Cactus pen

[lwalden]

Another one of Curtis' blanks- I love the way these look. Hope he continues to make these available......

had some "ghosting" from the medium CA I used- anyone know a good source for black CA, or do I need to change to black epoxy? Comments and suggestions appreciated.

 

[MesquiteMan]

Lyle,

Great looking pen! Nice to see that you put the extra piece of skeleton I include to good use! Yes I am going to continue to produce these, at least for a while. I am finishing up the last few blanks from my first offering and then will post another round in the classifieds.

The ghosting is a problem for sure. I think what it may actually be is a void where the CA did not completely fill up the space between the tube and the blank. I have the same problem with epoxy, even black (though not as noticeable). The best solution that I have come up with is to paint the inside of the blank. that way any glue voids will be hidden. I use a plumber's acid brush to apply black tinted epoxy to the inside of the blank. I let it kick and then glue on the tubes. Seems to work quite well and you can easily tint the epoxy with Transtint dye available at Woodcraft. Hoep that helps some.

 

[chigdon]

I did the lazy version of Curtis' method and just spray painted the inside of the blank while painting the tubes and it worked great. Then I just used regular thick CA.

 

[lwalden]

Cool. I'll try another again this weekend, and paint inside the blank first.

 

[MesquiteMan]

Chris, I would not consider that the lazy way. I just could not figure out how to get the spray can in that little hole!!

 

[Jim15]

Great looking pen.

 

[johncrane]

G'Day Lyle thats a b----y rip snorta mate'[] shell' be a easy seller.

 

[gerryr]

Another cactus beauty. I love how these look. For painting the inside of the holes, I use Testor's enamel from the hobby store and the super cheap brushes you can get at WM, 30 for less than $2. They work great. I would use flat black because a hobby store owner told me he believes the flat paints have more a bit more pigment than the gloss, and you don't need gloss inside the blanks anyway.

 

[Penmonkey]

Very nice pen! I really like it a lot.

 

[chitswood]

beautiful, I'm gonna have to find someone who will make me one of those[}]

 

[kent4Him]

I really like it. I may try one soon after the Fall craft show season is over.