Finally, Austrialian Gum Pen

[hewunch]

Well, this one fought me too, but I think I finally got something to present to you all. Comments welcome.

 

[ctubbs]

Beautiful wood! the fit to the componants is wonderful and the finish is great. It looks like it would have been a real bear to turn. the photo is good, well focused and lit. Congratulations on a job well done.
Charles

 

[David Keller]

Very cool... I love the swirly grain.

 

[CaptG]

That is one good looking pen. The grain in the wood is amazing. Nice job.

 

[hewunch]

The wood was so dry and soft that as I was SANDING it, it was getting out of round. That was wild. I wound up having to build it back up by using 18+ coats of Medium CA and it is still somewhat thin in the middle. But I am happy that it worked out.

 

[PenPal]

Hans,

I can see the timber won it has a neat grain, I guess this illustrates one of so many of our beaut Eucalypts there are 700 odd species of them, looks like Red Gum to me with Burl thrown in. A mate of mine from the bush showed me a long felled tree about40 foot long trunk
piece about 8 feet across simply full of tight curly grain has lain in his paddock for twenty years. He sliced it with a portable big saw for slabs. Enjoy the next one.

Regards Peter.

 

[robutacion]

Well, this one fought me too, but I think I finally got something to present to you all. Comments welcome.

Well, well, this is the first one I saw made into a pen since I sold the blanks.

Is a reason why I called it "Australian(SA) Curly Gum with attitude", most of the attitude is not in the dead wood but in the live (green) one, as I have exampled on that same tread/add.

Nevertheless, between the all dead-dry wood, half/half and anything in the mix, the all dead-dry blanks are the most fragile ones, as I have also clearly stated.

I have in fact, once again advised the use of the "flap disc" system to round and shape those soft wood blanks. I understand that some people just don't like to get the grinder near the lathe/mandrel/TBC bushings, etc. and I have never made the suggestion for the "replacement" (don't work as well but, gets the job done) of the 4" grinder with the "Flap" discs.

This can be achieve by using a square block of wood or cork as the sandpaper backing/padding, as if you were using the block and sandpaper by end but, is this case, you just seat the pad on the tool rest (close as possible to the wood) and slightly touch the wood at the same time you move the pad left to right (or vice versa) in a "rubbing" motion. Low grits are require for this...!

If the part of the pad used against the tools rest (used as guide and support), has sandpaper on it, you may need to use a piece of aluminium angle (or something else you may have) to protect the tools rest edge not being sanded off. One of the best ways to void this problems in the first place is to cut the sandpaper so that cover the front face of the pad (cutting surface) and folded with an edge on the top of the pad/block, where you can either use a couple of staples to hold it into place or simple kip it (the sandpaper firmly pressed against the top part of the block with your fingers.

No sandpaper is require over the bottom block/pad edge, a few mm overhang is ok, as the rotation of the lathe in contact with the sandpaper will pull the paper downwards (hold by the staples or fingers on the block/pad to edge...!).

This certainly will assist reducing/shaping the amount of wood of the blank, maintaining the wood round, something that is impossible to prevent when using sandpaper directly into the wood, either by cutting from the bottom or top or, sandwich the wood with the sandpaper and the fingers...!:wink::biggrin:

I hope that this hint can help others to "tackle" very soft wooden blanks, without using the "Flat" disc system or attempting to do it with cutting gouges, only...! I can if necessary, take some pics of hows to make and use these type sanding pads/blocks, let me know...!:wink:

I believe, this dead wood areas of the Curly Gum, that were under ground for more years than triple of my life time are indeed, too unique to ignore even tough with its degree of working difficulty, are in fact capable of producing amazing pens, yours is no exception...!:biggrin:

Thank you for showing it to as all, I'm certain that you and some others will come up with more pens made from this "crazy wood grain, wood!)

Cheers
George

 

[robutacion]

Hans,

I can see the timber won it has a neat grain, I guess this illustrates one of so many of our beaut Eucalypts there are 700 odd species of them, looks like Red Gum to me with Burl thrown in. A mate of mine from the bush showed me a long felled tree about40 foot long trunk
piece about 8 feet across simply full of tight curly grain has lain in his paddock for twenty years. He sliced it with a portable big saw for slabs. Enjoy the next one.

Regards Peter.

Hi Peter,

You were close, but certainly not Red Gum, with some burl in the mix...!

You are very right about the variety/number of Gum/Eucalyptus species in Australia and if this wasn't enough, we then have huge variations of wood/grain/colours between the same species, depending where it grows, etc...!

This area is not certainly rich in "burled" woods but, I do find sometimes some "bits" that are as good as...!:biggrin:

This is where this blank come from...!

Cheers
George