Red Oak Burl Cigar Pen

[Ron in Drums PA]

Here is my latest pen made from some scrap I couldn't part with. Before I started turning and when ever I found an unusual piece of wood I would chuck into a bin. At the time I was planning on making a box lid form this.

The wood was cut on a diagonal, and if you look closely you will notice a dark spot. That is where the wood blew out when I was drilling. I patched it up with my favorite filler, coffee grounds. In life it looks like a bark inclusion.

The finish is Waterlox applied with a paper pad on the lathe while is it spinning, I crank up the speed until and press hard until I see smoke. In about an hour it is dry to the touch. The following day I applied medium CA glue, buffed and waxed.

Since I'm new to turning pens I'm curious as to what others feel about fixing a blowout like this. I have a thick skin so I don't mind criticism.

 

[ilikewood]

What's not to like? Looks nice to me.

If you have enough length on some of these hard to drill woods, make your blank a bit longer. I cut to nearly exact size AFTER I drill. It only has to be 1/4" longer and you can really save yourself some headaches.

 

[jdavis]

Looks nice. Good fit.

 

[low_48]

Ron, There is usually more than enough length to go ahead and use a pen mill, or sander, to machine off a little chip like that on the end. (At least half of it anyway). Your save was very good and has the look of a bark inclusion. I might have added some sawdust to it to change the shade a little lighter, but I think it was a great save. I didn't see it till I read down your description, nice work.

Rich

 

[WoodChucker]

Nice job and good save!

 

[JimGo]

Ron, that's a GREAT save, and a pretty piece of wood. I'm with Rich, I prefer to try to get my saves closer to the color of the wood (I use either dust from my sanding or some of the larger pieces from while I'm turning it down, depending on the size of the hole), but given all the black in that piece anyway, it really isn't noticeable unless you point it out.

Nice job!

 

[dougle40]

Very nice Ron . I'll have to stick the coffee grounds idea in the back on my mind for future use .

 

[Ron in Drums PA]

Thanks everyone.

In the past I always tried to make a repair close to the color of the wood by using sawdust. But to my eye it always looked like a repair. The idea of having such a drastic color change makes it look like it always was there.

 

[ryannmphs]

WOW, not bad for a piece of scrap wood!!! I have also used the coffee ground filler before, it works great.

Ryan

 

[rtjw]

good looking pen.

 

[Fleabit]

Nice job and good save. Thanks for the tip on the coffee grounds.

 

[swm6500]

Nice looking pen. I like the coffee ground idea. I agreee with Bill about making the blanks a little longer, there is usually some short piece left over when you cut to the exact length so use it to save in advance if possible.

 

[Ron in Drums PA]

Thanks again Folks.

I'll remember that tip about longer blanks. This might also be a good idea for another reason: to make center bands of contrasting woods.

 

[AdamB]

Coffee grounds.... good idea. Oh, and nice pen too.

 

[MDWine]

[] Nice save! Look GREAT! []