Trio of Knurl GTs

[Dehn0045]

Here are the pens that I have been working on this week. From left to right: black redwood burl I got from the IAP estate sale, old golden wattle (Mr Anonymous) from George and Rose gum burl also from George. The Rose Gum was kinda difficult b/c it was full of checks/voids (strange that there weren't really checks on the outside of the blank). I used CA to fill, but cactus juice may have been better. Nevertheless I like how they all turned out. All C&C welcome.

 

[eppen]

Beautiful pens


Sent from my iPhone using Penturners.org mobile app

 

[Jim15]

Those look great.

 

[mark james]

Wow! All three look great.

I personally have 2-3 carry pens with the Knurl kit and really like them!

I am happy to see the Black Redwood Burl from the Estate Blank sales - It is a beautiful finished product!!! Well done.

The final 2 peans are equally well done.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[TattooedTurner]

Beautiful trio of pens, and a fine job finishing them.

 

[Dehn0045]

Wow! All three look great.

I personally have 2-3 carry pens with the Knurl kit and really like them!

I am happy to see the Black Redwood Burl from the Estate Blank sales - It is a beautiful finished product!!! Well done.

The final 2 peans are equally well done.

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks to you Mark for doing such a great job managing the logistics of the IAP estate sale, you are providing a great service to our community. Thanks for the kind words as well, I too like the knurl GT - it's a flashy but somewhat rugged kit. The clip is on the large side, but there is enough meat on the blank so it doesn't obscure too much of the wood.

 

[Racer3770]

Those are gorgeous. The knurl is one of my favorite kits!

 

[robutacion]

Some very nice pens you've got there, all 3 have plenty of character.

I'm sorry if the Pink/Rose gum have voids inside, as you mentioned, they weren't visible from the outside otherwise I would have put them aside, I hope the other blanks from that pack are a little better, its a shame really because they are quite pretty wood.

I like what you've done with your fit and finish, it looks flawless, congrats.

Cheers
George

 

[Dehn0045]

Some very nice pens you've got there, all 3 have plenty of character.

I'm sorry if the Pink/Rose gum have voids inside, as you mentioned, they weren't visible from the outside otherwise I would have put them aside, I hope the other blanks from that pack are a little better, its a shame really because they are quite pretty wood.

I like what you've done with your fit and finish, it looks flawless, congrats.

Cheers
George

No worries George, that's wood, I was truly surprised when started to get it turned down as there wasn't any voids visible on the raw blank. In hindsight I think turquoise inlay would have looked pretty cool, but I lack those advanced skills. I am actually quite pleased by how it looks. It ended up being an enjoyable challenge. The golden wattle is among my favorite blanks I have turned. Amazing color and light spalting, the pic doesn't do it justice. I really appreciate that you make these woods available to us at such reasonable prices, I get a real kick out of telling people about where the wood came from.

 

[TibetanDeathSausage]

Looks great and fantastic finish.

What's your finishing method ?

 

[Dehn0045]

Looks great and fantastic finish.

What's your finishing method ?

Thanks! I do CA, using Bob Smith Industries thin and medium, here is a rough breakdown of what I did for these:

Lathe set at 500 rpm
Blank mounted on lathe between centers (no bushings)
CA applied with paper towel
2 coats of thin by "dribbling" on blank while simultaneously wiping excess
When the blank is raw it really soaks up the thin
2 coats of thin by applying to paper towel first
4 coats of medium applying to paper towel first (accelerator between coats)
4 coats of thin by applying to paper towel first (accelerator between coats)
Sand aggressively with 400 until no more (or very few) "shiny spots"
sand thru grits (600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000)
4 to 8 more coats thin by applying to paper towel first (accelerator between coats)
sand thru grits (400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000)
should have eliminated all of the tiny pits, if not then more sanding and reapply coats of thin
Micromesh wet through all 9 pads
HUT Ultra Gloss using soft cotton (old T shirt)


With the Rose Gum Burl I filled the voids with medium (with the lathe off) and then after the glue set I turned it down using the skew. This helped reduce the amount of sanding needed.


In general I am happy with the finish, but there still seem to be pesky micro scratches. Really only visible on the darker woods. From what I can tell I am not alone in this with the MM pads. When I get some time and money I am going to try out a buffing system which will hopefully eliminate this issue.

 

[Aces-High]

Thanks for sharing this!

Looks great and fantastic finish.

What's your finishing method ?

Thanks! I do CA, using Bob Smith Industries thin and medium, here is a rough breakdown of what I did for these:

Lathe set at 500 rpm
Blank mounted on lathe between centers (no bushings)
CA applied with paper towel
2 coats of thin by "dribbling" on blank while simultaneously wiping excess
When the blank is raw it really soaks up the thin
2 coats of thin by applying to paper towel first
4 coats of medium applying to paper towel first (accelerator between coats)
4 coats of thin by applying to paper towel first (accelerator between coats)
Sand aggressively with 400 until no more (or very few) "shiny spots"
sand thru grits (600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000)
4 to 8 more coats thin by applying to paper towel first (accelerator between coats)
sand thru grits (400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000)
should have eliminated all of the tiny pits, if not then more sanding and reapply coats of thin
Micromesh wet through all 9 pads
HUT Ultra Gloss using soft cotton (old T shirt)


With the Rose Gum Burl I filled the voids with medium (with the lathe off) and then after the glue set I turned it down using the skew. This helped reduce the amount of sanding needed.


In general I am happy with the finish, but there still seem to be pesky micro scratches. Really only visible on the darker woods. From what I can tell I am not alone in this with the MM pads. When I get some time and money I am going to try out a buffing system which will hopefully eliminate this issue.

 

[OZturner]

Excellent Pens Sam,
Glorious Blanks, Expertly Turned, Fitted and Finished.
Great Choice of Hardware.
Congratulations,
Brian