Leather Pens

[MuddyWater]

I have been following the discussions here for sometime and recently joined the forum. The advice here has been great and has helped me in more ways than I can imagine.

My question is this. I have ben toying with the idea of making a pen using leather pieces to cover the tubes. It would like similar to the stacked leather handles you see on knives sometimes. I have figured out a way to glue the leather together and am working on one now. What would everyone suggest for the finish. As I turn the blank on the lathe I have been flooding it with thin CA and trying to stabilize it. Do you think this would work. I did not try to cast it, as I don't yet have the equipment for this, and would like to have the leather feel. What about the Enduro finish, or should I stick with a CA finish, since I have ben using this to stabilize the blank as I turn it?

 

[Stevej72]

I made two leather pens by taking stips of leather about and inch wide and 6 inches long and gluing them together with CA. When it was the size of a pen blank and cut, drilled and glued in the tubes. As I turned it down, I kept putting thin CA on the exposed surface to keep it hard and easier to turn. After it was turned I used medium CA to put a nice finish on it.

 

[dbriski]

What about leaving it unfinished and using some leather conditioner on it (would have to be re applied often).

 

[Pikebite]

I make stacked leather pens after a customer requested one. Easy to finish with thin CA to stabilize it and a CA finish. Don't forget you can stack other things in with the leather like pewter sheet, aluminium, thin sections of tru-stone, wood or what ever you like.

 

[rhahnfl]

Leather pens is thinking out of the box too.

 

[jwoodwright]

Leather pens have been done, with the CA finish. They look great with embellishments as suggested.

 

[R2]

G'day Avery and welcome to the frustration! Had a look at your DIW pen,nicely done![]
What finish did you use? Good luck with the leather pen.

 

[MuddyWater]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I was thinking CA would be the way to go, but wanted some more advice.

R2, the DIW pen I used CA/BLO. It turned out okay, but I think I need to try something different or work on the technique more. I was looking for more shine. This turned out a little flatter than I was looking for.

 

[Rmartin]

Does anyone have pictures of a leather wrapped pen?

 

[cigarman]

Check my album. There is one there I made about 2 years ago. The leather was light tan cut in three quarted inch disk then glued togeather and smoothed with a skew. I used a med. brown leather dye and then polished.

 

[rhahnfl]

If I hadn't read that it was disks glued together I'd swear that it was wrapped around the tubes. Must have used a bunch of CA for it. Turned out very nicely that's for sure. Wonder how it would look segmented with buffalo horn? Might have to put that on my pen to do list...

 

[its_virgil]

Leahter pens have been done. I wrote a tutorial a couple of years back and revised it for a woodturning magazine article in 2007. Although I used a slimline, the technique can be used to any kit. Take a look at it at: http://tinyurl.com/yodyft

Also, here is another one I did using the same technique of gluing leather disks together. http://penmakersguild.com/gallery.php?gallery=wardd&page=12

And, finally, here is the pen that was my spring board to making leather pens. This is the first one I remember seeing that was made by a penturner. http://penmakersguild.com/gallery.php?gallery=osbornek&page=22

Do a good turn daily!
Don

 

[rhahnfl]

Those are some nice looking pens and the tutorial is great. Made sure to save it for later use. I need to get bak in the shop and get busy... got the creative juices flowing.

 

[its_virgil]

Thanks Chris. I have several articles on my website. Check them out and make good use of them. I add a new one almost each month. http://www.redriverpens.com/articles
Do a good turn daily!
Don

Originally posted by rhahnfl

Those are some nice looking pens and the tutorial is great. Made sure to save it for later use. I need to get bak in the shop and get busy... got the creative juices flowing.