Anyone Turn Desert Ironwood??

[Corey Hallagan]

Well I have tomorrow off. I have another walnut pen and letter opener ready to turn and also my first piece of desert ironwood. What does this stuff turn and finish like? This piece has the most beautiful grain of choclate, tan, tellow and cream swirly in it. I really hope it turns out. It will be my first daily user as all my other pens have been for someone else. It will also be my first cigar pen.

After that, I am going to chuck up another piece of poplar 2 x 2 and hack away a bit, see what happens. Kind of a test for the chuck and some turning techniques.

Corey

[laurie sullivan]

yes and hello, i have a wonderfull piece of iron wood and you have to kinda watch it. i have had it turn like a champ and i had it explode on the lathe.

do not heat it up on the drill press. take it real slow and sharp chiesls.

good luck

laurie

[Bob Noles]

Hi Laurie and welcome to SMC. Good to have you with us. I was hoping to see a good reply to Corey as I too have a nice piece of ironwood that needs a tool put to it :)

[Michael Stafford]

Corey, some of the most beautiful pens I have turned were from Desert Ironwood but it does take careful turning particularly on the ends as it is somewhat brittle. Also I found that it was better to glue it with polyurethane glue as the poly is somewhat better at achieving a uniform bond all along the blank. Ironwood really has some wonderful color and polishes like a jewel. I usually reserve it for larger pen kits.

[Corey Hallagan]

Thanks guys. Welcome to SMC Laurie! Mike, thanks for the info. I glued the blanks up with epoxy and coated them well. Hopefully it will hold. I usually rough out with my 7/8 roughing gouge but should I take it to round with a smaller gouge or just take smooth baby strokes on it. I normally do final shaping with my 3/4 oval skew with very light planing cuts. Will this work or should I attack it another way?
Thanks!
Corey

[Michael Stafford]

Corey, I rough out with a small roughing gouge and then pare it down close to finished size with a 1/2" continental pattern forged gouge and finish with a razor sharp skew. I found you just have to be careful on the ends of the blanks as it can be easy to lift grain. Of course that is true with a lot of woods.

[John Hart]

I've never done it Corey, but seen some very nice pens made from it. Seems worth the trouble.

Welcome to the Creek Laurie!:)

[Corey Hallagan]

Thanks Mike, I am about to go give it a go!

Corey

[Corey Hallagan]

Well me and the DI went round and round. Mike was not kidding that this stuff likes to lift the grain. Man!! I roughed it with a 5/8 roughing gouge and started to fight the grain ripping out on the ends. I switched to a 1/2 spindle gouge and started to shape it with nice smooth cuts. Then I sharpened my skew and man the grain really started lifting terrible and that skew was a sharp as could be. Switched back to the 1/2 gouge and finished the shape proud of the bushings but had the general shape. I took to the sanding. and once I got thru the 220 grit I knew I had won! Man, I sanded this thing thru 2500 MM and it looked like it was already polished. I put a rubbed on lacquer finish with about 4 coats burnished in. It looks fantastic. The lacquer needs to cure and then I will put a coat of TSW on it. Then assemble it.
It's a pain in the butt to turn but a dream to finish if you can get it to that point! Will post photos when it's all done.
Corey

[Ken Salisbury]

Some of the prettiest pens I have made were desert iron wood. A bit tricky to turn due to it's brittleness as mentioned above. Patience = Beautiful :)

[Kenneth George]

I am a bit late on getting into this discussion but I will add this, a lot of really dense hard woods scrap better than they cut. I have turned quite a bit of iron wood and find that I can get an almost glass finish with a final scraping. A good trick on getting a great finish scrape on this type of wood is either to purchase one of the new “Hard wood scrapers” or in my case just raise your tool rest to be even with the centerline of your spindle and then present your scraper tip to the piece back at centerline. This will give you a downward angle to the work piece and create a very non aggressive shear scraping cut that works very well for this kind of wood. This method works great for things like Lignum Vitae and Texas Ebony witch also have the grain you experienced and also try it on Ebony and Pink Ivory.

I should also mention that I like to knock the bur off the scraper before doing this.

Anyhow that is my experience.

.

[Bob Noles]

Some of the prettiest pens I have made were desert iron wood. A bit tricky to turn due to it's brittleness as mentioned above. Patience = Beautiful :)

Ken,

Which style pens did you like best with the iron wood? I have a couple of really nice blanks itching to be turned and would love an idea of how to do them the best justice.

[Corey Hallagan]

Bob, I know I wouldn't choose a slimline for this due to how thin it has to be taken. I did a cigar and I think it will work best for those and other rollerballs, flat tops, gents etc. Bigger kits which is what I THINK Mike was eluding to as well. I am sure it would make a beautiful slimiline as well but I don't think slimlines are easy anyway and this wood would be tough for a beginner like me!
Corey

[Ken Salisbury]

Ken,

Which style pens did you like best with the iron wood? I have a couple of really nice blanks itching to be turned and would love an idea of how to do them the best justice.

If I remember correctly I made several slimlines, flat top American and some round top euros - all beautiful

[Barry Stratton]

Corey - PICTURES, MAN, PICTURES!!!!! The anticipation is killing poor Stu over in Tokyo!!!!!

[Corey Hallagan]

Ha ha...Barry I want to take pictures bad but the blanks are still on the mandrel and the lacquer needs to cure. I have 4 coats of lathe applied lacquer and another 5 coats of spray on lacquer. It will probably need to sit for at least 3 days and cure before it hardens enough to handle it. It really is to soft to handle before that. Soon!! By the way I like turning cigar kits, I like them personally for my own as I like a bigger pen and they are much more fun to turn I think.
Corey

[Paul Downes]

Corey, I commonly turn woods that have the problem you describe. I will soak CA glue into the blank and turn it down, repeating the process as needed. This works pretty good on punky wood such as you commonly find in spaulted maple. I usually rough the blank down to about 1/16" over finished size and then start the CA flowing. This of course depends on the wood and how it is turning. Also have found it a good idea to soak some into the end grain before turning, because it is somewhat weaker there. It's no gaurentee, I blew up one tonight, trying to salvage one that already had a chip out of the end, (which was going to be parted off). On drilling real hard woods such as snakewood, I have found that by dripping water in the hole and frequently backing the drill out, that it drills much nicer. I have yet to blow one using this method. Some woods generate a lot of heat when drilling and turning so, slow and light is the name af the game. Soon you will be looking into stabalizing blanks. I'm getting ready to cross that bridge now. Of course, dyeing starts to flit through your mind also. Good luck.

[Corey Hallagan]

Some good tips here! Thanks Kenneth and Paul. Paul, I have some non stabilized buckeye burl that I need to do that to before I turn them. Also some amboyna burl that needs some staiblization as well.
Kenneth, need to add one of the hardwood scraper to my list!
Corey