PITH from ChrisK...Better late than never

[Justturnin]

Received this Atrax a couple of months ago but due to switching jobs and a death in the family I have not had the time or energy to set up and take pics. Well I finally got to it, sorry for the delay Christos. The pen is a Chrome Atrax which is wonderful because I have really been wanting to try one but funds have been tight so i have not. The wood is spalted Poplar, can you see the curl in the pics? This is unlike any US Poplar I have gotten my hands on. The F&F is spot on. I am not sure what the finish is but it is polished to a satin finish which I really like. I have not had a lot of luck getting this look myself but Christos got it just right. To top it off he also sent me a nice assortment of Greece woods, Briar Burl (WOOO HOOOOOO), Figured Walnut (Almost looks like Turkish) and some of this Spalted Poplar like the pen. Thank you Christos!!!!

I have not gotten my pic taken down yet but these seem to be ok.

 

[D.Oliver]

Looks like it was worth waiting for.

 

[Justturnin]

Looks like it was worth waiting for.

Yes the pen is great but it was not me waiting for the pen, the wait was it taking me so long to post it.

 

[chrisk]

Hi Chris,
First of all accept my condelences.

Chris, sorry but I've just seen this thread. I'm glad you like the blanks and the pen.

The finish on the pen is CA + BLO (3 to 4 coats if I remember well). For the satin finish I lightly sand through CA coats. Well the sanding is rather a kind of buffing for I use a so old and so tired MM green pad. For the final sanding/buffing I stop generally with the tan MM pad.

As for the Walnut, this tree has been overharvested in Greece. Beginning about 30 years ago, Italian dealers purchased tons of Greek Walnut for... peanuts. And yes, due to the lack of old growth (figured) Greek walnut the market goes East (to Turkey...) to find some wood with interesting figure. The walnut blanks I sent you are the last pieces from an old growth walnut (cut about 25 years ago) I got from a furniture maker friend of mine.

Chris, sorry again for not stabilising the spalted poplar blanks due to lack of time. Till now I haven't had time to stabilize any...

Attached, some (more decent) pics of your PITH.

 

[Edward Cypher]

Gorgeous!!!

 

[Russknan]

Now THAT was a great exchange! Congratulations to both on some beautiful pens. Russ

 

[Tabascocat]

Really, is a very nice pen, the wood blanks are beautiful.

 

[Fishinbo]

They look amazing, fantastic wood and finish. Great job!


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