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Are your mills compatible with others?
What is the best way to maximize the life of my mill?
I get darkened rings at the end of my blank, what is wrong?
Can the mill be sharpened?
How do I mill kits where the correct pilot is not available?

Are your mills compatible with others?
The mills sold by Bear Tooth Woods are made by Berea Hardwoods. I do not know if they are compatible with mills manufactured by any other company.

What is the best way to maximize the life of my mill?
While the pen mill is relatively expensive, it should last for a very long time. With care and proper sharpening they can last for many hundreds if not thousands of uses. The best way to maximize the life of the mill is to use a belt or circular sander to prep your blanks. After you have glued your tubes into the wood blank and the glue has set up (this is very important, running a mill over wet CA glue will cause a layer of CA glue to form on the cutting edge, effectively dulling the mill), I use a belt sander to remove the majority of the excess wood. I try to take the wood down to a 1/32 or less before I bring in the mill. That way the mill removes the least amount of wood possible.

I get darkened rings at the end of my blank, what is wrong?
When your mill becomes dull it will tend to burn and compress the end grains instead of cutting them off. The only cure for this problem is to sharpen your mill.

Can the mill be sharpened?
Yes, the mills can be sharpened. I recommend taking them to a professional sharpener (look in the yellow pages, or inquire at your local woodworking store).

How do I mill kits where the correct pilot is not available?
Some kits do not have the exact pilot(s) available to mill the size tubes used by the kit. In those cases an adapter sleeve can be turned so that another smaller pilot can be used. For example, there is no pilot for the Sierra pen kit. In this case, the tube is just slightly too large for the 10mm pilot. The solution is to take a cigar tube and use it as an adapter sleeve. Just the tube alone is required to get a good fit. Another example is the El Grande. This kit requires two different sized adapter sleeves. You can take an extra set of flat top tubes and use a good hard wood like maple to create the adapter sleeves, turning them down until the fit nicely in the El Grande tubes.