Thanks Mike. Well written and accurate. First let me give credit where credit is due. I was inspired by a tutorial by Mike Vickery. You can find it by clicking on the Library link at the top of this page. Then go to the Index link, scroll down to:
Segmented Pens by Jim Boyd, Ron Sardo, Ron McIntire & Mike Vickery (2006)
Mike uses a table saw to cut the blanks into strips and then cut them on thirty degrees. His are also thicker than the mine. The more degrees you go and thicker the pieces the more pens you can get.
Mike did a good job of explaining my process (gee there's a lot of Mikes), so I took a picture.
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OK, in the picture above, I have a zero fence set to my chop saw. (Simply a piece of plywood glued and screwed to another piece) The saw is set at 15 degrees with a stop screw set on the saw to keep from cutting all the way through the plywood jig. I'm left handed, so the block of wood on the other side of the blade is not the blank. That is a scrape piece which has been screwed to the plywood jig. It keeps all the pieces the same width. With each cut, let the blade come to a full stop, clear the cut piece and continue cutting another until you run out of blank. Use a seperate piece of wood to hold the blank while cutting. Cutting a notch in the end helps. Just like you might use to push a piece through a table saw.
I hope this helps, and go make some pens!