3 Strikes & a home run.

[Phillip Kelley]

On a previous post I showed this box elder blank that was not concentric with the tube. After advice from more experience turners, I discover 3 problems: 1) Tailstock was not aligned with head stock, 2) I was not drilling perpendicular hole thru the blank, & 3) I was over tightening the brass nut & the tailstock. After addressing all this misalignment, I was able to salvage the piece and mount in a WallStreet Titan.

 

[plano_harry]

Hi Phillip, the pen looks good, but it is too small to really appreciate. Try 600x800 pixels and crop closer to the pen so we can see it better. Nice work and welcome to IAP!

Harry

 

[ldubia]

Truly a good looking pen there. Keep up the good work.

 

[Phillip Kelley]

Better pics

Experimented with resizing & cropping.

 

[mikespenturningz]

Much better on the photos. When we first start out we tend to get nervous toward the end of the turn and think to ourselves that we better stop before we mess things up. Don't be nervous about taking those last few passes. You did a great job getting the ends to size but after you get them you could if you want to take some more out of the middle and not touch those ends? Just a thought but overall very nice pen.

 

[TDE]

Nice job Phillip, I'm glad you were able to salvage the blank. Keep up the good work, Ted

 

[Ligget]

Great save indeed!

 

[SDB777]

Nicely turned!!! And I am glad to hear that you were able to 'save' this. I made the move to turning between centers and haven't had this problem for a LONG time....




Scott (dog is telling me to go play on the sawmill) B

 

[plano_harry]

Much better on the photos. If you want people to be able to offer guidance, crop close to the ends of the pen and upload your your pictures at 600x800. That seems to work pretty well. Also plain backgrounds help to show off the pen.

My preference is in line with Mike's. I sell pens and so I want to appeal to the widest part of the market and not go off on design extremes. I try to image a smooth curve between the two ends of the pen when I turn. I want the the top of my blank to be on the same slope as the metal in the cap, same thing for the tip. I also try to match the shape more closely to the classic shapes that sell well. One more point that some consider good practice is to divide your blank into imaginary thirds and have your thickest point at the boundary between the top and middle thirds. I spend a lot of time in "Show off your pens" to see what others are doing that looks good to me. Hope that helps. Keep on turning!

Harry