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Weird Wood

Frederick

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Frederick
Hello all,

Today I decided to make some wood pen blanks for some Sierra pens. I found a suitable piece of Burr Elm and prepared it for the brass tube only to find that
the tube would not completely enter . I took the blank back to the drill thinking that all it needed was a cleaning out. Still it did not fit. I measured the drill bit and the tube and both were correct. Again I reamed out the hole in the blank and tried again, still no joy. Again everything measured correctly. The hole was perfectly straight as was the tube. I just could not work this out.

To prove a point I selected a piece of London Plane and using the same drill bit I drilled another hole. This time the tube fitted well. This means to me that something was happening in the wood, but I have no idea what it could be. Some sort of tension/structural release maybe. No idea at all.

Has anyone experienced this phenomenon? :nooidea:
 

Gadget-UK

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Colin
I have had this.
Turned out the wood was compressed and drilling out the hole releases the wood closing the hole very slightly.
I left the blank overnight and re-drilled in the morning and it was ok :thumbs:
 

Frederick

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Hello Colin

I still have the blank so I will look at it again in the morning. Thought I was going mad :mad:

Cheers
Frederick
 

Penpal

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A common occurance solved when the timber is quite dry,slow drilling and persistance. Personally I avoid such timbers as the one you described unless its a screamer full of grain and colour.

Peter.
 

Frederick

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Hello Peter

Thanks for this. I've not experienced this before but sure have now. Thanks for the help.

Cheers
Frederick
 

Steve68

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Glad someone brought this up, I thought I was doing something wrong. I've had this recently with some of my blanks. I've been going up 0.5mm on the drill bit and using gorilla glue to expand in any tiny gap that may be there. However, after reading Colin's post I'll try his method. Sounds better than mine :thumbs:
 

Phil Dart

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Drilled holes in wooden blanks do go out of round, it's true. That's one of the reasons why you should glue up a drilled wooden blank straight away, rather than drilling today and glueing tomorrow,as it were. However, if your drill bit still goes through the hole, that proves the hole is still round.

I thinks its more likely that either the hole is not straight (the less likely of my two suggestions) and the drill goes through because it straightens the wood but the tube will not. The second, (which I think is more likely) is that because it's a burr, and therefore likely to have voids and inclusions and so in within it, there is a tiny piece of loose burr flapping off the inner wall of the hole. The drill pushes it out of the way, but the tube gets caught.

You could try dribbling some CA through the inside of the hole, to fix any loose bits, then re-drill it. That may solve the problem.
 

martin.pearson

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I've had this a few times & I run the drill through again from the other end of the Blank, if Phils theory about loose bits or Bur on the inside of the blank is correct then that may be why this works for me as the drill will be rotating in the other direction inside the blank & clear those bits off.
 

Frederick

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Frederick
Thanks Phil

A good and very comprehensive reply. I didn't think of using CA, I will give it a try next time.

Cheers
Frederick
 

Frederick

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Hello Martin,

Thanks for this. I did try drilling from both ends but, on this occasion didn't solve the problem which really confused me. :banana:
I think Phil came up with a sure fire solution and that is to CA the inside and re-drill. If that doesn't work then it's free flying lessons for the blank :funny:

Cheers
Frederick
 

Bammer

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Freddie baby, took me a while but I found this, first watched it a few years back. I'm confident this will explain your issue and help understand whats happening.


Hope it helps

Brad
 

Frederick

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Frederick
Hello Phil

Tried your suggestion of using CA and drilling out again. The drill still passes through the blank OK but the tube doesn't. I think it is as you say. The drill must straighten the piece slightly but upon removal the blank resumes its original. I think this is one is for the bin - pity:mad:
 

Frederick

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Frederick
Excellent video Brad, cheers. My problem exactly. Unfortunately, leaving the blank a few days has not cured the problem as yet. I say that because the weather is very wet and humidity is high. I am going to bring it indoors where it is warmer for a few days and then see what happens. Thanks for info, always appreciated,

Cheers
Frederick
 
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