Last of the 30 pen order...

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gketell

gketell

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Well, it turned into a 36 pen order but you get the idea.

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Red Box Elder Burl on a Gold Ti Olympia.

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Orange Box Elder Burl on a Gold Ti Olympia.

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Green Box Elder Burl on a Gold Ti Olympia.

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Green Box Elder on a Black Ti Olympia.

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Teal Box Elder Burl on a Gold Ti Olympia.

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Blue Box Elder on a Gold Ti Olympia.

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Blue Box Elder Burl on a Platinum and Black Ti Sierra.

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Natural Box Elder Burl on a Gold Ti and Black Ti Sierra.

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Spalted Black Myrtle on Gold Ti Olympia.

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Some awesome Amboyna Burl with Sapwood on a Ti Jr Gentleman's pen. Look at that finish!! You can almost read the wattage on the light bulb. :D

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Honduran Rosewood with sapwood on a Ti Jr Gent.

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More of that gorgeous Amboyna Burl with sapwood this time on a Platinum Sedona.

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My first Sedona, a Black and White Ebony on Black Ti Sedona. Turned a little too fat.

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This is a REALLY dark Desert Ironwood Burl on a Rhodium/22K Jr Statesman. This was for the Purchasing companies big boss.

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More gorgeous Amboyna burl on a Rhodium/22K Jr Statesman for the #1 customer. No reflection so you can see the beautiful wood.

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With reflection so you can see the finish.

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Back side.

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Front side.

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Another shot of the dark DI without the reflection so you can see the wood. While this picture looks dark, it is representative of the pen. To really see the figure of the pen you have to put it under a spot light otherwise it looks almost black. Really cool.

Thoughts, comments, critiques all appreciated!
GK
 
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GaryMGg

GaryMGg

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Again, what a great looking set of pens!

Don't know if anyone noticed yet BUT Greg's work is currently (as in RIGHT NOW) the featured photo on the TPS and IAP home page.

Has that happened before with anyone else?

Way to go Greg!!! [^][^][8D]
 
skiprat

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Wow, wish I could get a finish even half that good[:(]


Greg, is the green beb gold ti olympia missing the 'black' from the cb?
 
gketell

gketell

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Skip, I would happily trade the ability for my finish for your ability to make creative and unique pens!!!

Yes, we had a few of the pens come in without the black. But I don't mind because that made the pens a little different (especially important when you are doing 20 of the same kit). [;)]

GK
 
Ligget

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Hi Greg, excellent work and finish on all![:p][8D]

On the Jr Statesmans did you build the bottom barrel the wrong way, the larger end is meant to be at the nib end. Just unscrew and swap round the hardware![:)]
 
ahoiberg

ahoiberg

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nice work all around greg, i bet you were really in the zone by the end of that batch... all the finishes look very well done.
 
gketell

gketell

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DOH! That was a "newbie" mistake, wasn't it, Ligget? [B)] They've already been delivered so no chance to fix. [xx(]

MilPaul,

The finish is CA. Sand the wood to 400 then 0000 steel wool using your steel bushings. Make sure you take the time in the coarser grits to hand sand the blank to be even with the bushing all the way around. This eliminates any "out of round" issues.

Take off the steel bushings and replace with something that won't stick to the CA. I use UHMW plastic turned to triangle shape so it goes into the tubes but stays away from the wood.

Lathe on slow: Two coats of thin CA with aerosol accelerator. 3-5 coats of thick CA using accelerator between every other coat or so (depending on temp/how fast the CA is setting, etc). Hit the last coat of thick with accelerator and then start sanding.

I turn off the lathe and inspect the blank and decide how to start sanding. If I did a good job then I start at 400 otherwise I will start at 320 or 220 (for really bad job). (I use Norton 3X sandpaper which is much much different than the cheaper stuff and I only use that "sandpaper strips in a roll" from WoodCraft to polish my lathe bed. That stuff is crap.)

In any case the first sanding is the same: if there are any really high spots I knock them down by hand until they are even with the rest of the "high spots" then I turn the lathe on, add a block of wood behind the sandpaper and sand the blank "mostly" smooth with a left and right motion. Because of the block you are guaranteed to only hit the high spots. Once the "haze" is mostly the same I will again turn off the lathe and finish sanding it smooth using small circular motions across the top of the blank, then rotate the blank until something less smooth is up there and redo until the entire blank is smooth.

Ok, now the blank is round and "smooth", turn the lathe back on at slow speed and sand with the next smoother grit left to right quickly until an even haze. Lathe off, sand lengthwise with that grit. Repeat with each grit down to 400.

Remove the blank from the lathe and end-mill the ends again to get off the CA overflow. Remount the blanks and turn the lathe on slow.

Use 0000 steel wool the same way you did with sand paper. Now wet sand with 4000 and 6000 grit Micro Mesh. Dry the blank.

I have three buffing wheels I can mount in my hand drill: first has red rouge, second has white rouge, third has Flitz metal polish. Each one: lathe on slow and buff as the blank spins.

Assemble the pen. Take some high quality auto wax and rub it onto the pen (wood and metal). After it hazes, polish it off with a soft cloth.

All done!

It sounds like a lot but it really doesn't take all that long. I made a Sierra last night and from start to finish it was just over 1/2 an hour (from cutting/drilling the blank to the final write test).

GK
 
gketell

gketell

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"Some pig"?, Chris? That is a new one on me.

MilPaul, it really doesn't take too long. The longest part is getting the blank round if the lathe is "wobbly". Much less work if I turn between drives rather than using the mandrels. Once round, maybe 10 minutes maximum.

GK
 
J

jtate

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I love the idea of using a wood block behind the sand paper to knock down the "hiugh ponts" I'm going to start doing that.

Query: If I read it right, there's no BLO in your method. Is that correct?
 
gketell

gketell

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At the beginning of the order I was using one SMALL drop of BLO before the first coats of thin CA to pop the colors. But I forgot on a couple of pens and they didn't look any different so by the end of the order I was skipping it. I'll probably go back to it for natural woods on future pens when I'm not quite so stressed/rushed.

GK
 
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