Newbie, But I love how these turned out

[UWCBrad]

I am still learning, but I read in the Wood-database site that there are certain woods that look great but are under appreciated.

So I tried one with a standard Cigar kit from Craft, and it turned out gorgeous.
This is the Cigar with Pistachio wood with Mylands polish and Renaissance wax

. And yes, I need to work on my photography.

This other one was one of three that I did from Cocbolo. The other two looked nice, but this one just exploded with color and grain. I wish I could get all to look like this.

Any constructive criticism or suggestions welcome.

 

[Skie_M]

Cocobolo is a true rosewood, and can have colors that range from brown/tan through orange and up to purple ... haven't seen any (yet) that have a blue or red color to them, but sometimes I get a very nice brownish orange color that nears red ...


It's too bad I ended up as one of those allergic to cocobolo oils...

I found out about it right as I had bought a box of about 20 pounds of cocobolo blanks and offcuts! I was itching for a week and that box hadn't even arrived yet!

 

[mark james]

Both pens came out great Brad.

I could not agree with you more about "common woods." Burls are beautiful, but prone eventually to crack unless stabilized, and even then. Some of my nicest pens have come from "common wood".

This is my next blank to turn - Sumac. Basically a weed tree in Ohio.

 

[bpgoldo]

I wanna echo Greg's words of wisdom. Use Cocobolo sparingly and carefully with a dust mask and good ventilation. It's not some who become sensitized....given repeated exposure there is no way to avoid it. AND it's beautiful. AND it is easy to work.....AND it will bite you eventually. Nearly killed me. Seriously.