I am on a slow dialup to boot...

 

If I had some Snakewood and was going to ' attack' the potential problem I would bore a small hole in it ( meaning turn the wood and move it into a stationary drill bit to keep it centered ) keeping it wet while boring and then let the PEG displace the water from inside and out at the same time... and the length of time one is willing to wait may make a lot of difference..

There is the potential for speeding up the process by placing the item in a pressure vessel while soaking....

Greg

 

 

 

 

 

[Greg H]

Thanks R all help is great

[Skybill]

Hello all!

 

I'm new to the forum, but have been turning pens for about 4 or 5 years.

 

I can attest to the difficulty of working with Snakewood.

 

I've made maybe a half dozen pens out of it. Only about 3 of them have not developed cracks!

 

I got so po'd at the Snakewood that I put all I had on eBay and swore never to work with it again!!

 

Although, I might get a couple of blanks and send them out to a guy here in Portland that stabilizes wood and see if that might help.

 

It really is gorgeous wood.