Question for all of the pen turners.....

[Mike Svoma]

I am going to make some pens out of cocobolo and I read somewhere that it is quite oily. Do I need to hit the wood with some acetone prior to gluing in the tubes and applying my BLO/CA finish? Thanks in advance.

Mike

[Greg Just]

I would say yes when gluing the tubes in and it probably doesn't matter with the finish.

[David E Keller]

I don't worry about it before gluing in the tubes, but I usually wipe the blank with acetone before finishing. I've forgotten to wipe down a couple of times, and I've gotten away with it. YMMV

[Jim McFarland]

I don't wipe Cocobolo in either case -- could be just lucky but no problems with either step.

[Michael James]

Mike,
I've swtiched to 95% gorilla glue for pens - acetone not necessary and no failure of any kind with this glue. I tend to use acetone when finishing as a matter of practice, but I dont think it would be pass/fail on the suggested finish.

[Wally Dickerman]

No problems with glueing freshly cut cocobolo. Otherwise, acetone would be the safe thing to do.

Wally

[James Combs]

I would say yes when gluing the tubes in and it probably doesn't matter with the finish.

I would have guessed just the opposite.:eek:

[Bernie Weishapl]

I wipe coco down when finishing but have never had a problem with glueing the tubes. I use epoxy to glue all my pens. Never had one fail.

[Jim Burr]

Don't forget to rough up your tubes too! Never had a failure with roughing and gluing, but a wipe can't hurt.

[Rich Stewart]

If you have a buffing system, try buffing the cocobolo with no finish. Tripoli and then wax. I think you'll like the result.

[John Terefenko]

If you have a buffing system, try buffing the cocobolo with no finish. Tripoli and then wax. I think you'll like the result.


I do that with all the woods in the rosewood family after I hit them with some danish oil. The down side with a pen is it gets handled so much and can get grundgy looking. That is why alot of people put a finish on it. No acetone for glue up but needed on finish or just before finishing. Just remember to let it dry thouroughly

[Paul Douglass]

As you can see there are a lot of different opinions. I've worked with cocobolo some making all sorts of things including pens. I've never worried or even thought about wiping it because of oil. Maybe I've just been lucky. But my advice would be, wipe it. It certainly won't hurt it. The other important procedure it to post pictures when you finish. We love pictures, well I do.

[Mike Svoma]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I will post some pictures when I am done and let you know what I did.

Thanks again.

[Donny Lawson]

The cocobolo pens I made worked out well with just Med. CA for the tubes. No wood prep other than roughing up the tube before glueing. After turning the pen I wipe with actone and finish with Thin CA. No Problems.
Donny