3rd times a charm.....sort of

[mranum]

I have this nicely figured Maple board that I thought would make some really nice pens. Apparently it doesn't want to made into pens though. What you see here is the 3rd try at turning blanks from it. I would get just about down to where I want to finish with a scraper and son of a........ I put a chip in it. So turn the rest of the wood off the tubes, drill out a couple more pieces and try again. Get about 1/16 above the bushings yet and all of a sudden a piece of grain tears out again. So I quit for the day and tried again today. I did still get some very minor chipping on two of the edges and I wet sanded with CA to see if I could hide it a bit. The worst is under the clip and the other isn't super noticeable. What I wasn't thrilled with is the color difference between the two halves. Looked fine until I put a finish on it. Not as noticeable in the pics but the top looks completely different in the sunlight with almost a pinkish tone in a spot where the bottom is nicely golden. This was a 3/4 x 3/4 x 5 blank. The grain is lined up in the photos between the 2 halves. Just can't win I guess.

On a positive note this is my first successful CA/BLO finish.


Sorry for the dark pics, all of my lights are out in the shop.

 

[JBCustomPens]

Sorry for the dark pics, all of my lights are out in the shop.

Kind of hard to turn in the dark, isn't it!:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

Nice pen though, good job!

 

[maxman400]

Great Looking Pen, the grain looks fantastic.

 

[1080Wayne]

Chipping is a problem with angle or x-cut blanks . When I remember , I apply thin CA to the surface when I`m within a sixteenth or so of the bushings . Also a good idea to dip the blank ends in thin CA . These don`t guarantee a good result - they just improve the odds a bit .

 

[mranum]

Chipping is a problem with angle or x-cut blanks . When I remember , I apply thin CA to the surface when I`m within a sixteenth or so of the bushings . Also a good idea to dip the blank ends in thin CA . These don`t guarantee a good result - they just improve the odds a bit .

Thanks, I'll give that a try on the next one.

 

[Bree]

Congrats on the pen and the CA/BLO finish! It's a great finishing method. I love it.
:wink::wink::wink:

 

[Mrs Rojo22]

Very nice!

Robin