The Russian Bear

[redfishsc]

I turned this one today as an experiment as I've never done a closed end anything, nor one with a wood cap finial.

The cap finial ended up a bit bigger than I'd originally planned, and a bit different shape---- it looks to me like those hats you'd see on TV sitcoms back in the 80's whenever a Russian showed up (I don't even know if they wear those in Russia).

This big brown pen just reminds me of a big Kamchatka kodiak bear.

45* cut bubinga (not the best choice for my first closed end, as the end got shorter and shorter as the turning progressed, lol... but I managed to save it before hitting the drilled hole).

Ti gold Gent. Finished with mulitple coats of conversion varnish, then sanded to fill the grain, recoated and micromeshed.


You can see how the cap sorta came out looking like one of those big Russian hats.

 

[gerryr]

I'm not sure I think the finial is the wrong shape, it stands out more because the color of it is slightly off from the rest. The other end is more distracting to me. When I do a closed end, I try to make no larger in diameter than the CB. I think they look better that way, but that's just me. If you can get it apart, not easy by the way, you could reshape it. Overall though I think you did a good job, way better than my first closed end pen, which later got cut down to a regular Jr. Gents.

 

[Randy_]

I was expecting to see a real "dog" from your written description; but was pleasantly surprised by the picture. I like the overall effect. Only problem.....and I can't tell for sure because of the angle of the picture.....is that the closed end doesn't appear to be completely finished?? Also, it looks to be somewhat concave. I think flat or slightly convex would be better.

 

[redfishsc]

Randy, the finish goof on the end is just a camera goof/glare.

Lol, I didn't originally plan for the concave shape. When I got to the end of the pen, I somehow reverted to my bowlturning days (and I did make a bowl later that same day) and dug out a hollow in one shot as I was trying to smooth the end.




Speaking of design, I see a LOT of closed end-pens with a similar butt as this one has (lol, not "bowl" butts though). As I was making the pen, I removed the thing from the lathe and just layed it by my spindle gouge. Wonder of wonders, it's the EXACT profile that came with my crown mini-tools (again, other than the bowl butt).

It writes great, the shape fits the hand very well. I love using this pen. It ain't for sale, it's a keeper.

 

[Thumbs]

I wanted to "see" what a Russian Bear really looked like but my eyes just weren't up to the task before.[]Thanks!

As for shape, size, and looks, whatever! If it suits "you," and "you" make it, seems like that ought to be "good enough!" []

 

[Skye]

If you could have cut the foot off and made one to match the wood on the cap, it would have evened it out. Not a bad stab at it though!

 

[johncrane]

Not bad for a 1st go Redfish it gives me some idea's for a segment'ed pen can you see what im thinking?

 

[redfishsc]

Originally posted by Skye
<br />If you could have cut the foot off and made one to match the wood on the cap, it would have evened it out. Not a bad stab at it though!

Sorry, I'm not quite following you on the terminology--- is the "foot" the bell-bottom part-- ie, are you saying to have a butt end that has the darker color as the finial cap? If so, yes, I'd say it would balance it better.


I actually wanted the finial cap to come from the same blank, grain matched, but the longest bubinga blank I had wasn't big enough, I BARELY got this pen out of it. So I lopped of 20mm from another blank and turned it cross-grained, hoping for a bit of a contrast effect since the grain wouldn't match, and boy did I ever get it.