Jamie
Member
I had something happen that has never happened before:
I was doing a bright copper, perfect fit convertible pen with a desert ironwood, inlaid with turquoise true stone blank. CAed and MMed to 12000. When I went to assemble the thing I found a flaw in the end, I don't know how I missed it but there it was. I re-sanded, re-CAed and re-micro meshed. When I was finished I found another chip in the end. I started to repeat the entire process. When I was starting to apply the 1st coat of thin CA, the bottle must have had a plug of dried glue in the tip because it didn't come out right away and then it shot out all over the blank, mandrel and my lathe. I beat it apart, soaked the metal parts, cleaned the lathe (no easy task) and started over. This time being very careful not to miss any flaws or make any errors. I did get a good finish. I sanded the ends and went to buff out the blank, to smooth out the sanded ends. Just as I was finishing up, my drill press lurched forward and shot the blank across the garage, chipping both ends and cutting my knuckles. I have an old drill press that I use for buffing only and the bolts that hold it down had worked there way out and it had walked right off of the bench and into my arms. I fixed the drill press problem, re-sanded the bad blank and applied 3 coats of CA and went to bed. This morning I sanded and micro meshed, cleaned up the ends and buffed it out. It was finally OKish. I assembled the pen and when I went to put it in the pen stand, about an hour ago, it just slid right down the stand, over the edge of the table and onto the ceramic tiled floor putting a chip in the same upper blank. I just stood there staring into space and drooling. This is all true! I have been working on this one blank for almost a week! It just seems to weird to have happened. I have done a CA finish every other day for months with never a chip... then this! This was the pen from hell!
I was doing a bright copper, perfect fit convertible pen with a desert ironwood, inlaid with turquoise true stone blank. CAed and MMed to 12000. When I went to assemble the thing I found a flaw in the end, I don't know how I missed it but there it was. I re-sanded, re-CAed and re-micro meshed. When I was finished I found another chip in the end. I started to repeat the entire process. When I was starting to apply the 1st coat of thin CA, the bottle must have had a plug of dried glue in the tip because it didn't come out right away and then it shot out all over the blank, mandrel and my lathe. I beat it apart, soaked the metal parts, cleaned the lathe (no easy task) and started over. This time being very careful not to miss any flaws or make any errors. I did get a good finish. I sanded the ends and went to buff out the blank, to smooth out the sanded ends. Just as I was finishing up, my drill press lurched forward and shot the blank across the garage, chipping both ends and cutting my knuckles. I have an old drill press that I use for buffing only and the bolts that hold it down had worked there way out and it had walked right off of the bench and into my arms. I fixed the drill press problem, re-sanded the bad blank and applied 3 coats of CA and went to bed. This morning I sanded and micro meshed, cleaned up the ends and buffed it out. It was finally OKish. I assembled the pen and when I went to put it in the pen stand, about an hour ago, it just slid right down the stand, over the edge of the table and onto the ceramic tiled floor putting a chip in the same upper blank. I just stood there staring into space and drooling. This is all true! I have been working on this one blank for almost a week! It just seems to weird to have happened. I have done a CA finish every other day for months with never a chip... then this! This was the pen from hell!
][}
