A few good ones and then there's Wenge

[Buzzzz4]

1. A couple BOW on Americana Bullet Tip
2. Single BOW on Americana Bullet Tip
3. Honduran Rosewood Burl on Scepter
4. The Wenge from H....
All finished with CA, no BLO
so I said to this lady. "Sure I'd be happy to fix up that pen for you" Next time I will look at the wood. I took her pen apart and found out later it was Wenge. I tried to clean it up and refinish it. White dots all over the place and I found that I was a bit too aggressive in sanding. All said and done, I made her a new pen. Oh and had to buy a B mandrel with bushings as it was a flat top from Berea and learned that I REALLY don't like Wenge! But I will say, I have gained a regular customer out of this learning experience.

 

[maxman400]

They All look Great!! I really Like the Scepter.

 

[bitshird]

They look very nice, Wenge is a rough wood to work with, I start sealing it with thin before I get to size, if you hit it right, you can get all of the grain filled in by the time you get to size, also before you start finishing, soak the devil out of it with either DNA or better yet Acetone,several times, otherwise in a month or two the oil will surface, and give cloudy spots. DAMHIKT

 

[Buzzzz4]

I soaked it a few times with accelerator after hitting it with the sandpaper/CA slurry. I'm hoping I locked the oils in. Time will tell.

Thanks!

They look very nice, Wenge is a rough wood to work with, I start sealing it with thin before I get to size, if you hit it right, you can get all of the grain filled in by the time you get to size, also before you start finishing, soak the devil out of it with either DNA or better yet Acetone,several times, otherwise in a month or two the oil will surface, and give cloudy spots. DAMHIKT

 

[Chief Hill]

Pens look good. I agree with the wenge issue as well it seems that every time I use it the efing thing looks like a golf ball with little white divots after mm sanding. It takes a ton of finishing work to make it look good.

 

[bitshird]

I soaked it a few times with accelerator after hitting it with the sandpaper/CA slurry. I'm hoping I locked the oils in. Time will tell.

Thanks!

I have some 8/4 x10 wenge I've been drying for 2-1/2 years and it still is oily, some 1x1's are starting to get workable, it's nice wood except for the ungodly open grain, A CA slury is a good start, but the oil goes deep, I've had to pull 3 out of 7 pens and have them broke down to refinish, some lasted a few weeks one lasted over a year, I pulled it out at an outdoor show, it was kind of cold and both barrels had huge clouds that weren't there two weeks before, it's very tricky stuff, I'm going to get stupid and try Mylands sanding sealer after I soak the blanks in Acetone over night, and dry them a day or two. heck of it is, when you hit it right is looks as good as a lot of Ebony, I've got like 8-12 board feet of it, Moral never by cool exotic wood just cause it's cheap

 

[Ligget]

Beautiful pens Eric, the Scepter is my favourite though!

 

[artme]

Have to agree with Ligget

Pity about the Wenge prolems.

 

[rpearson]

Beautiful set of pens! I too like the scepter. I've wanted to try that one but was a little unsure of it. Wenge as all have already stated is a challenge. Last wenge set (custom request from customer) I turned around the difficulties with the wood by calling it a very "rugged" and challenging wood. Good for a rugged recipient!

 

[LandfillLumber]

Wenge is not an easy wood,but looks fantastic with a high gloss finish on it.I love the wood,just hate the workability of the wood.Victor

 

[mrcook4570]

All look good, but my favorite is the single BOW pen.

 

[Mrs Rojo22]

Lovely!

Robin

 

[Jgrden]

I can't figure out which is Wenge but it looks like picture number 5. If this is the case, you made it look good. I turned some and it is tough to make it look good.