2015 Youth Pen Contest Voting Poll

[mredburn]

We had some great entries this year, there is an amazing amount of talanted young people out there. Look over the pen carefully. Maybe even more than once then You will have to decide. Which ones are your favorites.

We will have 2 polls the first poll will be to pick the top 10 pens. THe second will be to pick the winning 3 pens.

Choose up to Three pens that you think are the best. The top 10 will go to the final round.

Good luck to All the kids and good luck to all the members that have to choose!

 

[mredburn]

Pen 1

Age 11

My child chose the blank and the Majestic Squire pen kit himself. He also cut the blank down to size on the band saw and driled the hole on the drill press. I (dad) sanded down the ends. he did about 90 % of all lathe work and did all the finishing work which included applying multiple layers of CA and then sanding to 600 grit and then wet sanding to 12000 with micromesh and then finishing with Hut Utragloss.

 

[mredburn]

Pen 2

Age 11

MY child selected the laminate blank and .50 Flip pen kit. He cut the blank on the band saw and drilled the hole on the drill press.I (dad) sanded down the ends. He did about 90% of all lathe work and did all the finishing work including sanding to 600 grit and dry sanding to 12000 micromesh. He then applied Hut Crystal finish and then he assembled the pen.

 

[mredburn]

Pen 3

Age 8

My Daughter chose to do something other than the Slimline she is used to this year and after looking at different choices choose an Atlas kit. She also picked out the Glow in the Dark Blank from my stash. Blue Glow in the dark resin with I believe is box elder. I cut and drilled the blank and knocked off the corners very lightly as she was a bit nervous about chipping the resin. She took it over from there and turned the blank all the way to the bushings with very minimal guidance. She sanded, cleaned and sanded again with pads before applying the finish.

 

[mredburn]

Pen 4

Age 11

Western Diamondback Rattlesnake blanks on a gunmetal slimline. Entrant did 100% of the turning, sanding & finishing. Adult help prepare the blank for turning and with a little of the assembly.

 

[mredburn]

Pen 5

Age 8

This is a Cigar style pen with a "worthless wood" cast blank. The child did a significant part (probably 75% or so) of the preparation, turning, sanding & finishing.

 

[mredburn]

Pen 6

Age 13

This is a green dwarf banksia pod on a chrome sierra. I (the youth) practically did all of it. My Dad told me what to do, but I did it.

 

[mredburn]

Pen 7

Age 13

I started pen turning about 4 months ago when I was taught by my Tech Ed teacher in school. I enjoyed it so much that my dad converted his metal working lathe to a woodworking lathe so I could make a pen for everyone in my family for Christmas. I think in total I've made about 30 - 35 pens. Since I like making both wood and acrylic pens I decided for this competition to make one that combined both materials. I chose Banana Split Fuji Burl blanks from Woodcraft and the Rockler Chrome Pioneer pen kit. I liked the contrast of the chrome with the acrylic coloring. I turned the blanks on the lathe and after getting the shape I wanted for the pen, I sanded it with 220 to 1000 grit sandpaper to get a very smooth finish. I then used 2 coats of Danish oil, let that dry and buffed it out with a cloth. To give the pen the protective coat and glossy finish, I put 2 coats of CA thin, 8 coats of CA medium and then sanded again. There was a total of 18 sanding pads starting with 220 grit and finally finishing with 12000 grit sandpaper. When all that was done, I used a car polishing compound and for a final finish applied a coat of carnuba wax to get a protective glossy finish on the pen.

 

[mredburn]

Pen 8

Age 13

This is a Princeton Pen kit from Woodcraft. My child picked this kit himself, and also selected the Bocote blank. His blank was selected because of the figure he saw in it. He turned the blank between centers (no bushings) and used calipers to assure the sizing was exact to the hardware in the kit. He finished the blank with CA and polished it to a crystal clear finish. His Dad helped him assemble the kit.

 

[mredburn]

Pen 9

Age 13

This pen is made from a handmade blank I won in last year's fall youth pen contest. I selected a gun metal Stratus kit to highlight the awesome blue and purple swirls. I turned and finsihed this with very little help from Dad.

 

[mredburn]

Pen 10

Age 12

This is the third pen done by my son. He chose the hardware which is a gunmetal and Gold sierra. He then chose the blank to match up to the hardware. The blank is green/blue stabilized cross cut spalted maple. I had reservations of him turning a cross cut blank because of his lack of experience but he did a very nice job with it. The finish is a home brew friction polish that I mixed up. With the exception of helping him to straighten out the blank once as he got closer to the bushings to show him how to use the carbide finisher he did all of the turning, sanding, finishing and assembly on this pen.

 

[mredburn]

Pen 11

Age 7

This is my daughter's third pen. To pull this off she had to stand on a 5 gallon bucket with daddy by her side the whole time. She has a thing for Corian and chose the blue with white speckled blank on a simple gold slimline kit. She was rather uncomfortable so I helped guide the tools across the blank to get it turned down to the bushings. She did all of the sanding and polishing and I helped her with the assembly. She was very proud of her pen and can't wait to take it to school.

 

[mredburn]

Pen 12

Age 10

My son always gets excited when the Bash comes around. He has tuned several pens and always want to hang out in the shop with dad. He chose the blank first then the hardware to match the blank. The blank is a very nice piece of walnut burl and the hardware is a Thrivent chrome and gold sierra. He did a very nice job with this combination and was quite proud of it. The finish is a home brew friction polish that I mixed up. He has done enough pens now that aside from watching over him he did all of the turning, sanding, finishing and assembly on this pen.

 

[mredburn]

Pen 13

Age 7

This is a polyclay pen on a chrome Long Clicker kit. I showed her a U-Tube video on making polyclay pens and coached her during the process, but she made the entire pen herself and brushed a glaze onto the pen for a finish. After the glaze dried, I held the pen while she pressed the parts together.

 

[mredburn]

There you have the 13 entries Ladies and Gentlemen, now the toughest part choosing your top 3 favorites.

Make sure you post your comments and support of the kids and their pens.

 

[mutley]

There is some exceptional work here, great looking pens. 2 of the pictures of pen 3 and pen 7 are missing / bad links.

 

[mredburn]

They should be fixed now. I removed and reloaded them.

 

[PapaTim]

Pen 10 description doesn't match photo's.??

 

[triw51]

Thoes are some fantastic pens and great workmanship it was very difficult to pick 3. I think they are all winners

 

[mredburn]

Thank you PapaTIm
I cut and paste the descriptions from the entries. I have changed Chrome to Gold to match the pen per a pm from the person who entered the pen.

If anyone finds a problem let me know and I will get it fixed asap.

 

[skiprat]

Wow !!! That was extremely difficult to choose only three !!
Ever one of them is a winner and well done to all!!!:biggrin:

 

[Cwalker935]

What a talented group of kids! Very hard to choose between this group. Way to go guys and gals, you all should be very proud of yourselves.

 

[stonepecker]

This is going to take some time to pick just 3. They are all winners in my eyes.

Good going kids.

 

[flyitfast]

These kids are really talented. Also, not to take away from them, but they also have very talented parents to teach them to turn at those standards. I may schedule some lessons for me with some of them!!!! :wink:
Great entries by both kids and parent support.
gordon

 

[southernclay]

I believe the wrong photos were posted, these pens are way too good!

The contests are so impressive. Great job to the makers and the parents!!!

 

[Dale Lynch]

Way to go kids!I like yor pens.Keep up the good work and you'll become exceptional turners.

 

[clieb91]

What a great collection of pens. Very hard to choose just 3.
Congratulations to all of the kids for completing their pens and the workmanship that went into them.

CtL

 

[endacoz]

Wow wow, great work to all! You inspire me to try new things.

 

[elkhorn]

Are you sure we can't pick 13 instead of 3?

Youth, all of you did a fantastic job! You should all be proud of your efforts.

 

[mredburn]

Voting for the youth pen contest elimination round will wrap up tonight. plenty of time to get your vote in! Then I will post the final poll tomorrow, make sure you check back and pick the winner.

 

[bobleibo]

Seriously??? These are from kids? WOW is all I can say. Can you just imagine what they will be producing in a few years.
Well done by all!

 

[magier412]

OK...I thought making choices in some of the other contests were hard...but you kids have all done wonderful jobs. Seriously! You all deserve congratulations on presenting such wonderful work! Well done!