Drilling Gisi Style Segmented Blanks
Jerry Bailey creates great Gisi styled segmented blanks, but they can be a little tricky to drill and turn. Just follow his easy instructions and you won't have any trouble at all. Click here for a PDF version.
Segmented Pen Blanks
by Jerry Bailey
These are laminated wood blanks, sharp tools are a must!
Extra care should be taken when drilling & turning.
Drilling:
Turning:
Sharp tools and light cuts are a must!
Finishing:
Assembling:
Segmented Pen Blanks
by Jerry Bailey
These are laminated wood blanks, sharp tools are a must!
Extra care should be taken when drilling & turning.
Drilling:
- Mount per your preferred method (either on lathe, or in a pen vise).
- Centers are pre-marked for reference according to the segments, not the blank dimensions themselves. Please refer to the pre-marked centers for alignment when drilling. Drill slowly so you don't generate excessive heat, 3.Back your drill bit out every 1/8 - 1/4 inch to clear out cuttings/shavings.
- Drill from both ends, a little more than 1/2 way each side. **** this ensures perfect center alignment of the segments when assembled ****
- Insert tubes with your preferred adhesive, flush with the chevron ends. **** I recommend using plenty of Thick CA to glue in the tubes with ****
- Turn/sand away the excess wood at solid square end, please do NOT trim the Chevron ends (Do Not use a barrel trimmer as it will cause a chip-out and/or a blow-out on the ends).
- If the blank contains any resin, it is best to paint the inside of the blank after drilling, prior to gluing the tube, in order to prevent the brass from showing once it's turned.
Turning:
Sharp tools and light cuts are a must!
- Mount on lathe with your preferred method (mandrel/bushings, TBC, etc).
- Using your preferred gouge/skew/scraper, take smaller cuts to turn blank round. (I turn these @ 2600-3000 RPM. I turn round with a skew, then finish sizing with a round nose scraper.)
- Turn blanks to desired shape bringing them equal to bushings diameter.
- Sand blanks with slower speeds (100-300 RPM). Begin with the highest grit possible, based on how smooth the surface is. Continue through 600+ grit. Abranet works great for sanding and goes up to 1000 grit.
Finishing:
- Once sanded to optimal finish quality, wipe blanks with Denatured Alcohol (DNA) to remove any dust/debris from the pores of the grain, allow 1-2 minutes to dry.
- Apply your desired finish of choice as you normally would with any wood blank.
- For CA, I apply 5 coats Thin, sand smooth, then 3 coats Medium, sand smooth, and apply 3 final coats of Medium. Mercury Flex CA was developed for pen finishing and works great with these blanks.
- Once sanded, they can be polished to a high gloss. Any of the polishing compounds, such as Novus, One-Step, or PlastX can be used, as well as Micromesh, or buffing wheels.
Assembling:
- Clean out tubes removing any excess debris/adhesive, assemble as you normally would.
- You have the choice of chevrons at either end, or together @ center band, whichever is your preference.
- I guarantee my blanks 100% against defects, and will replace any blank that has a defect.
- I use mainly Burls and they are well known to have voids within the wood. I have no control over that aspect.
- I am NOT responsible for user error when drilling or turning. If you follow the above advice you'll have a perfect blank every time.
- If you deviate from these instructions, I am not responsible for an imperfect final product.
© COPYRIGHT 2016 BY ROBERT KULP
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED