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Sataro

Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2009
Messages
3,089
Location
Mexia, TX
Finally took time last night to finish this one up. First off it was a hard choice to decide on the pen kit finish. I had already decided to use a Tec Bolt Kit because I was making this pen for my daily carry pen at school where I work. The issue was trying to decide between a gun metal finish or the antique brass finish. My wood choice will be #25-Knotty Pine. May sound foolish but I think my idea of your wood came when I first cut it with the band saw. That smelled just like fresh cut pine.

Excuse the poor image quality. Having to use the cell phone at this time until camera is replaced.

Thanks again for allowing me to participate & the blanks that you generously provided.
 

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robutacion

Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Messages
6,514
Location
Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
Finally took time last night to finish this one up. First off it was a hard choice to decide on the pen kit finish. I had already decided to use a Tec Bolt Kit because I was making this pen for my daily carry pen at school where I work. The issue was trying to decide between a gun metal finish or the antique brass finish. My wood choice will be #25-Knotty Pine. May sound foolish but I think my idea of your wood came when I first cut it with the band saw. That smelled just like fresh cut pine.

Excuse the poor image quality. Having to use the cell phone at this time until camera is replaced.

Thanks again for allowing me to participate & the blanks that you generously provided.

Thanks mate...!

What a great pen you made, I never saw that kit before either and I reckon, the match is extremely good so, congrats...!

As for your wood species guess, you made an interesting assumption from the smell when you first cut it on the bandsaw, I noted your guess, thank you...!

Cheers
George
 

alankulwicki7

Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2010
Messages
1,644
Location
Vadnais Heights, MN
Finally had a chance to finish my pen. I used a Jr Gent I kit with Rhodium plating because I thought it matched the color of the wood really well. I used a CA finish but left did not polish it to a high gloss. This has a matte finish and it feels really good in the hands.

My guess for the wood will be Radiata Pine (lucky #13).....
 

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robutacion

Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Messages
6,514
Location
Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
Finally had a chance to finish my pen. I used a Jr Gent I kit with Rhodium plating because I thought it matched the color of the wood really well. I used a CA finish but left did not polish it to a high gloss. This has a matte finish and it feels really good in the hands.

My guess for the wood will be Radiata Pine (lucky #13).....

Thank you for your entries, pen and wood species guess...!

Interesting matt finish from CA, suits the pen well. Good kit/platting selection, shape and fit.

Thank you for your participation and good luck...!

Cheers
George
 

Wingdoctor

Member
Joined
Jul 8, 2011
Messages
272
Location
Columbus, OH
Sorry to take so long George, I have been busy with family. Here is the pen I created from your blank. The blank turned well and only had 1 little soft spot inside that I filled with CA. Easy to turn and finish. I do not know the species from your listings, but it does look like some kind of pine. That is not a proper guess of course but I do like the blank. Thanks for the gift of the wood and the fun to enter your contest.

George-1.jpg

George-2.jpg
 

robutacion

Member
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Aug 6, 2009
Messages
6,514
Location
Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
Sorry to take so long George, I have been busy with family. Here is the pen I created from your blank. The blank turned well and only had 1 little soft spot inside that I filled with CA. Easy to turn and finish. I do not know the species from your listings, but it does look like some kind of pine. That is not a proper guess of course but I do like the blank. Thanks for the gift of the wood and the fun to enter your contest.

Hi Bruce,

Thank you for your entry, you made a beautiful pen out of your blanks, sorry to hear that you found a small soft spot, I don't think that is possible to guarantee that will be no soft spots on something that was very soft to start with so, I'm happy that you manage to get around that spot and found the blank in general, quite pleasant to work with, that was one of my crucial goals...!

As for the name of the wood species, I suppose that will have to do...!

Thank you...!

PS: You don't have to apologize for anything, you done it within the time limit given so, that is all I could ask for. I particularly like the shape and dimensional aspect of its shape and fit...!:)

Good luck,

Cheers
George
 
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Edgar

New Member Advocate
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Feb 6, 2013
Messages
6,890
Location
Alvin, TX 77511
Here's my entry - just under the wire as usual.

I used a chrome w/gold accents Vertex Supreme kit. I really like this kit and I thought this plating was a good match for this great mystery wood which I think is #30 - Bottle Brush!

The blank was really easy to turn & it went quite fast once I was finally able to get to it. I used 10 coats of Craft Coat for the finish which really went on smooth - the blank soaked it up really well. After it cured for a couple of days I couldn't feel any ripples or unevenness at all, so I just hit it with a little wet 12000 mm and topped it off with some plastic polish.

Thanks for this opportunity George. It was lots of fun and I really like the way this one turned out.

Edgar
 

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robutacion

Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Messages
6,514
Location
Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
Here's my entry - just under the wire as usual.

I used a chrome w/gold accents Vertex Supreme kit. I really like this kit and I thought this plating was a good match for this great mystery wood which I think is #30 - Bottle Brush!

The blank was really easy to turn & it went quite fast once I was finally able to get to it. I used 10 coats of Craft Coat for the finish which really went on smooth - the blank soaked it up really well. After it cured for a couple of days I couldn't feel any ripples or unevenness at all, so I just hit it with a little wet 12000 mm and topped it off with some plastic polish.

Thanks for this opportunity George. It was lots of fun and I really like the way this one turned out.

Edgar

Hi Edgar,

Interesting kit, a great combination for these type blanks...!

A very good fit and finish, congrats...!

Thank you also for your wood species guess, I've got it noted ...!

Good luck...!:wink:

Cheers
George
 

Gofer

Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Messages
597
Location
Morinville, Alberta, Canada
No worries George the pen is coming. Ran into a small problem when I didnt read the fine print .... You know where the instructions say "Some assembly required" ; )

Bruce
 

robutacion

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Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Messages
6,514
Location
Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
No worries George the pen is coming. Ran into a small problem when I didnt read the fine print .... You know where the instructions say "Some assembly required" ; )

Bruce

Oops, that happens sometimes...!

That's the last day, in Australia time, it is now 10:38am in South Australia on this 15th day of December of 2014.

We have to consider lots of different time zones in here so, the closing time was set on South Australia "daylight saving time setting", this mean that, to closing time (midnight 15th/12), we have about 13.5 hours to go from now.

I hope that, this will give a little guidance of the time left, for the late entries (Bean_Counter, Gofer and glen r). This will also indicate that, in about 24 hours I will be contacting the other 2 judges and request their votes, I would expect to be here revealing the 2 x $50.00 vouchers winners, one for the best pen and the other for the correct wood species guess, in about 30 hours, or there about's...!:wink::biggrin:

Good luck everyone...!

Cheers
George
 

Gofer

Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Messages
597
Location
Morinville, Alberta, Canada
Finally got it done and some (not so good) pictures taken. I challenged myself with a double closed end fountain pen using satin nickel components from an old Baron kit that was short some parts.

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My photography skills are BAD but the blank looks amazing in person. The wood had all sorts of variances in texture, color and hardness as I shaped this pen. Next time one closed end will be enough for now.

As for what kind of wood .... FOG (found on ground) right after George hit it with his chainsaws. We know it is not Sassafrass and most likely not Hills Weeping Fig so there are lots of choices to pick from. I like Coral tree:confused:

Bruce
 

robutacion

Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Messages
6,514
Location
Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
Finally got it done and some (not so good) pictures taken. I challenged myself with a double closed end fountain pen using satin nickel components from an old Baron kit that was short some parts.

My photography skills are BAD but the blank looks amazing in person. The wood had all sorts of variances in texture, color and hardness as I shaped this pen. Next time one closed end will be enough for now.

As for what kind of wood .... FOG (found on ground) right after George hit it with his chainsaws. We know it is not Sassafrass and most likely not Hills Weeping Fig so there are lots of choices to pick from. I like Coral tree:confused:

Bruce

Thanks Bruce, your entry pen is now included...!

As for the wood species guess, your choice has been also noted..!

An interesting pen, it seems to be very well made and finished, shame that the pics aren't helping with the "real" wood dyed colours, a bluish instead of a brown. It helps us (judges) and everyone else that like to take a closer look to the pens, to have pics that give the option of the zoom (large image size), yours for whatever the reason don't allow that so, we all have to judge what we see, there has to be a reason why you wanted it like that, I respect that...!

Thank you for making the effort to finish it on time, congrats...!:wink::biggrin:

PS: I already got Sassafras however, I'm looking to get some of that famous "Hills Weeping Fig" I may surprise some of you with it, one of these days...!:eek::biggrin:

ANOTHER HOUR TO GO...! ENDS AT 12:00 am (lunchtime (my time)

Anyone saw, Bean_Counter, and glen r ...??? I may need to contact them and find out.

Cheers
George
 

robutacion

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Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Messages
6,514
Location
Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
Closing time...!

OK peoples, the time has arrived to close all entries and sort things out...!

Like I mentioned, I'm now going to send a request for voting from the 2 other judges selected, Mark James and Jeff Brown.

The announcement of both winners of the 2 x $50 vouchers (best pen and first correct wood species name), will happen in less than 24 hours, as soon as I have all the results, the announcement will be made...!

And while I'm yet to find out why 2 of the 16 initial contestants, did not fulfil their responsibility/obligation to the contest conditions, I'm concerned that, something may have happened to these 2 well known and respected IAP members, I deal with both regularly and have great respect for them, nevertheless...!

I thank you all that accepted to participate in this contest, was great to have so many of you wanting to participate. I'm most pleased with ALL of the pens made from the blanks I supplied, these will be indeed part of my normal/regular stock on my new web-store, from now on, new blanks will be listed as soon as the winners are announced...!

To those that did not participate in this contest but that, have posted in here, my sincere, thank you...!

I may do this again, in the near future, with blanks/woods that have something to say, what I mean is, the whole reason of this contest, was to showcase a blank/wood that would otherwise, never be considered from you, as a choice, there is a point I'm trying to make or say that, there is a "moral to this story"...!

Lets wait and see who the winners, are...!:wink::biggrin:

Thank you,
Cheers
George
 

Edgar

New Member Advocate
Staff member
Joined
Feb 6, 2013
Messages
6,890
Location
Alvin, TX 77511
What Kelly said ... :biggrin::biggrin:

I really enjoyed seeing all the pens posted in this contest - great work by all & some really beautiful pens! This was a fun blank to work with and I hope it will be a very successful addition to your offerings.
 

robutacion

Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Messages
6,514
Location
Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
Well, I hope it was fun, that was the intention...!

And while I'm waiting for some votes to be received, there is one thing that I would like to mention, and that is, the 2 blanks that each one of the participants received, to work with.

It is a fact that, there are no 2 blanks the same to start with, knowing this and trying to be fair to everyone, I know and understand that, some of you may have received better blanks (colour/knots, etc....!) to work with than others,

Despite the fact that, they were all done the same way, some blanks may had had features that could improve the final results from that pen turner. While acknowledging that, I can also say that, some blanks may turn out better inside than others that actually looked more colourful, before they were worked on.

I deliberately send the 2 blanks randomly by putting all the blanks in a box, shake them a little and then, asked the wife to take one by one and put them flat on a large board, by the order they come out, after that and when the Paypal shipping payments started to come in, they were allocated a number (arrival number) until the last participant completed the Paypal transfer.

After that, each Paypal payment copy printed with its arrival number, was taken to the "lolly-shop" and the first 2 blanks from the board were allocated to the first Paypal entry, the next 2 blanks to the next Paypal entry and so forwards, until all blanks were gone.

As you can see, I wanted it to be like that, I had no intention to select some blanks to some members and so on, I wanted to make sure, I left it to pure luck to make those decisions for me, I believe, it couldn't have been any more "random" from my part...!

I hoped that, in between each group of 2 blanks, it would have some level of similarity/fairness to each contester, if any of you feel that, the 2 blanks you received were not as good as some others, I apologise but, was nothing I could have done appart from selecting each cut raw blank, based on the same criteria, which I did, half of them didn't make it to the stabilization...!

I'm pretty sure that, no one would think that I played "favorites", I just don't do that, period...!

I wanted also to remind everyone that, both vouchers winners (best pen and first correct wood species posted) will be announced at the same time and that will happen quite soon...!

Cheers
George
 

alankulwicki7

Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2010
Messages
1,644
Location
Vadnais Heights, MN
George,
Win or lose, I was happy to be involved in your contest. The wood has a nice character and really turned nice. I almost didn't put a finish on my pen.

Thanks again for being so generous with your blanks. They are excellent quality and your service is second to none!

Thanks again!
 

robutacion

Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Messages
6,514
Location
Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
Thanks, Mark and Doug, your words are appreciated...!

I'm yet to receive the votes from one judge, he is taking his time and I don't blame him...!

From day one, I keep repeating that, there will be a winner (name) for the best pen, and a winner (name) for the first correct wood species guess. There is a possibility that, the same person takes both prices however, I would prefer the 2 prizes to be awarded to 2 different members/participants so, we will see what happens...!

The other aspect that I hope everyone as understood is that, only the 1th place winner's name will be announced, there is absolutely no need to specify who was second, third and so on, there were 14 entries for the best pen, appart from the winner, all the other 13 will be in second place, in my view, you all are winners.

Someone has to win the "pen" voucher, there can not be more than 1 (one) first place, even if more than one entry gets the same as the highest votes, re-voting will be requested until one single pen/member/participant is selected...!

Its all very simple, really...!:wink::biggrin:

Cheers
George
 

WalkOn

Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2013
Messages
133
Location
Clio, Michigan
George,

I think we need a drum roll here.........

But while we wait -

Thanks again for doing this a making those really nice blanks, looking forward to working with them in the near future.

All the Best,

Kev
 
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robutacion

Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Messages
6,514
Location
Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
We have 2 winners and they are...!

Hi peoples,

Well, even with the inconvenience of the different time zones, between our countries, the results are in and they are as follow;

*- Best pen winner - MarkD

*- Wood species name winner - Southernclay

So, what was the name of the wood used and why is there a moral to this story...???

My local Knotty Pine wood, was one of the first wood species available to me and part of the first listings related to wood pen blanks sales, its natural characteristics, have had a small interest among some of the general woodturners, to be made into small bowls, vases, etc. but, not a single pack was ever sold on the eBay store (while they were listed), only the 1 (one) blank that was part of the large mix packs (1 blank of each species in the "timbers List) has ever sold but, I never say any pen made with it, appart from my own "Screw Pen" from one of the IAP "Pith" events.

Every time I mentioned this wood, the general reaction was that, "its Pine and I don't like to work with Pines, too soft, not much doing for it...!"

Those that have followed me, from the beginning, will know that I have stated my appreciation for Pines of all kinds (there are many) so, I decided to demonstrate to you all that, Pine can produce really beautiful blanks, the natural Pine colours may not be the most attractive colours but, with a bit of a tweak, as so many other more "acceptable/used" timbers, Pine can be as attractive and pleasant to work with, as many of your preferred wood species...!

OK so, it's done, the winners have been announced and we can officially close this contest...!

My appreciation to you all...!:wink::biggrin:

PS: Winners will be contacted with their $50.00 vouchers code.
PS/S: So that you know, my new web-store is going through a few changes (again) unfortunately, the "theme" I selected in June this year, is now discontinued and all the changes made to the original theme code, are now not working properly and will stop working altogether on the 5/02/2015 so, I had to select a more recent/current theme and do all the modification I can to bring it to my acceptance. I doubt that will ever look the same but, it will be all for the better, the new theme is faster and supports all the new gadgets out there (tablets, etc...) so, I apologise for any inconvenience it may cause while in updating.
Let me know if anything is not working, or the item you want is not showing...!
Cheers
George
 
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MarkD

Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2011
Messages
2,293
Location
Sayre, PA
Wow...I certainly didn't expect to win best pen with all the outstanding pens in this competition!!!
My thanks to George providing the competition and for supplying us with the great blanks to work with! I guess he has proved his point that beautiful pens can be made from pine!!!
I better get my order in before he is sold out :biggrin:
 
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southernclay

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Sep 6, 2013
Messages
2,260
Location
Dawsonville, GA
George,
Thank you very much. I got your PM. I really appreciate the kind words and opportunity.

Mark,
Congrats to you as well, beautiful pen!

Now the hard part, to decide on what goodies to have sent from down under!

Thanks again!
 

Edgar

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Alvin, TX 77511
Congratulations Mark - yours was an awesome pen & well deserving of the Best Pen award. I'm honored to come in 2nd to your pen & I've updated my signature accordingly. :wink:

Congratulations on the wood identification, Warren. I was pretty sure that was the right answer, but there was no point in restating it by the time I got my entry in.

Thanks George for this fun opportunity & thanks to the judges who helped you select the winner. I didn't envy their task one bit - every pen looked great to me.

Edgar
 

southernclay

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Sep 6, 2013
Messages
2,260
Location
Dawsonville, GA
George George George....every time I order from you I end up with this weird unquenched thirst for more. Thank you again for the chance to participate. The package arrived today and did not disappoint. I love my selections although I don't think there is a bad selection on your site.

To top it off a couple of Christmas blanks.... I must admit, I don't know these offhand. Any chances of you providing a wood ID or are you gonna make me go through the 81 choices? : )
 

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robutacion

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Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
George George George....every time I order from you I end up with this weird unquenched thirst for more. Thank you again for the chance to participate. The package arrived today and did not disappoint. I love my selections although I don't think there is a bad selection on your site.

To top it off a couple of Christmas blanks.... I must admit, I don't know these offhand. Any chances of you providing a wood ID or are you gonna make me go through the 81 choices? : )

G'day mate...!

Glad you are pleased, going through my 82 (now) wood species, wouldn't help you on this one, what you've got there is 2 shorts of the PNG Rosewood burl, the red stuff not the goldish stuff. The idea was to send 2 so that you could chose to make 2 single barrel pens or 1 double barrel pen, I selected those 2 as a fair match...!:wink::biggrin:

I would like to reiterate once again that, my gifts or self blanks selections on the games or any other even I create, are not my rubbish, as some folks may think, only because its free. Absolutely not, most times, the gifts are the very last blanks made and shown, many of them, my very best.

I apologise if some of you believe that, this was unnecessary however, I want to make sure, IAP members don't participate in these games based on the principle that, if the blanks are free, they can't be any good, and that is not the case, at all...!

OK so, now that I got this off my chest, :biggrin: I'm sorry to create that thirst on you, may be something from the air traveling inside the boxes/envelops...!:eek::wink::biggrin:

Lets see some pens made with these blanks, shall we...???:)

Cheers
George
 

southernclay

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Dawsonville, GA
Haha, I should have known that. They are beautiful! I need to get to it, I have a couple of your blanks in line now tubed and ready, the time is the problem! Enough excuses though, headed down to the basement to play now.

Thanks again!
 

robutacion

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Aug 6, 2009
Messages
6,514
Location
Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
Haha, I should have known that. They are beautiful! I need to get to it, I have a couple of your blanks in line now tubed and ready, the time is the problem! Enough excuses though, headed down to the basement to play now.

Thanks again!

Hahahahaha mate, nothing better than a "little push", to get things moving, huh...???

Best of luck...!:wink:

Cheers
George
 
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