Sometimes I scare myself...

[Joe Kieve]

Am pretty new at pen turning and after getting epoxy inside the brass tubes, I went online and found that some folks use play dough, silly putty, etc. I was gluing up one today and spied a piece of shipping foam in the shop. I ripped it to about 1/4" on the band saw and just twisted/pushed the tube through. It cut a nice hole and the foam stayed in the tip of the tube. Just what I needed. Seems to work pretty well. Styrofoam cups or plates would probably work equally as well.
Just my 2 cents.

Joe

[James Combs]

Am pretty new at pen turning and after getting epoxy inside the brass tubes, I went online and found that some folks use play dough, silly putty, etc. I was gluing up one today and spied a piece of shipping foam in the shop. I ripped it to about 1/4" on the band saw and just twisted/pushed the tube through. It cut a nice hole and the foam stayed in the tip of the tube. Just what I needed. Seems to work pretty well. Styrofoam cups or plates would probably work equally as well.
Just my 2 cents.

Joe

I like it. I will be giving the Styrofoam cup/plate a try myself. I have tried the play-dough and clay scenario. Takes me longer to clean that stuff out of the tube then it does to just stick an appropriate size drill bit in the end and give it a twist.

[David E Keller]

Potatoes will work as well. I use dental wax, and it does the trick nicely.

[Jim Burr]

Candle wax...taters...what ever it takes. You can use molds that don't require plugs...but pens rule! If you keep it up, there are small corks you can get and re-use, but the cheaper the better..my wife makes candles and I love fries!!

[Wayne Hendrix]

I just stick a Q-tip in some petroleum jelly and coat the inside of the tube. It only take a second and any epoxy just pushes right out when I square the ends of the blanks.