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Munsterlander

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Joined
Jan 10, 2008
Messages
267
Location
Gaithersburg, MD, USA.
Hi all.

I'm a displaced Tennessee Volunteer (grew up in Bristol, graduated UT-Knoxville) living in the Washington D.C. area, close to Gaithersburg, MD. By day I work on aviation-related computer systems (air traffic control, flight services); by night I frequently can be found at West Coast Swing dance events locally or around the country. Woodworking hobbyist heretofore, but just recently decided to try turning.

I had a son, Ian, that had Duchenne muscular dystrophy and passed away last spring. I spent several months trying to decide what to do for some of the people that were very helpful to him over the years (e.g., his aides at college, the patient services coordinator at MDA) and around Thanksgiving I decided to make them all nice pens, hopefully with some kind of nice display or case that can include a photo of Ian. (I've toyed with the idea of how to make them "limited edition" in some way, but I don't really like engraving the wood and from what I've read it doesn't sound like any kind of engraving on the plated pieces works.) Of course I'd never made a pen before, mostly just looked at them at shows or on the web. So I ordered a Jet and in the the 3 weeks before Christmas made 30 or so practice pens and bunch of key chains, trying about 20 different kinds of wood, to give as gifts to all my family. I definitely see how this is addictive!

I'm about ready to start trying to make the "real ones." Bought some nice snakewood, some two-tone african blackwood, and camphor burl. Ian's aides were college-aged guys who most likely would lose a cap, so I'm planning to use black TN polaris' and possibly Gatsby's for the few females. (I know, 'nice' is a relative term and I could have gone much more upscale. I have to say, though, I love the two-tone ABW Polaris pens in the PSI catalog.) I already have questions that I'll try to get posted soon (e.g., why is it I can get a perfectly smooth finish on kingwood or chakte kok, but I get little tiny tearouts on african black wood?), but I figured I'd say hello first.

I've already found this website to be very helpful, and have laughed out loud more than a few times at the frequent humor. Looking forward to getting to know some of you.

Mike Glasgow

p.s. A Munsterlander is a german dog breed, recently recognized by AKC. Do a search on Small Munsterlander Pointer - super dogs.
 
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drayman

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Jul 29, 2007
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676
Location
barnsley
hello mike, first let me say that i am ever so sorry to hear of your son, you must have been devastated to say the least. welcome along to the best pen site in the tinterweb, and hopefuly we will soon cheer you up. regards colin.
 

txbatons

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Joined
Jul 6, 2007
Messages
964
Location
Carrollton, Texas, USA.
Welcome, Mike. Sorry to hear of your loss. Rick beat me by 3 minutes!

And I wouldn't call it "frequent" humor. More along the lines of frequent "attempts" at humor. [:p]
 

Munsterlander

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Joined
Jan 10, 2008
Messages
267
Location
Gaithersburg, MD, USA.
Dawn - just a fan of the Small Munsterlander Breed (saw it in a book - had no idea how hard it was going to be to find one!), and Munsterlander is pretty unusual so I almost never run into the problem of an id already taken when I use that - MikeG is pretty common.

Thanks for the welcome, everyone.
 
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