budnder
Member
Nothing too special, but I'm not sure I've seen anyone post something done in Honey Locust, so thought I'd share. It's stabilized with Cactus Juice orange, then CJ blue.
I have a dozen or so Honey Locust and a storm over the winter knocked a bunch of smaller branches down. I gathered them up to see what kind of blanks they'd make. They're a little on the small side so I reached into my "Trimline" bin for a kit and drilled and glued in the tubes, thinking I'd just do something quick and dirty to see what it looked like.. I think I've only ever made one trimline. When I got ready to turn and was double checking the bushings, I noticed one tube was longer than the other... further investigation showed I somehow had a "Designer" rather than a "Trimline". I don't have bushings for a "Designer"... oh well, I know you can make a pen without bushings so... whatever. Then when I started figuring out the dimensions I noticed I had to cut a tenon and this little quick and dirty started to become more of a skill builder.
In the end, the Desgner made a nice looking pen, though I can't say I'm crazy for how it feels in the hand. Maybe for a smaller hand it'd be ok.
As for the Honey Locust, it's got some definite possibilities - it's very grainy and has lots of character. It's on the "dark" side, so I think my blue CJ is not a good match - next time I'll try a lighter color like Yellow CJ.
I have a dozen or so Honey Locust and a storm over the winter knocked a bunch of smaller branches down. I gathered them up to see what kind of blanks they'd make. They're a little on the small side so I reached into my "Trimline" bin for a kit and drilled and glued in the tubes, thinking I'd just do something quick and dirty to see what it looked like.. I think I've only ever made one trimline. When I got ready to turn and was double checking the bushings, I noticed one tube was longer than the other... further investigation showed I somehow had a "Designer" rather than a "Trimline". I don't have bushings for a "Designer"... oh well, I know you can make a pen without bushings so... whatever. Then when I started figuring out the dimensions I noticed I had to cut a tenon and this little quick and dirty started to become more of a skill builder.
In the end, the Desgner made a nice looking pen, though I can't say I'm crazy for how it feels in the hand. Maybe for a smaller hand it'd be ok.
As for the Honey Locust, it's got some definite possibilities - it's very grainy and has lots of character. It's on the "dark" side, so I think my blue CJ is not a good match - next time I'll try a lighter color like Yellow CJ.
