Saved from a disaster!

[TOF]

So I decided to venture out and create my first fountain pen. This is a maple burl dyed red. I was down to the final turning and had a blow out when I was almost finished...I was able to find the chip that flew off and luckily it was still in one piece. I dry fitted it back on and saw that it was a perfect fit with no gaps, grabbed a little CA glue and back together...Whew what a close one.

So there I am adding my CA finish (3 coats of thin and 5 coats of medium) and I see that the glue has cured the tube to the bushing...after a few minutes of trying to ease them apart, I get another break off...This one a bit smaller. Hmmm I cannot get the broken piece off of the bushing without damaging it...So I decided to take the tube over to the sander and take it down .02 of an inch. Perfect, I was able to save this from not one but two break offs!

So happy this has a good ending for my first fountain...Still new to this and learning with every turn, only have about 20 pens under my belt...

Time to get some Non-stick bushings!

Thanks for looking!

 

[DLGunn]

Nice saves. Really nice looking pen, good job.

 

[wob50]

Great save

 

[wyone]

Well I know I have learned the most from the problems and failures I have had. You saved something and it turned out very nice

 

[thewishman]

Congrats on the save.

Sometimes you just have to stick with it a little bit more.

 

[elkhorn]

I hate when that happens! Great save. The non-stick bushings work pretty well.

 

[Hubert H]

Learning is part of living. Nice job!

 

[keepanionme14]

Great looking pen.

I had a problem with blanks sticking to bushings too. I went on ebay and got some delrin rod and turned my own bushings.

 

[TOF]

Thanks everyone, and thanks for the tip on the delrin rod!

I have gifted most of my pens...the greatest and most difficult part of creating these is parting with them. I love making them and how they turn out, and don't want to part with them, but also love the feeling of gifting one and getting such a positive response as "Wow you made that".

And for the ones I have sold, they have sold themselves. I show them off and people just say "I have to have one". Pretty cool when people appreciate them as much (if not a little less:wink as I do.

 

[gbpens]

Very attractive pen. If you are going to apply a CA finish on the lathe try rubbing a little candle wax on the end of the blank before mounting on the lathe. This will help in removing the tube from the bushings after the finish is complete.

 

[vakmere]

Sell it for .02% off. Literally.... Kidding, nice save. I've done that a few times to. I like the color.