# SNAKEWOOD CURSE



## wood-of-1kind (Oct 23, 2005)

Well I've turned my first snakewood blank and like so many others before me I came away  Yup, cracks throughout the body. Beautiful wood but oh so difficult to achieve A1 results. My suspicion (like others) is that the cracks are the result of heat(friction) from turning and perhaps the CA adhesive itself. CA glue and high friction = TROUBLE IMHO. This wood really shrinks like no other. I drilled my pen blank three weeks ago and had to redrill since the brass tubing could not be inserted in the blank. Down the road I will substitute my adhesive and ease up between my cuts and allow the wood to cool down with greater frequency and see if my results are any different.
[B)]-Peter-[B)]

PS. Angela, the bannia blanks are as spectacular as the snakewood and 'sans les cracks'.


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## Rifleman1776 (Oct 23, 2005)

From experiences by others related here, snakewood and pink ivory are two woods I will never work with. Problems enough without going looking for them.


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## fritzmccorkle (Oct 23, 2005)

i have no idea why pink ivory keeps getting lumped in with woods prone to cracking.  i've turned a LOT of it and have not had anyh of these problems.


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## Ligget (Oct 23, 2005)

I also agree with Frank on this one. Life is hard enough without looking to add to your problems![V]

There are a few woods which I also may never turn, snakewood is a definate never to enter my shop. Plus I believe the wood is very expensive too.[:0][]


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## wood-of-1kind (Oct 23, 2005)

Disappointement is no reason not to try turning snakewood. It is challenging and the reward for execution of one without the crack(s) will be immense. I did not post to show frustration but rather to continue the challenge of overcoming this wood. I will try snakewood again and hopefully I will share better results.


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## hombre4 (Oct 23, 2005)

I have turned one pen in snakewood with good results. I turned this Baron on snakewood about 2 months ago and it still looks good, no cracks or splitting or shrinking. Maybe just had a little beginnings luck on this one. Who knows. I don't know how to post a picture here in reply so I will go and post a picture of it in Show Off Your Pen.


Archie


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## scubaman (Oct 23, 2005)

> _Originally posted by fritzmccorkle_
> <br />i have no idea why pink ivory keeps getting lumped in with woods prone to cracking.  i've turned a LOT of it and have not had anyh of these problems.


I agree completely.  And have no idea why pink ivory would develop a 'reputation' in certain circles.


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## scubaman (Oct 23, 2005)

> _Originally posted by wood-of-1kind_
> <br />PS. Angela, the bannia blanks are as spectacular as the snakewood and 'sans les cracks'.


Could you elaborate on 'bannia'?  This is the first time I've seen it mentioned.  A quick web search revealed that it's another name for pau ferro which I have used and while a nice, dense brown wood, I've found to be somewhat unimpressive.  Not a lot of character.  Yet you lump it with snakewood...  so can you tell me more, or show some pictures?  Must be different from what I know (and should still have some of buried somewhere)


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## wood-of-1kind (Oct 23, 2005)

Rich,
I've recently got a shipment of bannia (aka swartzia) and I swear that when I first turned the wood it revealed as good if not better than snakewood. The bonus here, is, that unlike snakewood, bannia does not crack and yet it delivers on the 'look factor'. I directed the comment to Angela since she had made an earlier inquiry to me regarding bannia blanks.


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## wood-of-1kind (Oct 23, 2005)

Rich,

here is a 'bannia' pen. My picture does not do justice to this wonderful specie.




<br />


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## Rudy Vey (Oct 23, 2005)

Of the three snakewood pens I have turned (without any special preparation like the often mentioned boiling) all have cracked on me. I have send some blanks out to Steve White, but he let me know that the wood cannot be stabilized (no weight gain).
On the other hand, Pink Ivory has only cracked once in over 50 pens I made from it, so I do not believe this wood is prone to cracking, like Fritz and Rich already confirmed.


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## scubaman (Oct 23, 2005)

> _Originally posted by Rudy Vey_
> <br />Of the three snakewood pens I have turned (without any special preparation like the often mentioned boiling) all have cracked on me.


Unfortunately, I have found the boiling method to help, but not give 100% results either...


> I have send some blanks out to Steve White, but he let me know that the wood cannot be stabilized (no weight gain).


That's correct.  Steve experimented withsome blanks I sent him quite a while ago, and none of them absorbed any.  Also BB sent some snakewood to his processor, with the same results...


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## angboy (Oct 23, 2005)

Thanks Peter! I'm anxiously waiting on mine- it should be here this week!


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## woodbutcher (Oct 23, 2005)

I so far have made 3 snakewood pens. Two of those were fine and 1 split. The 2 slimlines were ok but the wall street pen split in two places. I'm guessing perhaps the larger pen got hotter during drilling and finishing. My next attempt will be to not use a finish but to use triple E from penn state as a final sanding. It seems to oil the wood a little but I'm not sure. Will do the same with some ebony.
                       Jim


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## GregD (Dec 26, 2005)

I'll be turning snakewood. It's the challenge! Know what I mean?


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## Deere41h (Dec 26, 2005)

In the new _<b>2006 Stylus Pen Annual</b>_, Omas Pen Company from Italy is advertising Snake Wood pens starting at $585 and going as high as $920.  I wonder how they are getting past the cracking problem?  There must be a way.

(Page 308 & 311)


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## DCBluesman (Dec 26, 2005)

A couple of months ago I spoke with Greg Hengesbaugh, Sales Director East for Omas.  According to Greg, the snakewood pens plague many retailers.  He has handled many returns and has a large number of dealers who will not carry any of the snakewood pens.  Based on my conversation, I'd say they haven't solved the problem anymore than we have.


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## Mac In Oak Ridge (Dec 26, 2005)

I find it rather odd that the cure for a wood, that supposedly cracks from heat being generated from drilling or sanding, is boiling.


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## its_virgil (Dec 26, 2005)

I think the "heat" factor being the cause of the cracking may just be the theory of a few. I'm not sure I'm one of them. If heat is the culprit, the blank would crack in front of our eyes on the mandrel as we were sanding, or so I would think. Cracking usually happens afterwards, or am I wrong. I am getting ready to make my first snakewood pen and well, I guess I'll find out.
do a good turn daily!
Don


> _Originally posted by Mac In Oak Ridge_
> <br />I find it rather odd that the cure for a wood, that supposedly cracks from heat being generated from drilling or sanding, is boiling.


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## its_virgil (Dec 26, 2005)

John,
Check your email.
Don


> _Originally posted by Deere41h_
> <br />In the new _<b>2006 Stylus Pen Annual</b>_, Omas Pen Company from Italy is advertising Snake Wood pens starting at $585 and going as high as $920.  I wonder how they are getting past the cracking problem?  There must be a way.
> 
> (Page 308 & 311)


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## PenWorks (Dec 26, 2005)

I will keep making them, cracks or not. This wood is just to beautifull not to turn. Most of mine end up crakcing. Not much of a job to repair them.I will not sell any snakewood pens, but make them for myself. The only one that has not cracked on me, was a tubless El Grande Streamline I made a couple of years ago. I think any presure at all exerted when puting in the fittings will cause snakewood to crack in a heart beat.


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## jbyrd24 (Dec 26, 2005)

I did a Sierra a couple of months ago in Snakewood. It hasn't cracked yet but I've probably cursed myself now.[] It does help to heavily deburr the tubes before you press the nib and cap in. I agree with Anthony, parts and pieces should fit loosely.


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## GregD (Dec 26, 2005)

Has anyone tried using a flexiable adhesive on the tubes? It sounds to me like the tubes are cracking after they are assembled. Due to expansion and contraction of the wood.


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## wudwrkr (Dec 27, 2005)

I recently did a Sierra blank in Snakewood and before assembling, I just kept it with me at work to see what would happen.  Sure enough, after about 5 days I noticed a small crack on one side. []  Later that day there was another crack on the other side and as I was looking at it I swear I saw the crack grow longer!  [!]

I intend to try to repair it. It was suggested to me to wet sand it with CA to fill the cracks. I've got some thin CA on order and hopefully will tackle it soon.

I love the look of this wood but like everyone else, I wish it liked being worked with!


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## Fangar (Dec 27, 2005)

This one has been around for a few months now without issue...  Well at least the half that remained after the cap cracked!![].  I gave it away as a gift last week.  





Fangar


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## Ryan (Dec 27, 2005)

Let me start by saying I have not turned snakewood. I want to but my supplier only has 25lb logs of the stuff.

I have followed this issue for a while and just from this thread this is what I am wondering.

When anything is heated it usually expands. When it cools it shrinks.

Peter said he had to re-drill the hole because it shrank and he could not fit the brass tube in.

If the wood is shrinking as it cools and we are gluing a brass tube in it, to me it sounds logical that it would crack.

So here are some things we can discuss and if you have tried it please let us know.

1. Could we drill wait a few days to let it shrink, Drill again, and repeat until the tube fits in without re-drilling?

2 could we drill the blank oversize and let it shrink to the size that we need to fit the tube in?

What do you all think??

Ryan


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## Teniko (Dec 27, 2005)

Fangar, been there done that[][]


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## gerryr (Dec 27, 2005)

With prices that range from $585-$920, who would care much about cracking.


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