An illusion pen

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SteveJ

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Joined
Jul 11, 2012
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3,369
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Grand Junction, Colorado
JTtheclockman challenged those of us who make chevron's to tackle an illusion blank. This my answer to that challenge.

I started by gluing three thin strips of contrasting woods (Maple, wenge, and padauk) together, with the middle strip cut at one end at 45 degrees and that spot filled with the a piece of maple.

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I then trimmed the piece square.

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After that I cut pieces into approximately a cube shape (unfortunately since I was using a spacer and not the fence I forgot to lock down the fence and the pieces ended up different sizes, which made the process more difficult in future steps.)

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I arranged the pieces to show the illusion - I flipped and twisted the pieces as necessary.

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I then stacked the pieces and glued them together.

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That resulted in 8 stacks which I turned into staves.

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I first cut the staves at 22.5 degrees.

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I then cut the other side using a 45 degree jig.

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That produced 8 staves which I somehow forgot to take a picture of. Those staves formed this:

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The hole is for a skewer to fit in to be able to center sacrificial end pieces for turning the blank round.

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I turned it round to fit in the beall collet chuck for drilling the hole.

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I then parted off the sacrificial maple and replaced it with padauk for the final pen.

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The process went pretty well and the next one should be even better, but I may look for a different illusion!
 

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SteveJ

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Thanks Mark. I was disappointed that the endgrain padauk darkened so much when applying the finish, but I'll take it for my first try at an illusion.
 

jttheclockman

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Feb 22, 2005
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Location
NJ, USA.
Steve I know we have talked but this concept is all yours and have to say I am impressed after seeing the final results. Your vision to see this unfold is beyond my thinking air waves. Explaining your process is great because it helps other to see into this thought process and pictures are worth more than words. Both you and Mark are doing great work in this field and it is paying off. Maybe others will come up with other ideas and expand on these things. Nice job and for a first attempt, have to say you are right on the money. Good luck as you move forward. Job well done.
 
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