I decided to make a turquoise inlay pen as a birthday present for my mom. She makes stone jewelry for one of her friends (who has sold jewelry at craft shows for many years). She likes the stones, so I figured turquoise would be the ticket. When I first started with pens I made her a slimline that is actually kinda crumby by my current standards, but she always talks about different people that comment about how nice it is. She likes the size of the slimline, so when I came across the Southwest Mesa I knew it was just right. The wood is rose gum burl that I knew had a bit of internal cracking and checking. I turned down to about 0.015 proud and then filled with crushed turquoise and soaked in thin CA. If I was to do it again I would use a Dremel to clean out the cracks to make them easier to fill and more uniform. Also the epoxy that I used to glue the tube ended up filling some of the voids and showing the tube, but lucky the kit is brass colored so it doesn't look too bad. Even with the rookie mistakes, I like the result. All C&C welcome.
First Turquoise Inlay
- Thread starter Dehn0045
- Start date
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
DJBPenmaker
Member
I love that effect and I'm going to try it. Do you not think that using a Dremel might just soften the lines of the edges too much and perhaps make the effect less natural looking? Worth try maybe. In any case your mom will just love her pen I'm sure.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
mark james
IAP Collection, Curator
Absolutely beautiful! 
I have made a few pens with tourquoise inlays, but this is much better - well done! The effort is well deserved.
Thank you for sharing.
I have made a few pens with tourquoise inlays, but this is much better - well done! The effort is well deserved.
Thank you for sharing.
Since I was still a little larger than the finished diameter when filling, some of the gaps were covered by wood and ended up being filled with just CA. So when I turned it down the holes have the appearance of CA filled gaps. I think combining some Dremel work and a sharp knife would've resulted in crisper lines. here is a link that I used to get me off the ground: Inlay Turnings. It is really much easier that you would guess, just kinda tedious. I highly recommend giving it a try
Jim15
Member
That's awesome.
Wow !! . You did a fantastic job !!!!
You said:
"The wood is rose gum burl that I knew had a bit of internal cracking and checking."
It looks to me that it was nearly 50% cracks/voids.
You did wonderfully well to fill them in so attractively !!!!
You said:
"The wood is rose gum burl that I knew had a bit of internal cracking and checking."
It looks to me that it was nearly 50% cracks/voids.
You did wonderfully well to fill them in so attractively !!!!
DJBPenmaker
Member
Oh I see, not obvious in the photo. Thanks for the link [emoji106]
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
SD Cruiser
Member
That looks awesome!
Brotherdale
Member
That looks great! I really like the way that turquoise looks. I can see trying inlay work in my near future.
SteveJ
Member
Well done. If your mom doesn't love it, I am sure I can find someone who will.
Bob in SF
Member
Beautiful!
If it was for my dad, who knows, but mom will love it no matter what. I made her a wood coffee mug tree/stand for Mother's Day in 8th grade shop class, she has had it on her counter and used it every day for over 20 years. And let me tell you, it's kind of an eyesore, lol.
Woodchipper
Member
I made the mistake of showing the pen and the inlay link to my wife. Now.......she suggests that I try it. That means real soon in Wifey Language.