I finished it!!

[MDWine]

The first one is behind me!

After finishing the first one, what seemed like foriegn discussions about CA Finishing and so on finally make sense. For some reason, I couldn't match the grain when I put it together! I think maybe the blanks were trimmed too far apart???!!!

This one is a bit rough, so I look to improve on the next one.

Take a look in the album, if you like. The picture of the whole pen is not a very good one, I'll shoot it again tonight.

Thanks for looking, comments/suggestions appreciated.

 

[pastorbill1952]

Michael, just from the pic, looks like you did not match grains before assembly. IE, the nib should be on the CB end. I do that at times when I get in a hurry. The finish is great. BTW, where is the CB?

 

[MDWine]

The other pics are in the album. Try as I may, I could not match the grains to save me. I think I must have taken too much out of the middle??? I dunno... I tried to match them and they wouldn't.

 

[JimGo]

Michael,
Congratulations! Well done for a first try; certainly something to be proud of. I made the same mistake about cutting too much from the middle. I read a post that said something about making the blank approximately 1/8" longer than the pen tubes, in case you screw something up. I thought, well, knowing me, I'm better off leaving 1/8" on either side. Well, of course, I didn't screw it up, but I had about five full blanks (ten half blanks) that now had quite a bit of excess material on them. Plus, I drilled each half without a vice, which meant that the holes weren't exactly straight on any of them. The result was ten beautiful half blanks, but the grain wouldn't match up despite my best efforts. I have recently purchased a self-centering vice for drilling the holes, so hopefully that will help me get better. Two other tricks I (now) know of:
1) When drilling the blanks, always drill into the side of the blank that will be at the middle of the pen. You're more likely to hit the center consistently on both middles, and since that's where they will meet, you will increase your odds of matching the grains.
2) Label each half blank before you cut the whole blank (including marking which ends are the "middle" ends), and put them on the mandrel in the appropriate order (that is, keep the matching ends from number 1 above facing each other)

It's hard to tell from the picture above; do the two halves have the same diameter where they meet? Another lesson I learned the hard way is that, if you're going to turn a slimline pen without a CB, you might want to do away with the middle bushing, or at least remove it once you get closer to your final diameter. That will allow you to make the two halves exactly the same size in the middle. I have a really pretty Cocobolo pen that I made for my wife that has SLIGHTLY different sizes for each half!

Again, congratulations! I hope to be able to catch up with you and Lou some time soon!

 

[MDWine]

Thanks Jim! After sitting down and looking at the pen, I reflected on the thing that I learned... that was quite a list. I'm thinking of putting together a list of steps that would include the reminder to mark the halves, keep them oriented, and such. I especially like the idea of removing that middle bushing when finalizing the size, mine has a very slight difference between the two.

Good info, and thanks again! Lou said he would try to get us hooked up, possibly on a week-night. Looking forward to it!