My First Emperor

[Draken]

First Emperor, in lacewood, with 4 coats of Lacquer. This one was done as a gift. Comments welcomed. When I assembled it, I forgot to lightly sand the end of the tube where the finial goes, so the lacquer opened up a bit and separated from the wood, which can be seen in the photo. Is sanding the way to avoid this, or are there other means?

Cheers,
Draken

 

[wayneis]

Draken if you are using a spray finish like lacquer then sanding lightly is the best way to avoid this problem. If you were applying a finish while on the lathe like Enduro or CA then a razor blade does the job nicely. What I do with my Enduro finishes is put the rest back on and lay the razor knife on it and turn the mandrel by hand and cutting through the finish. I try to keep on the bushing sideso that when you snap the bushing off you will have a tiny bit of finish hanging off the blank and then I sand it off before I assemble. I have a piece of sand paper on my assembly table and for every pen I rub the blank on the SP and the ream the tube ends before assembly.

Now that is one nice looking pen, I love the Emperor's, my absolute favorite kit. If this kit were not so expensive it would be the only pen that I make. Other than the slight flaw at the end you did a beautiful job. What I would do to fix this is tap the finial out a little and using a artist paint brush lightly touch up the finish. It will look much better and also protect the wood from moisture getting in your finish.

Wayne

 

[gerryr]

Looks nice. I think what happened on the end was when you pressed on the finial it chipped the lacquer. What I do is, after power buffing the barrels while still on the mandrel, I remove them and sand the ends down evenly and then power buff the ends to smooth and polish them. I hold them so the buffing wheel is passing over the edge at about 60 degrees. That's with a CA finish, not sure how it work with a lacquer finish, but it should.

Wayne and I were typing at the same time.

 

[wdcav1952]

Good tips! I had the same problem with another kit and will try those suggestions to salvage it.

 

[pete00]

lacewood looks nice with this kit. Me thinks i might try it..

 

[Draken]

Hadn't seen an Emperor yet in Lacewood, so I figured, why not? I'll try your suggestion Wayne, to help fix the flaw, as this will ultimatly be a gift. Looks like I'll need to add a power buffer to the "need to get" list, or at least the lathe buffing shaft if another run is offered up for sale.

Cheers,
Draken

 

[chitswood]

Good job!

 

[Rifleman1776]

Interesting exchange on the finial fit. Must be very close tolerances. Is that factor mentioned in the instructions? Other than the mini-boo-boo, excellent.

 

[airrat]

Looks great. I have had that problem with CA finishes. Every once and awhile I see a small spot like that. I take a tiny (very little so it does not run over the edge) amount of thin CA and put it on the end of the blank, it soakes in and fills the gap. Not sure if you can do that with a laquer finish.

 

[Jim15]

Another good looking pen.

jim

 

[Johnathan]

Very nice. The more you make them, the more you will learn. Great wood for this kit, it looks great! Make sure to fix that little problem, if you don't, that's all you will ever see when looking at it. [8D]

 

[JimGo]

Great job on this James! Don't let the small flaw get you down; you've gotten some great suggestions on how to fix it, and I'm sure the recipient will love it!

 

[Dario]

Nice pen!

To prevent this later...apply wax on your bushings. Pay special attention to the part that will contact the wood. Taking it off will be easy and the finish won't "peel off" or crack at the ends. BTW, I usually apply carnauba initiall (even on my mandrel)...then maintain it with Johnson Paste wax every 5 or so pens.

 

[Draken]

Originally posted by Dario
<br />Nice pen!

To prevent this later...apply wax on your bushings. Pay special attention to the part that will contact the wood. Taking it off will be easy and the finish won't "peel off" or crack at the ends. BTW, I usually apply carnauba initiall (even on my mandrel)...then maintain it with Johnson Paste wax every 5 or so pens.

Nice suggestion Dario, but not applicable in this case. I spray my lacquer finish off of the mandrel, using thread rod in a cardboard box to hold the blanks. The problem occured when assembling the pen, because I forgot to sand that end of the blank before pressing the parts together. It is much more evident in the photo then in person (isn't it always??) but I do plan on trying to fix it using the suggestions given here.

Thanks all!
Draken