As mentioned earlier, there is a type of wood that seems to be VERY difficult to drill and glue correctly. Cocobolo is a fantastic-looking wood, and it is very easy to turn, but it is also a wet wood (a lot of moisture in it), and for that reason, drilling it is a pain in the neck. The moistness of the wood means that when it is drilled, the drill bit heats up the interior of the wood (around the hole being drilled), and the hole shrinks after it is drilled. So, even though the drill bit can go through the wood with no problem, the brass tubes do not fit into the resulting holes. It is almost a paradox, and is very frustrating. None of the tips mentioned earlier work well to fix this problem.
My guru at Woodcraft suggested microwaving the pen blanks for 30 seconds at a time, multiple times (letting them cool in between). I have tried this, with no success. I have also tried drilling slightly larger-than-usual holes, and using the gap-filling glue. This sometimes works, and sometimes results in the tube coming out of the blank during the barrel-trimming process (since the tube did not really bond to the inside of the blank). Again, somewhat frustrating.
The latest piece of advice that I have received, which I have not yet tried, is to drill the holes and then let the blanks dry in the woodshop for a week, and then redrill the holes. I suppose that this COULD work, but I am not holding out high hopes for it. Luckily, I have the Bocote and the bloodwood to work on while the cocobolo dries.
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