Wife's first pen

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rjwolfe3

rjwolfe3

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Okay all I convinced my wife to turn a pen to see if she likes it. Tell me what you think. Not sure of the wood, I think its walnut, if not can someone tell me? 2nd one I made for myself but again I'm not sure what wood it is. It was an extra blank that was thrown in. It was coated with some waxy stuff so I couldn't see the grain very well only that it was dark reddish brown.

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rjwolfe3

rjwolfe3

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Man I wish I could get these (photos) to turn out better because the walnut (if it is walnut) has a really cool grain pattern that changes based on how you view the pen.
 
R

rlharding

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Well, what does your wife think? Did she like turning it? Will she take to turning do you think? Not wanting to be biased [}:)] but I like your wife's pen more than I like yours. That is entirely because I don't care at all for bulging shapes on pens.

The craftman/womenship both are great. This is your 1st & 2nd pens right? I can see both, for me, have minor fit issues and that will naturally improve as you turn more. It has been said often that a calliper is much better to take measurements rather than using the size of the bushings as a guide. You measure the joint bits of hardware and make your wood the same size.

Looking forward to seeing more pens from both of you. Maybe your wife might even join the IAP.
 
Dan_F

Dan_F

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Nice job on the pens, both of you. I think the second one is padauk also.

For the pictures, I'm guessing you are using a white or nearly so background. I'm also guessing you are using auto exposure mode. Your camera is designed, when in auto mode, to average the exposure so that, overall, the picture (in black and white terms) is a shade of gray. With all the white and not much brown, it is net letting the correct amount of light in, thus giving you an overall dark exposure. I think you also need a tripod to hold the camera steady.

It would help to keep the pen parallel to the camera lens, which will let you keep the whole pen in focus at once. If you know how to shoot in manual or aperture priority mode, set your aperture (f-stop) at about 8, and use a very slow shutter speed to let a little more light in. The smaller (physical size, not number) aperture will give you more depth of field, which means that a greater area will be in focus. The low shutter speed will make a tripod necessary.

The folks in the photography forum here are very helpful, and can help get you up to speed in that department.

Dan
 
R

RonInSpringTX

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Hi Rob, your wife did very well!! beautiful pens. I'm not sure what wood but with the swirl iridescent at the end they may very well be a koa wood, I've turned alot of it, you may ask Chris on here (can't remember his name on here, kalai, (hawaii) you can look it up, he's got some cool wood to buy on his site, believe me!!) Hope you don't mind a little, just a little opinion?? The first pen is great, it just looks like the middle wood that meets the band is a little "proud" meaning a little large compared to the middle band. The second set of pics the same on the middle band, a little proud of the band. On the third pic it looks as if the tip is a little proud, but the 4th pic it doesn't show. You may check the alignment of your mandrel, etc. (I've done a bunch like that on my first lathe/first turnings, found out my head/tail & mandrel was outta whack? Just trying to help.
Pens still look great!!!!!!
 
rjwolfe3

rjwolfe3

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Thank you all for the comments. Hopefully a bug was planted in my wife so that she'll do more pens. The camera I can't do much with since its a cheapo. I can't change to manual settings or any of that. Getting the edges down at the centerband, I just have to work better at since that's a problem with all my pens.

Victor,
That might be landfill walnut, if you put wax on the ends of it. If not then it came from Scott as an extra in his box. I was trying to keep the boxes seperate until I ID all the wood but the kids might have mixed it up. The other wood came from his box and it looks like there is another 6-7 blanks of the same wood. Very different odor when working with it. (Not as bad as the blank with bark on it that you sent me, almost puked when I cut it up, lol. Very horrible odor.)

Thanks again,
Rob
 
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LandfillLumber

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Yes wax on the ends means landfill walnut and sometimes a letter or number depends on the batch I'm running. In my box you should have walnut,both oaks,maple,mahogany,wenge,ipe,maybe some stained poplar,old growth douglas fir,cherry(black and ornamental/some splalted meybe),box elder,some unknowns and others I can't think of. I hope this helps with the ID of the wood, like I said if you have to know them email a pic and I will do my best. Keep up the good work, Victor
 
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