Intermediate Pen Entry Frustrations

[LL Woodworks]

This was an exercise in futility and am elated that it made the top ten then placing 5th in the polling, my appreciation goes to anyone that voted for this pen. It is a Triton BP kit from Beartooth Woods, originally a chrome plated kit with gold accent CB and finial. Let's start with the upper barrel.

It is made with alternating vertical segments of white oak and eucalyptus burl with thin (.005") aluminum separators (soft drink can aluminum); then framed at the top and bottom with African Blood wood horizontal segments. I was disappointed that the contrast between the white oak and eucalyptus burl wasn't more pronounced. So disappointed in fact that I sat on this blank for about two weeks before deciding to go forward with it. Here is an other conundrum; the CB and custom finial are made from the same piece of eucalyptus burl as the segments in the upper The upper segments were suppose to have the look and contrast like the CB and finial???

Now the lower. The initial design was for lower barrel to match the upper barrel. Alternating vertical segments, framed at the top and bottom with horizontal segments of blood wood. After spending hours making the blanks, the drill some how drifted off center ever so slightly (the top drilled fairly straight). Naturally, when it was turned the segments were not parallel, so trash that effort.

I seriously considered trashing the entire project but had to much time invested in the making of the blank; back to the drawing board. So the lower barrel became the simple eucalyptus burl that you see here. All in all it turned out OK but far from what I had envisioned and really wanted and I'm extremely pleased that it made the cut from 49 to 10.

Thanks for looking

 

[mikespenturningz]

It was not hard at all to see the work that must have gone into this pen. It is a beautiful piece and you should be very proud of it. Nice job great pen.

 

[walshjp17]

Excellent pen, Lynn. It's nice to see someone making such a gorgeous BP and entering it in contests where entrants seem to be expected to make FP or RB pens. I personally prefer the BPs over many of the FPs and RBs.

And, as a friend of mine says, there's one less piece to lose :biggrin:

 

[John Den]

Lovely looking Pen.
Regards,
John

 

[BSea]

That is really a nice pen. There are so many really interesting details. To really appreciate what you've done, someone needs to just try and do a length wise segmented pen. The precision that goes into making a pen like that is so much harder than a standard pen. Everyone should try one or two to get a feel for the difficulty. And like you said, if the drill goes off just a little bit, it has big consequences. I remember seeing this one, and thought the same thing as you did. "To bad the contrast wasn't greater."

This was one of the contest I really wanted to be able to vote for more than 1.

One of my next projects is to build a sled that will accept multiple jigs for making segmented pens.

Great job. Regardless of the vote, you should be really proud of that pen.

 

[dc1522]

Really a fine pen, I only wish mine would turn out that good..... maybe someday...practice, practice, practice

 

[76winger]

Regardless of the trials getting to the final product, I think you ended up with a real winner. It looks simply elegant.

 

[Janster]

You had my vote!

Amazing craftsmanship in the segmentation in the upper barrel, considering it was lengthwise! A tutorial would be great! My mind does not wrap around as to how you did it, lengthwise! The finial is sweet and the CB is WOW! Be well..........Jan

 

[Dalepenkala]

Nothing wrong with that pen Lynn! You did a wonderful job!

Congrats!