After finishing some larger projects (desk, bed frame and headboard) recently, I'm enjoying taking a turn (forgive the pun) at some smaller, more discrete projects. I've made 4 pens so far, and the latest is an Atlas style pen using some curly hard maple I've cut into blanks. After turning down to the bushings, I wiped on a light coat of BLO to bring out the curl, then burnished it, hit it with two coats of friction polish, and a coat of carnauba wax.
At first glance, I was extremely pleased with the outcome:
Then I rotated the blank, and saw the dirty areas of inclusions and tear out, one in the center and more tear out near the cap:
Two sets of questions for the community:
1. How did this occur, in that is this a question of a) bad luck, just sometimes happens, b) execution/technique, or c) tool choice (I used a quite new and sharp carbide cutter)?
2. What is the best approach to rescuing a piece when this happens? I'm already down to the bushings, so I can't do heavy sanding from here but I can remove the polish and hit it with a filler of some sort.
Thanks,
Scott