I did the ring and the finial from the left over part of the blank after cutting off the parts for the barrel and cap.
I use a face plate more than a chuck. Just my preferece.
Screwed on a waste block, glued the little block in the center, turned that little block round.
I did the ring first them the finial. I measured the ID of the black ring that comes with the baron kit and hollowed the piece to match it. Then I measure the OD of the black ring that came with the kit and cut the outside to match. I finished this pen with CA so I dripped on a little and let it cure them MM'ed. Since it's just a little detail piece I didn't worry about a perfect finish on it.
The hard part is cutting the ring off. I started witha parting tool, then switched to a little hacksaw that I held against the spinning wood as the lathe turned slowing. Once it came off - well to tell the truth, it flew off into the shavings pile so I had to do it all over again.
With the second one, I sanded the unfinished side after cutting it off, put a little lacquer on it and hung it on a pin to dry.
The finial was pretty easy to make - harder to install. From the remaining wood glued to the face-plate and waste block, I turned a little mushroom and finished it with CA. I hacksawed it off at the point at which the mushroom stem would enter the ground (if it were a real mushroom).
I made a couple more rings and mushrooms from this block then used the remaining waste block to fix the end piece on which the finial is a little black piece. I cut a hole in the cetner of the waste block and jammed the part into the hole. I love jam chucks! They're tricky though. You have to get them tight. Once the part was in there, I started cutting with a detail gouge (fingernail grind) till I had cut through the black part and into the brass underlying the gold plating. You could use a jacobs chuck and drill bit to cut through the black part so it would all come off. I just used the detail gouge. Once I got the black piece off I just stuck the mushroom in it and dropped some glue inside the part (not CA, it makes a film on the gold plated nib part - DAMHIKT). After the glue sets up you just install the part as you normally would when assembling the pen.
And that's it!
Oh, I tried for a CA finish and failed dismally. Somebody should have told me how oily tulipwood is! Why did I not already know this! I'll be doing an acetone wipe the next time I use Tulipwood.
One of these if the failed CA finish and the other is a dipped lacquer finsih.
Julia