Hughie, Dewey, and Gluey

Well, the first two broker pens are done, and they came out really well! I turned an orangeheart pen first, to see what it would look like, and it looks pretty cool.


Then I turned a lignum vitae pen, and that came out well too.
All this after turning a pink ivory CA pen that is one of the best I have done in a long time.

I was on a roll!

Then...I started trying to turn the other broker pens. Four in a row have either had the wood split or had the glue come undone between the tube and the blank. I would turn the blanks down, and start to sand them, and would feel that the tube was turning without the wood spinning with it. In a couple of cases, I got to the point where I was about to put the pen together, and the tube would slide a bit.

Luckily, I have noticed, in all cases, BEFORE using the pen kits. The pen kits are the most expensive parts of the process, and it is important to not waste one if it is avoidable. In all of the cases mentioned above, I just cut the wood off of the tube, and sanded most of the glue off of the tube so that it could be re-glued into another blank.

Tonight, I added some glue to the glued-in blanks that I already had made, and I also cut and drilled and glued a few more (one bloodwood, one holly, and three cocobolo that could come out really sharp). THIS time, I used a lot more glue. I am used to having to be very careful about using too much glue because the tube would get stuck in the blanks. This does not seem to be an issue with the broker pens. The tubes are just a bit smaller in relation to the holes that get drilled.

Side note: I canNOT see the appeal in sniffing glue. My eyes get very irritated just having the glue open and nearby for more than a minute or two, even when the garage door is open.