fumanchu314159265
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After a reasonably successful first pen (beginner's luck??), my whole family placed orders, each choosing a blank, components, and shape. Ellie, my 11-year old daughter, asked for padauk in a mini-pen form, satin chrome, with a simple, straight design.
It turned out reasonably well. It took some work to fill in the pores and get a smooth finish. I did a first few coats of medium CA and then sanded it down to see where I stood. Some of the deepest pores were still unfilled and ended up with some white specks of CA lodged in them. I did a few more coats and polished it to a nice finish, but the specks are unfortunately still visible.
The finish also ended up being thicker than I expected, so there is a sharp edge that stands proud of the nib. I'd like to round that over a little bit without visibly roughing up the finish. I'm guessing I'll need to remove the nib in order to do that. Or maybe it's good enough as-is...I'm glad she thinks so! (Perhaps I shouldn't focus on the defects so much in front of the recipient, but I do want to keep improving).
I think I didn't let the thick CA finish cure enough before I started handling it, plus some pretty thick bridges built up between the wood and the bushings, so I did have some chipping of the finish at the ends. Fortunately I was able to hide the main one under the clip! I've gleaned some strategies from the forum for dealing with that better in the future.
I didn't know that the padauk would darken and brown over time when she chose the wood, so I hope it happens slowly enough that she stays as delighted as she is at the moment with her daddy-made treasure.
The forum has been a rich resource as I've gotten started with this. I'd certainly be asking more questions if most of them weren't already answered in one thread or another!
--Rob
