My first pens

[hiharry626]

Two slim lines, 24kt, Padauk and Brazillian Rosewood

Different angle

Again

Padauk

Finished turning these after school on Friday. The rosewood was actually my second finished pen, third being the padauk and the first was a slimline made from hawaiian milo, my mother liked it so I gave it to her.
I didn't use CA glue as a finish, but I hope to use it later on as I get more experience. Pretty exotic stuff to be making my first pens with. What do you guys think of em! :biggrin:

 

[Smitty37]

Not Bad

I like the fact that you went with something a little different than straight slimline. Spend a little more time and maybe a little finer grit on the sanding and finish and you'll be just fine.

 

[hiharry626]

I've actually tried to do a straight slimline, I don't like them to be honest. My teacher doesn't have any finer grit besides 220 grit unfortunately : (
I do have micromesh however.

 

[hiharry626]

how are my pictures? I know they aren't that great, any input?

 

[ldb2000]

The pictures are good but a little too big . in the future resize them to 640X408 or no bigger then 800X600 max so we don't have to scroll to see the whole picture .

 

[Lenny]

Those are a couple pretty nice first pens!!!
The photography isn't all that bad either.
You might want to check out some of the variations that can be done with a slimline kit. Consider throwing away the centerband for instance and making one out of a contrasting wood or other material. Check out Russ' site here (under pen pages) for other ideas ....
http://www.woodturnerruss.com/
Keep posting your pens, we will look forward to seeing them!

 

[hiharry626]

Those are a couple pretty nice first pens!!!
The photography isn't all that bad either.
You might want to check out some of the variations that can be done with a slimline kit. Consider throwing away the centerband for instance and making one out of a contrasting wood or other material. Check out Russ' site here (under pen pages) for other ideas ....
http://www.woodturnerruss.com/
Keep posting your pens, we will look forward to seeing them!

Thanks Lenny! I wanted to see other slimlime variations thanks for pointing this out! I'm reading it now it is very very helpful.

 

[hiharry626]

The pictures are good but a little too big . in the future resize them to 640X408 or no bigger then 800X600 max so we don't have to scroll to see the whole picture .

Yes sir, my friend who helped me take them said bigger was better, I will resize in the future thanks for the input!

 

[ldb2000]

Your friend is right , bigger is better but when posting on the net you have to remember that not everyone runs their monitors at high resolutions , us old people are half blind and need the type fonts as big as possible to read the words :biggrin:
Aways keep a full size hi-res image to edit and for printing to paper though .
Also as Lenny said check out what can be done with slimlines , they are very versatile and many different looks can be had with just small changes to the basic design . Russ's site and Don Ward's (Its Virgil) site www.redriverpens.com and sites like The Penmakers Guild www.penmakersguild.com are great places to see just what can be done with the basic slimline and are also inspiration for going beyond kit pens .

 

[PenPal]

Harry,

Love your first Pens congratulations. See you are having fun with design as well, I agree straight line Slims are not for me either. The Streamline kit has a fatter centre band and I continue to make Slimlines after more than 15 yrs and bulk buy Sreamline Centre Bands and use them. I personally make a variety of Slims out of Rebar, Dart Bodies, Beads etc but mostly using Aussie Burls.

In all the years of making Pens no one has ever said why dont you do them without that Centre Band this I have only seen on forums by some makers who have this preference I make my pens for people mostly even now have never seen a wood pen, this is my hobby not my profession.

I agree on size of picture, kept within the frame is best, sharpness can be maintained by keeping the pen parrallel to the camera, all of these considerations become clear as you move forward.

Once again your pens knock the socks off most beginning pens I have seen. I finished school at age 15 your age 61yrs ago and making pens is addictive and fun and I trust you continue to enjoy having fun with Pens.

Regards Peter.

 

[hiharry626]

Thanks peter! I'm actually 16 now hehe and i hope to keep this my hobby and when i'm older i'll purchase a lathe and turn on weekends. I've actually screwed up a couple of blanks that I had, turning down to close to the bushings(which is why I don't like straight Slims)
and I sanded them down too much, I still salvaged the tubes so I'm pretty happy.

 

[nava1uni]

Nice looking pens. I like your going outside of the box. I like slim lines a lot because of all of the variety that you can do with them. You are doing well. In looking at your pictures there is a slight edge that is a little proud(high). If you smooth off that edge very gently it will feel better at the nib end and the eye will not see it as much.

 

[JasonM]

well done! Glad to see that you experimented with the shapes. Looking forward to more pens and pics from you!