Pens 4 and 5...

[watch_art]

Here's 4 and 5.
THe purple stripey thing --- yeah. An absolute mess. Nothing I'm proud of, but I learned something in the process. I made the section first. Won't do that again. Section is too skinny - barrel too long. If I had larger tap and die for the barrel to cap threads The barrel length would be okay...
I haven't even put a nib in it to see how it would balance. It's just too ugly.

Seriously though - the problem with these purple blanks was the condition they were in when I got them. They were bent - or curved. Awful to work with. I used a small pipe torch to heat the blank when it was in the 4 jaw and bent it down a bit using some channel locks. Didn't work too great - but helped a little bit.









And pen 5.
I like this one pretty good. The cap walls should have been thinner. I also didn't clean up the cap lip like I should have. I'm tired though. Gimme a break.

I did spend more time with sanding through micromesh so the finish is better than my other pens.





Resized to 88% (was 1067 x 800) - Click image to enlarge

 

[hewunch]

Wow, that last one is looking great. Good work, keep moving forward.

 

[OLDMAN5050]

You can send the ugly one to me:biggrin: both look great.........

 

[watch_art]

Somebody just offered to BUY the ugly one! I can't believe it! I even told him it wasn't finished, but if he really likes it, I'll finish it up and he can have it for the cost of the nib.

 

[Brooks803]

Great job Shawn! You're reallying getting the hang of it. That last one looks to be your best thus far. Congrats!

 

[watch_art]

Thanks Brooks!

 

[redwd707]

That last one is really slick, its just astounding that its your 4th pen!

 

[watch_art]

Thanks so much!

 

[Haynie]

Are you pressing the feeds in or did you spring for the feed tap?

Those look good.

 

[watch_art]

I bought the feed tap. And Thanks!

 

[Drstrangefart]

Great work! The purple one is better than you think it is. I get the same thing when I bust out a funky mess that I'm not sure how I feel on it.

 

[watch_art]

THe purple one... oh boy. Yeah - somebody just bought it. :/

I even explained to him why it wasn't any good and why it's awful and why he shouldn't want it...

He wants to use it with India ink to sign school awards on shiny paper (he's the art teacher and automatically the one who has to write the names in pretty italic script). I told him he'd have to clean it good after each use or it would be garbage. He knows. But this was his favorite... my mom also REALLY liked it.

 

[wiset1]

Great looking stuff, you're moving right along. I'm about to make the jump into kitless and it scares the heck out of me. Got to jump at some point

 

[watch_art]

The feeling's mutual. I'm going to make some kits eventually and I'm worried that I'll screw that up once I get started on them.

 

[SDB777]

The feeling's mutual. I'm going to make some kits eventually and I'm worried that I'll screw that up once I get started on them.

Why?
You've started at the upper end of just about everyones dream...the kitless, and your good at it. There are people here on this forum that have been trying to do this type of penturning for years and you have accomplished it in a few weeks.

Don't put yourself into reverse, keep pushing forward...and then write tutorials and teach the rest of us!


Scott

 

[watch_art]

Thanks! I dunno - I guess it's just the way I think before I try something new. I thought the same way when I started turning. I've never done it before so I was a bit apprehensive about touching tool to tarmac. I was actually kind of worried that I'd have to have some upper body strength and that I'd be no good at it with my weakling "art muscle" arms. Thankfully that's not the case. It's actually been a lot easier than I thought it would be. When I start turning a blank down to round it goes pretty quickly.

I do plan to make a video one night of parts of the process with my wife. HOpefully the camera won't get smashed to bits from flying blank bits.

 

[boxerman]

Looking good.