I had to go in for surgery

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Terredax

Banned
Joined
Nov 1, 2015
Messages
892
I haven't made a pen in quite a while, since I haven't had any kits.
I received a package from a kind member, and it had pen kits.

Well... I don't have a lathe any longer, so I asked my neighbor if I could schedule some time on his lathe. He said he would be out of town for about a week but, if I wanted to use his lathe, I could. He gave me a key to his shop door, so I could go over when I wanted to do some turning.

The LOML went with our daughter for the day, so I figured it was a good opportunity to make a pen. So I grabbed one of my cast blanks that LOML had picked out, and a Sierra pen kit, and I headed over to my neighbor's, looking forward to some solitude and making a pen. I'm not real familiar with my neighbor's lathe, so I knew I should take extra precautions.

Everything went well while drilling the blank, and getting it all prepped for turning. I took everything nice and slow, and paid close attention to safety.
I went home for some lunch to let the epoxy cure real good in front of the heater my neighbor has set up.

When I got back to turn the pen, the blank was ready.
I got the blank mounted on the lathe, and chose my weapon of choice to get to work cutting the diameter of the blank down to size.

Some time had passed, and the blank was getting close. I really started to make sure I was being safe, so I didn't have a blow out, since this is the only blank I have of this combination.

All seemed to be going fine, and all of a sudden, the blank was turned to size. I started sanding it and it went well, so off to the rigged buffer my neighbor built. Since the thing seems a little unsafe, I took my time, and again practiced good safety habits.

Now.. after all of this, and it's coming down to the final stretch to a finished pen; all that's needed is to press the finial and all will be well.
I took a deep breathe, and carefully proceeded to press the finial.
BAM! It was in and now the finished pen could be assembled. You would think this would be the easiest part....

and it was.


So, after my "plastic surgery", this is what happened.



















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The top photo is what the pen looks like just setting there, and the bottom collection of photos, capture the various colors that appear when the pen is picked up, and the light begins to hit it.
The sun is hidding today, and it's only 35 degrees and wet out, so I had to use a lamp to get the colors to show. I'll get a better photo when the sun shows it's bight, smiley face again.
 
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