Spalted Japanese Maple - PHOTO ADDED

[Fangar]

This is a pen that I just finished up for a customer. It is a piece of Cross cut Japanese Spalted Maple. This was from the stuff that I home stablilized using the vacuum poly method from a while back. It will get sent out to Ken over at Kallenshaan for some Japanese symbol laser engraving that my customer wants. I will reshoot the photo after the laser work has been done for critique. Looking forward to it.

EDIT:

I got the pen back from Ken Nelsen. What a great job he did IMHO. Here is a photo:

Cheers,

James

 

[WoodChucker]

James, that's a beautiful looking pen! Don't think I've seen Japanese Spalted Maple before, I like it. Very nice work!

 

[Ligget]

I have not seen that wood either, excellent pen, excellent polish, excellent photo.
Yup I think it is EXCELLENT!!(if you hadn`t already guessed)[]

 

[GregD]

Beautiful pen James. I was wondering what Japnanese Maple looked like. Some people down the road cut one down a couple of weeks ago. They had it all cleaned up and gone before I knew about it.

 

[ctEaglesc]

That would be Sparted Japanese maple, no?[]
Whatever it is it is stunning!

 

[Fangar]

Thanks guys,

Japanese maple and maple in general for that matter can have a huge variety of looks. This stuff is a very spalted variety. It is hard to base what a wood looks like just by one example. Straight grain is pretty easy, we all know what oak looks like etc. But when you get into the spalts its anyone's guess. Also it was cross cut and very punky. The stabilization was a must to even get a tool on it. I blew out about 3 of them before I came up with the process.

Thanks for the kind words.

James

 

[jvsank]

Very nice pen and I like the wood too

 

[Glenn McCullough]

Great looking pen. excellent choice of kit to go with the wood.

 

[elody21]

Totally Amazing!!!!!!!!!! I love that you chose the black hardware! What a beautiful pen!!!

 

[dancrafted]

That is awsome!!!

 

[JimGo]

Wow James, that is a beauty!

 

[Tom McMillan]

Wow!!!! Indeed, beautiful!!! []

 

[opfoto]

Beautiful pen. Nice work. Great finish.

 

[swm6500]

Wow James, you did a magnificent job on that pen. I really like it.

 

[PenWorks]

Great looking pen James. So, is the wood from Japan ? or in the states and just called Japanees maple?

 

[pastorbill1952]

That is some terrific wood, and you picked the right kit to set the spalting off.

 

[Fangar]

Originally posted by penworks
<br />Great looking pen James. So, is the wood from Japan ? or in the states and just called Japanees maple?

I have two Japanese Maple trees growing in my backyard (California). Unfortunately, they will likely never produce anything like that blank. []

It is actually a fairly common tree around these parts. Very nice tree with a wide variety of color in its leaves. There is a listing for Japanese maple blanks on Ebay right now, but they are not as spalted as the ones that I got. They are listed as "Freckled". The same guy I bought the blanks from. In fact he has some spalted maples that look great, but be warned, if they are like the ones I got from him, you will need to stabilize them first!

Cheers,

James

 

[alamocdc]

Now that is pretty, James!

 

[Fleabit]

Beautiful grain on that pen. Nice job with it.

 

[elody21]

Totally amazing wood!!!!!!!!! It goes great with the plabck setting!

 

[Ryan]

I do not want to take this too far off topic, but what is everyone's experience with the black crome? I have only sold one and have had no feed back on it. How does it hold up as I have an order for a set of them I am ready to put the order in on.

Thanks,
Ryan

 

[Fangar]

Ryan,

I sell a lot of the black chrome. People tend to like the gold finishes least in my area. I personally like the black on most acrylics.

I just got the pen back from Ken Nelson. What a great job he did:

Fangar

 

[WoodChucker]

Does it say "made in usa" []

Looks great he did a beautiful job!

 

[woodscavenger]

Good one WoodChucker![] Nice pen.

 

[hobby_dale]

Awesome looking pen James and the I think the Kanji really makes it look truly special. Great Job! []

 

[Fangar]

Thanks guys,

My customer loved the pen. Ken is a great person to deal with. The same customer already ordered another pen with engraving. The symbols are: Husband, Father, Samurai (Servant).

Cheers,

Fangar

 

[Darley]

Well done Fangar, stunning pen