First lamination (Zebra/purpleheart)

[Woodnknots]

Here's my first attempt at lamination. Not a lot of thought went into this pen, as I'm sure you can tell. First, if I had thought about it, I would have used something other than Zebrawood to put a stripe through... The lamination doesn't match up top/bottom, that's why I didn't post with the cap on. Comments/critiques welcome! BLO/CA finish...

 

[gerryr]

I'm surprised that the PH looks so light. I did one with Ash and PH rings and the PH was much darker than this appears. Why doesn't it line up? The fit and finish both look good.

 

[Woodnknots]

Originally posted by gerryr
<br />I'm surprised that the PH looks so light. I did one with Ash and PH rings and the PH was much darker than this appears. Why doesn't it line up? The fit and finish both look good.

Purple heart color varies greatly depending on how much UV exposure it gets. This doesn't line up, because I used two angled pieces of Zebrawood that I cut from another project a long time ago, and when I glued them up, I had the PH at an angle too great to travel the length of the pen. Sooo, I cut the glue up in half and turned them end over end. That is why they don't line up. If I had used the blank as-is, I never would have had any PH in the lower half.

 

[alamocdc]

Dave, you mentioned all of the things I don't really care for, but it looks liek you did a good job on the glueup. The joints are nice and tight. [^]

If you are looking to get the glueup lined up, I usually cut the entire blank and glue in the thin piece (or pieces) before cutting to barrel length. You can also do it the way you did, but draw a cabinet makers triangle across the cut with the two blanks lined up like they were before you cut them. Then cut each one in the opposite direction and glue in the thin piece. This will make each one angle in the same direction away from the CB (right or left).

<br />Then when you assemble, line it up like you usually do. Make sense?

 

[Woodnknots]

That's what I had in mind when I flipped them end over end. The outcome was the same, but because of the cut I made when I cut the blank in half, the ends didn't match up perfectly. That is not to say that they don't match up, they do, just not anywhere near what I'd like to see.

 

[Johnathan]

Well, the great thing is, even if this pen is not a favorite of yours, you were still able to learn from it, and get closer to making that "amazing" pen. [8D]