DIW Statesman

IPD_Mrs · Feb 4, 2008

Had a special order from someone that got one of our pens as a gift from a customer. This will be a gift to the customer that bought hers. The wood is none other than Nolan's DIW burl. Doesn't get any better than that. Also the customer wanted a finer nib as the standard nib that comes with the Statesman writes a bit too wide. Well DCBluesman came to the rescue with the Heritage SF fine point which is .60mm verses the Dyacom .85mm. Can't wait to hear how it writes as the price for these nibs is great. Finish is CA and we will not talk about how many coats were applied. [B)] Needless to say the first several coats seemed to soak into the sap wood of the DIW. Boy was I wrong. Pain in the rear but probably the best finish we have done yet.

OKLAHOMAN · Feb 4, 2008

Mike,Your right can't get any better than that!

igran7 · Feb 4, 2008

Beautiful looking pen, The finish looks flawless. Definately a pen to be proud of.

johnnycnc · Feb 4, 2008

Excellent.you did a beautiful job!
The ca finish looks A+
Someone is getting a fine pen.

sah6139 · Feb 4, 2008

WOW[8D]

steve

DCBluesman · Feb 4, 2008

Beautiful work on that pen! And nice nib.

CaptG · Feb 4, 2008

Beeyootifull. Love that DI. And ya can not do better than Nolans wood.

toolcrazy · Feb 5, 2008

Very nice work, Mike. You will have one happy customer.

Mather323 · Feb 5, 2008

Great work on your pen and photo!

airrat · Feb 5, 2008

Looks great Mike. I wonder if a sanding sealer might have helped with the soaking in. But then again, it became stabilized.

R2 · Feb 5, 2008

Wonderful pen Mike! You've done the blank real justice.

[^]

Gruntster · Feb 5, 2008

Really sweet pen, great blank, superior finish.

wdcav1952 · Feb 5, 2008

Beautiful pen!! Obviously Linda must have done the finishing!!

jwoodwright · Feb 5, 2008

What a beautiful pen. The fit and finish are great.

GaryMGg · Feb 5, 2008

Gorgeous work Mike. Really nice!

Radman · Feb 5, 2008

Stunning... both pen and photography!
[8D]

PR_Princess · Feb 5, 2008

Just simply beautiful, Mike. Well worth the effort. [8D]

doddman70 · Feb 5, 2008

Very nice!!!! the finish looks fantastic

ed4copies · Feb 5, 2008

Originally posted by wdcav1952

Beautiful pen!! Obviously Linda must have done the finishing!!

Cav,

MIKE DID the finish, but Linda TALKED HIM THROUGH IT!!!![:0][:0]

IPD_Mrs · Feb 5, 2008

Originally posted by ed4copies

Originally posted by wdcav1952

Beautiful pen!! Obviously Linda must have done the finishing!!

Click to expand...

Cav,

MIKE DID the finish, but Linda TALKED HIM THROUGH IT!!!![:0][:0]

This is why it took sooooo looonnngggg!!!

In all seriousness here is what happened. Normally I put the calipers on all of the fittings and write the size on each little bag. I will turn the blank to .005 less than the fittings. Apply CA until I am .004 to .005 above the fittings and sand through MM until even with the fittings. Usually the first 2-3 coats of thin CA will give a blank a dull sheen and you can see the finish begin to build. This one did not so I thought that the sap in the blank was soaking up the CA. 24 applications of CA later you could see signs of CA on the surface. So I ran through the MM and checked with the calipers to see how much I needed to work up or down. Oppps[:I] CA was working fine on the build up. .021 above the fittings. So I sanded until it worked it's way down to flush with the fittings.

So several lessons learned:
1.) My eye sight ain't what it use to be.
2.) Check with calipers even if it doesn't look as it should.
3.) A typical sand through all nine grits of MM takes me 10 minutes and will take .002 off of the finish. [V]

Yes Ed, Linda does supervise me from time to time. If she did not I would be in worse trouble than I usually am. To all of you with your compliments than you. I love to work with this wood and Nolan always has such great quality.

Mike

ed4copies · Feb 5, 2008

Linda supervises "from time to time".

Would that be from 5 am to midnight?????

Nice job on the pen, Mike (and Linda to the extent she contributed??)

IPD_Mrs · Feb 5, 2008

Originally posted by wdcav1952

Beautiful pen!! Obviously Linda must have done the finishing!!

Thanks for the thought Cav! Interesting how we didn't sign the photo but everyone just assumed that Mike made the pen[}

]

I won't take credit for this one - none is due this time as I had other business to attend to. (I hate doing the books

)

Take care guys... been really busy lately and miss you all.

[:X] Mrs.

IPD_Mrs · Feb 5, 2008

Originally posted by ed4copies

Originally posted by wdcav1952

Beautiful pen!! Obviously Linda must have done the finishing!!

Click to expand...

Cav,

MIKE DID the finish, but Linda TALKED HIM THROUGH IT!!!![:0][:0]

That would be true at times Ed. I did consult when the darn thing started drinking CA like some of my clients go through $1.50 wine.

I wish I could have been more involved actually as this one is going to one of my staff members. But fair is fair and I made the last pen [

]

[:X]Mrs.

IPD_Mrs · Feb 5, 2008

Originally posted by ed4copies

Linda supervises "from time to time".

Would that be from 5 am to midnight?????

Nice job on the pen, Mike (and Linda to the extent she contributed??)

Lets just call it all waking hours Ed

[}

]

[}

]

[:X]

gerryr · Feb 5, 2008

Great looking pen. Your customer will love that nib. I have a customer now who won't buy anything else except the Heritage 18 fine.

simomatra · Feb 5, 2008

Superb looking pen The nib gives it that exrta bit of class[

][

]

workinforwood · Feb 5, 2008

It's a beauty!

Nolan · Feb 5, 2008

Really nice Mike!! The color you spoke of last night on the next ones you want darker than that??

IPD_Mrs · Feb 5, 2008

Originally posted by n4631x

Really nice Mike!! The color you spoke of last night on the next ones you want darker than that??

Nolan,
Looking for something like the one below. It has a little better color representation.

Mike

VisExp · Feb 5, 2008

That is a beautiful pen and the extra time you spent on the finish was well worth it!

As an aside. One of the things I always enjoy about your posts is the consistent use of the word "we". You guys must have a very special relationship.

fernhills · Feb 5, 2008

Beautiful pen for sure.. Carl

rhahnfl · Feb 5, 2008

That'll be a happy customer for sure. Very nice workmanship.

IPD_Mrs · Feb 5, 2008

Originally posted by VisExp

That is a beautiful pen and the extra time you spent on the finish was well worth it!

As an aside. One of the things I always enjoy about your posts is the consistent use of the word "we". You guys must have a very special relationship.

Thank you, we feel very lucky to be together and yes our relationship is extremely special. [^]
Actually, many of the pens you see us post are turned by both of us to some degree. Often one of us does the cap and the other the nib or some sort of combination work on the piece. Most often, no one can really be for sure who does what

We love being in the workshop together and find it especially enjoyable when we can be doing pens rather than some of the other production work we "have" to do!! It's even better when we get to work with some of the awesome burls we have been so fortunate to turn.

[:X] Mrs.

csb333 · Feb 7, 2008

Great looking workmanship and blank!- Chris

bitshird · Feb 7, 2008

Nice workmanship, and a great finish, having a beautiful piece of Desert Iron Wood dosen't hurt either

johncrane · Feb 8, 2008

l also agree with Roy! that's also a wow!!in my books.

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