Rusty Skills

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Ed McDonnell

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Oct 20, 2008
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Melbourne, FL
I've been sidetracked with an overload of non pen related turning jobs this year and these are the first pens I've made since last winter. It's amazing how rusty my pen making skills have gotten after just 4 months of non use.

Both pens are Cast Carved Core.



The red/black/white one was inspired by an "Ohio Star" quilt block that I saw laying around in my wife's quilting room. I had intended this to be a gift. The gifting is going to have to wait until I get my pen mojo back and I can do a little better job. This will likely end up in my wife's purse at some point in the not too distant future.

The black and white pen was based on some royalty free art from Dover Publishers. I feel a little better about the job I did on this one, but it still has room for improvement. This will end up as a carry pen for me.

Ed
 
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mredburn

IAP Activities Manager
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Jul 5, 2009
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The bash is right around the corner you had better get some practice in. Wouldnt want you to out of sorts for the competitions.
 

Ed McDonnell

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Oct 20, 2008
Messages
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Melbourne, FL
Thank you for all the compliments.

Mike - That's right! The Bash. I better get with the program. I need to up my casting game as well as derust my other skills.

Bruce - I've "lost it" is so many ways. At least that's what my wife keeps telling me. As to the pens, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I'm just not feeling the beauty with these two. I do think they have great personalities though. (Just like me! :wink:)

Ed
 

Ed McDonnell

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Joined
Oct 20, 2008
Messages
2,294
Location
Melbourne, FL
Thank you for the comments. Looking at the picture I posted, I could see why people might be wondering what my problem is with the pens. Here's the sad story.

Ohio Star Pen (black/white/red):
When I'm inlaying the PR into the carvings, I only mix up 1/8 ounce of PR resin for each inlay. I use one drop of MEKP to catalyze. These small batches can have very short pot life due to a couple different factors. Not a problem if you move quickly and don't spend time thinking about what you are doing and whether you are doing it right.

When I was inlaying the red, the resin gelled before I completed the inlay (too much thinking and not enough doing). I was almost done and rather than handling this the correct way, I finished the job with the gelled resin. I've learned in the past not to do this, but part of being rusty is not remembering lessons learned.

Two of the red inlays each ended up with a very small void. I didn't notice the voids when I polished the core when I could have still done something about them. I did notice them after I cast the cores in clear PR. Too late.

If you don't know they are there, you don't notice them. But I know they are there. They look like two moon craters to me (especially under 10x magnification).

My second issue is that the metal finial on the barrel has scratched plating. I don't think I did this while assembling, but maybe I did. Whether I did it or it happened in transit from China to my shop, it's there.

Splat Pen (black/white):
When I was turning this one to shape I got distracted by something going on outside as I was doing my finishing pass. If you hold the pen at just the right angle and look at the reflected light on the surface you can see that I don't have a completely smooth continuous curve on the pen barrel. The slope of the curve varies just a bit towards the bottom of the barrel. You can't feel it and you can't see it in the pen itself. But it's there. And I know it's there. Anybody who knew to hold the pen up and look at the reflected light along the barrel would see it.

So, there's my story.

Ed
 
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