Dyed fugured maple El Grande RB

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Aug 13, 2016
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I made this today along with another that needs to be sanded & polished. I had a nicely figured maple 1.5" spindle not getting used so I cut a piece off & ripped it to 4 pen blanks. I used aniline dyes, first a diluted red-orange with yellow that I mixed myself, then regular concentration yellow followed by two applications of cherry red. The joint from body to centerband isn't perfect, I mis-measured & was at 0.600" instead of 0.590". I thought I had it right after two measurements but I goofed. To magnify the problem, the centerband is 0.575" by my caliper instead of 0.590". Oh well, at least I'm getting better. This is for my oldest daughter who has always loved orange. I'll finish the other one for my younger daughter after work tomorrow. 12 coats thin CA, a shot of accelerator, then 8 coats of medium & accelerator. Sanded to 12,000 micromesh then Novus #2 & #1. I don't use #3.

It's an ok kit and for $10.49 at Woodcraft I wasn't expecting a whole lot considering the prices of other RB kits. I don't like how the centerband mates up with a curved body. I've always done a straight body but wanted to do this one differently after seeing a lot of pics here. Had I known how it would look, I would've kept the body straight & put a bevel on the cap only. I'm nitpicking, but how do we get better if we don't honestly critique our own work? In my haste I also grabbed gold instead of chrome.


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SteveG

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Dec 21, 2009
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If you had been attempting to have the look of Koa in your coloration work, the result is spot-on! The maple itself does not have the same level of chatoyancy as Koa, and you cannot add that in, but the color match is remarkable! Nice work. :)
 
Joined
Aug 13, 2016
Messages
1,460
Location
Surprise, Arizona
If you had been attempting to have the look of Koa in your coloration work, the result is spot-on! The maple itself does not have the same level of chatoyancy as Koa, and you cannot add that in, but the color match is remarkable! Nice work. :)

I was only trying to mix up some colors my daughter would like, but thank you. The dyes seem to enhance the figuring but decrease the chatoyancy. I have a shaving brush I made from the same spindle that I used danish oil on, and the chatoyancy is much better but the figuring doesn't contrast as much.

Thanks for the comments, I've been up since 3am and won't be finishing the other, but it's tomorrow's priority. Sleepy eyes and spinning lathes don't play nicely with each other.
 
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