Looking for helpful suggestions...

[mikeschn]

Okay so mredburn suggested I post my pen here, to look for helpful suggestions... don't beat me up too badly, I just picked up this hobby in January...

So today when I got home I had two packages waiting for me. One from Ed with blanks, and another from Joe, with pen kits... I was going to wait til tomorrow morning, but being the newbie that I am, I had to try to turn a pen tonight.

So I grabbed the RP Coal Black blank, and the Elegant American 8mm kit, and went downstairs to see what I could do...

Let me tell you, before we even start... turning black is brutal. And sanding black is just as brutal... but mredburn said post good pics.... so here is my attempt at pics... Oh, btw, taking pictures of black is brutal too.

So anyways, I tried to sand all the circular rings out. Every other grit I stopped the lathe and went fore and aft, across the circular rings... I thought I had most of them out, when I took a pic on the lathe. But when I assembled the pen, low and behold, there were rings...

Suggestions?

Mike...

 

[Charlie_W]

Hi Mike,

On my screen, I am not seeing the scratches but it may just be the pic.
First, dark colors and black will put most any penturner to the test. Black is almost like a mirror.
You need to give us more details about your sanding process and want abrasives you are using. Also, do you use a plastic polish,...and buff afterwards?
Everyone has their own take of sanding/polishing acrylics/CA.

In the pic, your pen appears to have a matte surface and not a high gloss. Might again be the pic or how you finished the blank. Some folks purposely sand back down for a matte finish after going through the whole process.

It may be that you missed getting all scratches out while using a previous grit and the finer grits just won't do the job.
Or,...you may be seeing scratches due to not sanding to a high enough grit.

After you post your process, we can help you more.

By the way, your fit on the pen looks great!

 

[JohnU]

One thing I found that helps with sanding scratches is using extra fine steel wool with the lathe on high, using light pressure, before using micro mesh. Just make sure to wipe the blank down very well with some denatured alcohol if your applying a CA finish, to keep the metal slivers out of the finish and remove any oil that might be on the steel wool. Also...
Your pen looks great! Keep up the good work!

 

[mikeschn]

Okay, I tried to take better pics, but it's late and the light is bad. I'll try again tomorrow if the sun comes out. The sun shows all the defects!!!

You asked about finishing. I used Micromesh all the way up to 12,000. But that's it. No polish or anything else...

What's a better color than black for critique for both finishing and photos?

Mike....

 

[mikeschn]

Thanks Charlie!

By the way, your fit on the pen looks great!

 

[Magicbob]

I wish my first pen, heck I wish my 20th pen looked that good.
Keep at it and you will get there.
Try to find someone in your area, pen turners love to help.
If you can get down here the MPG in a couple weeks is well worth attending, you'll learn months worth of stuff in 2 days

 

[magpens]

I never sand acrylics with the lathe on ... only sand back and forth (lengthwise) turning the lathe headstock by hand. Takes longer but is less frustrating and it works for me.

 

[campzeke]

Mike, As Charlie said above, we need to know more about how you are sanding. I just finished an all black pen. http://www.penturners.org/forum/f13/black-bling-139539/ being very careful throughout the entire sanding process. Sanding with the lathe running and with it off. Take your time, be patient. You will figure it out.

 

[mredburn]

Good Start Mike, now in the second picture of the top it looks like the pen is underturned at the finail/clip. It may be the way the picture was taken or sometimes the photo just looks that way. The rest of the fit looks really good. Having diffused light in a light tent made of a white Tshirt may help but a single source of light works well also. If you have more than one source you wont get a sharp straight line or white on your pens finish.

I and several others have covered using a plastic polish of some kind. TonyL has a process he swears by. I did several blanks finished in Automotive plastic polish and they can do quite well.

Now, did you wet sand or dry sand your blank? Beside radial sanding (spinning) I also do axial sanding. I make small O's The length of the blank then rotate it slightly and do it again. If you skills are good you can start at 400 grit and then skip to 4000g MM and work your way up. If you have rings and ridges drop down to 320 or even 220. I wet sand everything. If you dry sand the resin dust can overheat in the sandpaper while its spinning, gumming up into particles larger than the grit your trying to use and creating more and grooves than your removing. 12000mm should give you one white line on the surface and plastic polish should make it a very sharp white line. If the line is blurry or wavy you have scratches left.

 

[jttheclockman]

For me there is not enough detail in your description of your sand technique and sand paper you used or if you wet sanded or dry sanded. As with just about any aspect of pen turning we develop our own methods that work for us.

Here are my thoughts. When using acrylics never ever use wood working sandpaper. If you need to use sandpapers then use the automotive grade sand papers and wet sand, never dry sand. Again let me stress this is my methods. I never start with anything less than 600 grit. I am not trying to form the blank any more, the tool should have done that.To begin with I really try not to use any sandpaper at all except the MM. I always let the skew get me to the point of a finished product and after that I am going for polishing effects. When you do it this way you eliminate so many extra steps of trying to get out radial scratch patterns. Many people do not even use MM and just polish using the three wheel system. Again we develop our own methods and you need to find your. Experiment and use some of the suggestions made here but develop what works for you.

Good luck and by the way the pen looks good from here.

 

[robutacion]

G'day,

It looks flawless to me, fit, finish and shape look spot-on, well done...!

Cheers
George

 

[qquake]

I don't know, yours looks pretty good to me. I can't see hardly any scratches in your photos. With mine, under high magnification and in the right light, you can usually see scratches. But with the naked eye, not so much. My method is wet sand with 320 and 400 grit, wet sand with all 9 grades of MicroMesh, Novus 3 and 2, then finally Meguiar's PlastX. It's what works for me.