Woodcraft Pen Kits

[Bernie Weishapl]

My accountant wanted me to make her 15 slimline pens and needed them by this weekend. So I was coming thru Denver and stopped and picked up 20 slimline kits. The problem I have is that I got them cut, glued and started turning them. I have six done. All six so far I can put the tip and the clip with the holder in by hand and remove them by hand. I had one kit from Ernie at Beartooth and I have to press in. I cannot remove it by hand. Anyone have this problem or how it can be corrected. I put a touch of epoxy on and hope it holds. Need to get them to her by Monday. Should I just continue to use epoxy? Thanks.

[robert hainstock]

Hey Bernie, I have used epoxy for the last couple of years. That happened to me to many times with CA. Luck! :eek:
Bob

[Jim Myers]

When you squared the ends of the blanks did you use a pen mill?

If so did you accidently ream out some brass near the ends of the tubes?

I have had that happen and to fix it I applied a bit of CA and held it in.

Not the best solution as you cannot take it apart but....

If you have one of the kits not glued yet try and see if you still can remove by hand. If so you have some bad kits.

[michael gallagher]

There's probably a lot of theories why this could be happening. Just two quick things I thought of - rough up the outside of the brass tube with 150 grit to scratch it up to form a tighter bond with your glue, and what type of wood are you using? I ran into similar problems with an "oiley" wood (I say oiley because it has been a long week and my brain is tired now) like some cedar I harvested, so I started dipping it into acetone real quick, let it dry for an hour or so before gluing the tubes in.

My two cents, but who knows what the issue with the woodcraft kits could be.

Hae a good weekend, and when you get them done please post some pics-

Michael

[Steve Campbell]

Bernie I have used a few of Woodcrafts kits and always found them to fit very well. I did however send away for some cheap slimline kits from I can't remember where. I ordered 20 of them and every last one had to be ground on the tip and the clip end to get them together. I broke 2 of them trying to force them together. I would think CA glue would be ok to use on them.


Steve