Alignment of material for Twist Pens

[HuonFletch]

Being relatively new to Pen Turning I was wondering which way people align the material on twist pens. Do you prefer to have the grain/pattern lined up when the pen nib is retracted or extended?

Up to now I have been aligning the pens so the grain/pattern in the materials for both halves is lined up when the pen is retracted. However I have noticed that a photo often looks better with the pen Nib extended but the grain then doesn't match.

What have you found to work best for presentation, photographs, sales etc?

Cheers!

 

[Glenn McCullough]

My preference is to align when it is closed, that is how it is presented when loaned or showed. When it is in hand and being used, you wont notice grain alignment.

 

[Ted iin Michigan]

+1 on Glen's post.

 

[sbell111]

What have you found to work best for presentation, photographs, sales etc?

Whichever way you are presenting the pen, that's how the grain should align. We present our pens in pictures and on our sales table retracted, so that's how the grain is aligned.

 

[HuonFletch]

Well so far it looks like I should keep going the way I am.

Thanks everyone for the feedback so far.

Cheers,

Graeme

 

[Hendu3270]

Closed as well.

 

[Carl Fisher]

Align when closed is the standard method.

Now if you want to get really tricky, some segmenting that aligns one way closed and another way open is always fun :biggrin:

 

[randyrls]

Since most twist pens the cap can be removed and isn't threaded, you can do whichever is most pleasing to you and can be changed as easily as removing and attaching the cap.

Added later: Threaded capped pens have multi start threads, so the cap can be posted in one of three or four positions. Only one of the three thread starts will align the grain.

 

[HuonFletch]

Align when closed is the standard method.

Now if you want to get really tricky, some segmenting that aligns one way closed and another way open is always fun :biggrin:

Now you've got me thinking!:smile-big:

Penturning has so many options...

 

[HuonFletch]

Since most twist pens the cap can be removed and isn't threaded, you can do whichever is most pleasing to you and can be changed as easily as removing and attaching the cap.

I can't believe that I hadn't thought of that - how obvious! - Photo's with pen aligned when nib is out, then realign cap for when nib is retracted.

 

[sbell111]

What twist pens also have caps?