| The following is a message I received
from a customer who was having difficulties turning the
snakeskin blanks in the 'normal' manner. I applaud
Barry in developing a solution for a problem he was having
instead of just complaining about the product. This is
what separates a craftsman from a hobbyist. These are
his words: "I'm posting this note to hopefully help
other turners. I bought a rattlesnake blank from you
and followed the instructions to the letter. No matter
how careful I was the blank still shattered and broke apart
exposing the skin below. I was able to refill the
voids with CA glue but then tried to think how to continue.
This is what I did: I took a medium grade bastard file
(new) and at a slow speed worked it back and forth making
light cuts with the file. I worked slow so as not to
heat up the blank with friction. I worked at it until
I got the shape that I wanted. Then I sanded it
through the stated way and puffed it out and the blanks came
out perfectly. Would have never thought of using a
file to turn these blanks. Try it yourself and I think
you will be surprised at how well it turns out.
Please share this with others because these blanks are
very fragile. Thank you for your time and I will be
back buying more blanks."
Barry N. in Kalamazoo, MI And another helpful
suggestion... "After squaring the the ends and
knocking off the corners of the blanks with my disc and belt
sander, I use a Stanley Surform Plane with a flay, regular
cut blade and calipers to take the blanks down to about 1/8"
greater in diameter than the bushings. This goes very
quickly. Then I take a medium wood rasp and take the
blanks down to a diameter a little more than 1/16" greater
than the bushings. This means that the special clear
resin is about 1/32" above the bushings. At this point
I use 60, 80 and 120 grit sandpaper to smooth the blanks.
Next, I use the regular sequence of sanding and polishing to
finish the barrels. I have made a number of the
Tropical pens from your kits and so far no disasters.
The Stanley Surform plane can be found at any Home Depot for
about $15.00."
Harold S. in Jupiter, FL |
