My first fountain pen (and first post)

[Vince_Hoffmann]

And my 6th pen (not counting 2 failures).

I've been turning pens for a whole 4 weeks and today I started a project that turned out to be more difficult that I imagined.

I had just finished two European style rollerball pens with nice inserts and I was feeling a bit frisky so I grabbed a pinecone from the wood pile. I don't know if anyone here has tried to turn a raw pinecone, but after today I would place it in the "If You've Got 6 Hours to Burn, Then Go For It" category.

I first cut a straight edge on the band saw, then cut the rest of the edges on my table saw down to about 2" square. I wasn't too sure this thing was going to turn, but I figured with a bit of super glue I could hold it together well enough to do ok. I burned through one 2oz bottle of thin ca, then ran to my local hobby shop for another 2oz bottle (make that 2). The thin CA soaked into the pinecone fibers quite nicely.

After the blank dried, I trimmed it down to about 1" square then chopped it, drilled and tossed it on the lathe.
The CA only soaked in about 1/4" so when i reached dry wood, I turned to the CA again, soaking it thuroughly and letting it dry. I didn't use accelerator because I wanted the glue to soak into the wood as far as possible.

After about 2 hours using a 3/8" spindle gouge, I got down close to the final shape and changed to a 1/4" thumbnail gouge then skew chisel to finish out the shape (applying CA every few minutes).
I finished with progressively finer sandpaper, 3 coats of oil and Hut polish.

I'm sure I'll do better on the next pinecone I attempt, but I'm qute happy with the way this one turned out!

Link to the pictures:
http://s85.photobucket.com/albums/k68/Skardykat_2006/Pine Cone Pen/

I hope you guys like it, any comments regarding my work are welcome!

 

[toolcrazy]

Very nice. Learning experiences are worth every minute spent.

 

[rlharding]

You have big pine cones where you live. The end result is very interesting and looks great too. I want to handle it and see how it feels. Interesting mix of colours it has, I assume they are all natural.

I would suggest dismantling the cap and re-turning to size at the centre band. It's the only thing that sticks out. As has been said frequently on the forum, use calipers to measure the parts that meet the wood and then keep checking until you have turned to that size - or a tad more because of sanding. I can see you didn't go by the busings because you didn't turn down to the bushings - how did you figure out your measurements? How dry was the cone?

 

[R2]

G'day from Oz, Vince. That is an interesting blank you've cast and turned.[^]
I agree with Ruth on the sizeing. It may be my eyes but the finish looks a little uneven also.

 

[JohnU]

Great looking character in your pen. You did a nice job. Any idea what kind of pine tree that came from? Where I live, when they get dry enough to use, they open up and dont have much to them, besides they are real small.

 

[Vince_Hoffmann]

Thanks for the compliments, this was a learning experience in more ways than one. Stabilizing the soft wood was difficult because of the seeds and numerous nautral fissures and the CA finish was a first for me. I have access to a resin casting pressure pot, so I may try that route next time.

rlharding, You are right, the ring is off center and I hope to fix it in the next few nights. I used bushings, but the 3/16" I parted off for the ring caused my end diameter to be bigger. I didn't think of that until I had already pressed the ring on.
The cone was bone dry, something I picked up from the wood pile, and one of two cones which had dried closed. All of the color is natural and I believe it is a Monterey pine tree this cone came from.