Another Attempt!

[kkwall]

Hi All,


Well I guess it is fair to say that I am hooked!


Pen turning is so tactile and pleasing to all the senses that my wife will struggle to drag me out of the workshop when I am not working.

The pen shown here is made from a nice piece of spalted elm, and polished to as high a shine as I am able to manage currently.

It appears that the favoured finish, or the finish offering the best polish is CA? I am going to attempt doing a CA finish on a pen. Will start with some scrap wood, and try and get the high polish finish before attempting a pen proper!

Also, when I trim my pen blanks, the end cutter comes out of the pen blank with green residue attached to the end???? Is this scraping from inside the brass tube???


Thanks,

 

[Dario]

Nice!

Next time use another background so we can see the pen better []

That said...what wood is that on the background...very promising []

 

[kkwall]

Hi Dario,


As suggested, and yes I see what you mean! New photo attached!


PS - The wood behind is a

<br />

<br />piece of burl ash. (A bowl I carved)

 

[JimGo]

Well, I like the first pic better! [] The pen looks great!

A few notes:
1) Try to limit the width of your pics to 640 pixels wide; a lot of people will whine about having to scroll to see the whole pen, and in the end it's just easier to scale the picture []

2) CA is my preferred finish for a lot of woods, but it is neither the "best" nor the "most popular" here. A lot of people use it, but a lot also use lacquor and a polyurethane called Enduro. Each has its advantages and disadvantages, and you'll really have to try them, or at least see other pens with those finishes, to see what you like.

3) If you don't have it, get some MicroMesh. You'll be glad you did. If you can stand the smell, a coat (or three) of CA as a sanding sealer early on in your turning, combined with a progression through the MicroMesh grits, will give you a really nice shine even before the finish is applied.

4) Try leaving off the center band; it opens up a lot of design opportunities.

 

[kkwall]

Hi Jimgo,


Thanks for the feedback, noted comments regarding photo size, will follow going forward.


Will get micromesh, and experiment with finishes.


Thanks again.

 

[challagan]

Nice pen Kenny. That is a sweet piece of wood! Nice job, looking forward to seeing more!

corey

 

[kkwall]

Thanks Challagan,


Please with my second attempt, but still room for lkots of improvement!