PITH for bobskio2003

[toddlajoie]

I got a message from Bob ( bobskio2003 ) that he got the PITH pen I sent him, so I figured I would post the quick photos I took before I sent it off... I've been getting pretty lax on taking pen photos lately, but here they go..

The kit is the new Virage Rollerball (technically Woodcrafts re-branding of it as the Metro...). Wood is Wenge which has been bleached, then dyed red. Did a CA finish, but the shaping gave me some trouble and it did not come out nice and glossy shiny like I like, but I didn't want to risk sanding through it and having to start all over again, as that can also affect the dying since the color does not soak in the wood too far.

 

[D.Oliver]

Very nice pen. Interesting idea with the bleach. Could you bleach it any color or does it need to be fairly close to the original color of the wood? Could you do a green color, for example?

 

[crabcreekind]

COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Looks like cocobolo.

 

[Hendu3270]

COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Looks like cocobolo.

Exactly what I was thinking.

Very nice pen.

 

[toddlajoie]

You can dye it back any color you want. The lighter of the browns in the original Wenge turns nearly completely white, while the darker brown hardly changes at all... You could do any color your heart desires, I figured red would be dramatic and obvious...

 

[sbwertz]

Here is a zebrawood I dyed green

Very nice pen. Interesting idea with the bleach. Could you bleach it any color or does it need to be fairly close to the original color of the wood? Could you do a green color, for example?

 

[bobskio2003]

I have to say I've been a little on the slow side when it comes to thinking lately. It took a while to sink in the amount of work Todd did on this pen. It is a gorgeous pen and the wenge is outstanding. I really didn't think it was Wenge when I got it so I dismissed it as some sort of composite but it is very breath taking and I'm hoping he might share how he does the coloring (at least a little more in depth than bleaching and coloring ). Bob

 

[toddlajoie]

The overall process is pretty simple. I turn the blank as usual, down to just a hair over the parts measurement (I use calipers, so I stop around .003 or so OVER the parts measurement...) getting about as good a finish I can get with my skew. Typically when I'm done with my skew, I go strait to 80 grit paper on hard woods, maybe 400 on something porous like Wenge, so if you start using coarser grit papers, I would plan on sanding down to 400 grit and leaving it that slight bit over size. Then I take a small tupperware container with about an inch deep of plain old undiluted laundry bleach, drop the blanks in it, stir it around a bit to loose the bubbles, and let it sit for around 2 hours (when I did Black Palm, it took nearly 24 hours, so play this time by eye...) After the soft parts have been bleached white, I pull the blanks out, run them under warm water for about 5 minutes or so, pat them dry with a paper towel, and leave them overnight to dry. Once they are dry, I put them back on the lathe and sand with from 800 to 1200 grit paper (the soaking will raise the grain, so this is just smoothing things out a bit...). Be careful not to sand too much, as it's kind of surprising how the bleach does not soak in too far, and it's really easy to start sanding all the bleached wood off and getting the brown back. Then with a few drops of food coloring on a paper towel, rub that back and forth over the blank to get a nice even covering. Let it soak in for about a minute or so, then wipe any excess off with a clean paper towel. Again let that dry overnight, Then I do a CA finish as usual.

I always start with thin CA for the first 2 coats, then switch to medium, but even if you do your CA finish with ONLY medium or thick, I would suggest you start with thin when you're doing this to minimize the amount of dye that may leach out of the wood into the CA.

 

[orlandopens]

Very nice pen, Todd. And I appreciate learning about the process. What was your impression of the Virage (aka Metro) kit? Good quality? Balanced?