Working with Burl

[Flintski22]

I'm looking into turning some burl or spalted material for some pens. I've actually never used either of these and I have a couple questions. (I'm getting pre-stabilized blanks)

1. What is the best speed to drill and turn these at? My lathe has adjustable rpms from 750 to 3200.

2. What is the best finishing method for a stabilized blank?

3. What is the best way to handle any voids I come across on the inside of the blank? Is it better to fill them with bits of CA as I find them and then continue turning, or is it better to just let voids be until I have the blank at it's final shape and then fill them?

4. Are there any other steps I need to make sure the blank isn't gonna explode on me that aren't needed for normal wood?

5. What do you guys do to get a CA finish to really shine? (This one isn't burl-specific, I'm just looking for ways to better my CA finishing).

Thanks for any help.

 

[d_bondi]

Hello!

1. I generally drill between 500-800, so use the 750, and don't let the blank or bit get too hot. Stabilized wood is hard and will heat up the bit so peck at it and clean out the hole and flutes on the bit often.
2. I use CA, specifically the GluBoost system now, but used Starbond CA for a long time with good results.
3. Thin CA first and then medium for the larger ones. When depends on the size of the checks and voids. It is safer to fill/fix this stuff as you go because it will reduce the chances of a catch and blowout.
4. Not really, turn at a high speed with light cuts and you will be fine.
5. There are many videos on this, look for videos by John Underhill (@JohnU) and Mark Dreyer (@mg_dreyer). These videos cover the whole pricess.

Good Luck!!

David

 

[Flintski22]

Hello!

1. I generally drill between 500-800, so use the 750, and don't let the blank or bit get too hot. Stabilized wood is hard and will heat up the bit so peck at it and clean out the hole and flutes on the bit often.
2. I use CA, specifically the GluBoost system now, but used Starbond CA for a long time with good results.
3. Thin CA first and then medium for the larger ones. When depends on the size of the checks and voids. It is safer to fill/fix this stuff as you go because it will reduce the chances of a catch and blowout.
4. Not really, turn at a high speed with light cuts and you will be fine.
5. There are many videos on this, look for videos by John Underhill (@JohnU) and Mark Dreyer (@mg_dreyer). These videos cover the whole pricess.

Good Luck!!

David

Thank you so much for the reply! This advice is actually so helpful.
I have some Starbond that I will probably use, but I might get some GluBoost.
I'll make sure to drill slow, clean the bit and hole often, and fill holes as I find them.
I'll also be watching those videos.
I really appreciate you sharing your experience with a new, inexperienced turner like myself.

 

[bugradx2]

Thank you so much for the reply! This advice is actually so helpful.
I have some Starbond that I will probably use, but I might get some GluBoost.
I'll make sure to drill slow, clean the bit and hole often, and fill holes as I find them.
I'll also be watching those videos.
I really appreciate you sharing your experience with a new, inexperienced turner like myself.

Hello!

1. I generally drill between 500-800, so use the 750, and don't let the blank or bit get too hot. Stabilized wood is hard and will heat up the bit so peck at it and clean out the hole and flutes on the bit often.
2. I use CA, specifically the GluBoost system now, but used Starbond CA for a long time with good results.
3. Thin CA first and then medium for the larger ones. When depends on the size of the checks and voids. It is safer to fill/fix this stuff as you go because it will reduce the chances of a catch and blowout.
4. Not really, turn at a high speed with light cuts and you will be fine.
5. There are many videos on this, look for videos by John Underhill (@JohnU) and Mark Dreyer (@mg_dreyer). These videos cover the whole pricess.

Good Luck!!

David

I can't say it any better than David did. I'm not too far removed from being in your shoes starting out doing this three years ago.

If I can add a couple things that have helped me.

I've found that for me, I will stop a couple times as I'm turning the blank down to shape and check for voids. I try to fill as I go, sometimes it's with sawdust and CA, other times just CA.

The one thing I've found is to make sure I have a good glue bond between the blank and the tube. I'm not going to state my brand of glue because it is like water balloons, fun to throw but not always fun when they're coming at you. Folks have lots of opinions on what works I think that means there are lots of successful options, find what works for you. I will say that I use CA and Epoxy depending on the blank or pen. (longer tubes get epoxy typically) I like a longer open time on my CA (not an issue with 5 minute epoxy) because I take a lot of time to make sure the blank is well coated with whatever glue method I'm using. Since doing that I've had very few blanks come apart while turning. Sometimes bad things happen to good blanks too, learn from it and move forward. If you have one break, one thing I learned from Mark is to continue turning down the good section of that blank so you get familiar with the material.

As David said, John & Mark's videos are great, you'll learn a ton. Definitely set aside the time to watch them. They each have a couple videos on similar topics in addition to showing their finishing techniques and how they may be different from each other. Again, find what works for you. Hilariously enough, I've found that my finishing method is kind of between what the two of them do which is funny to me because I happen to live between the two of them also. Both of them use GluBoost and so do I. For me, I've tried a few other finishes and have found that GluBoost affords me some latitude to learn because I'm not always perfect and it's very forgiving. It's pretty much all I use now. Depending on my mood, I use Dr Kirks 3 step (craft supplies/Exotic Blanks) or wet sand with micro mesh up to 12,000.

Oh! I forgot. If you have the opportunity. Attend one of the pen making conferences that are listed on here throughout the year. You'll learn a ton in the sessions and just from talking with other pen makers. I live in the Chicago metro and will say the Midwest Pen Turners Gathering is a great experience. Over 300 pen makers there from 30-35 states and and Canada

 

[BHuij]

I'm looking into turning some burl or spalted material for some pens. I've actually never used either of these and I have a couple questions. (I'm getting pre-stabilized blanks)

1. What is the best speed to drill and turn these at? My lathe has adjustable rpms from 750 to 3200.

2. What is the best finishing method for a stabilized blank?

3. What is the best way to handle any voids I come across on the inside of the blank? Is it better to fill them with bits of CA as I find them and then continue turning, or is it better to just let voids be until I have the blank at it's final shape and then fill them?

4. Are there any other steps I need to make sure the blank isn't gonna explode on me that aren't needed for normal wood?

5. What do you guys do to get a CA finish to really shine? (This one isn't burl-specific, I'm just looking for ways to better my CA finishing).

Thanks for any help.

You'll probably get lots of good answers since many of these questions are subjective. I can share my own opinions, but they should not be taken as gospel, nor should anyone else's. There's an element of experimentation and finding what you like here.

1. I drill all blanks (wood, acrylic, stabilized, whatever) at the lowest speed my lathe will go, which is 500 RPM. I turn at about 1800 RPM until round, then increase to about 2700 RPM for the remainder of the shaping. I sand and do all finishing steps at about 800 RPM.
2. CA glue for my money. Though to be fair, CA glue is my favorite finishing method for pens of any material, with the possible exception of pure acrylic/plastic blanks that can be polished to essentially the same level of gloss without putting CA glue over the top first.
3. I usually insert a "void filling" step in between the end of shaping with tools and the beginning of sanding, if I have any voids.
4. If it's stabilized, you probably have nothing to worry about. With unstabilized burls (especially very low density ones like buckeye burl), I will often use slower speeds throughout the shaping process and lighter cuts, compared to a standard hardwood like cherry or walnut. I'll also mention that it's really worth having a very sharp skew tool and learning how to make good finishing cuts with it when you're working with crazy grain like burl. Minimizes tearout potential, and saves some time in sanding - when I final turn with gouges, I usually have to start sanding at 180 grit. When I do a decent finishing cut with my skew, I can usually start sanding at 220, 320, or even 400.
5. CA finishing processes are about as personal as fingerprints, it seems. I'll share the short version of what works well for me:

• Shape workpiece
• Sand through 600 grit dry
• Clean workpiece with denatured alcohol
• Wipe on a generous coat of BLO
• Wait 15 minutes
• Wipe off excess and burnish with shop towel until dry (this burnishing step I will sometimes do at a higher speed than the 800 RPM I mentioned above)
• Apply 8 coats of medium CA glue with shop towel. I should mention I'm using some kind of cheap generic CA ("Magic Chems" brand from Amazon) and it has been working fine.
• Flatten CA with 600 grit paper wet until no more low spots are visible
• Polish with Dr. Kirk's scratch-free
• Polish with Dr. Kirk's micro magic waxes (#1, #2, and #3)
• Polish with Novus #2 and Novus #1
• Apply a coat of Renaissance wax to help repel fingerprints

This process results in an ultra-high gloss that is at least as good as I could ever get with MicroMesh wet sanding in the past, but it's much easier to use the wax-type abrasives IMO. The BLO underneath seems to really enhance the depth of the grain, and set off any chatoyance that was in the piece.

I find that the final quality of a CA finish is directly proportional to the amount of time, effort, and attention to detail I put into ensuring that you've eliminated ALL scratches from each step before moving to the next. That goes for sanding the wood as well as sanding/polishing the CA. I regularly spend more time on my sanding and finishing than I do on the rest of the pen turning process combined. It's so easy to miss little scratches left here and there along the way, and they will show up in the final product if you don't eliminate them as you go. The specific nature of the abrasives is probably less important than just... spending a lot of time closely inspecting your surface with a bright light before you move on to the next finer abrasive. It's not that hard to manually sand out a radial scratch left by the 400 grit paper, by sanding longitudinally with the same 400 grit paper. It's significantly harder to do so with 600 grit paper. By the time you're trying to remove 600 grit scratches with polishing compound, it just doesn't work at all.

 

[Woodchipper]

Bhij, thanks for the post. I was cleaning my lathe and discovered I'm drilling at 1500 rpm instead of the slowest at 300 rpm. Obviously, will cut down on heat; just need to change the belt drive.. BTW, good information for the entire post.

 

[BHuij]

Bhij, thanks for the post. I was cleaning my lathe and discovered I'm drilling at 1500 rpm instead of the slowest at 300 rpm. Obviously, will cut down on heat; just need to change the belt drive.. BTW, good information for the entire post.

I don't claim to be some kind of expert, and I imagine there is such a thing as "too slow" for good drilling. But I'm seeing no downside to using 500 RPM, and it sure helps cut down on heat generated during drilling.

 

[Flintski22]

I can't say it any better than David did. I'm not too far removed from being in your shoes starting out doing this three years ago.

If I can add a couple things that have helped me.

I've found that for me, I will stop a couple times as I'm turning the blank down to shape and check for voids. I try to fill as I go, sometimes it's with sawdust and CA, other times just CA.

The one thing I've found is to make sure I have a good glue bond between the blank and the tube. I'm not going to state my brand of glue because it is like water balloons, fun to throw but not always fun when they're coming at you. Folks have lots of opinions on what works I think that means there are lots of successful options, find what works for you. I will say that I use CA and Epoxy depending on the blank or pen. (longer tubes get epoxy typically) I like a longer open time on my CA (not an issue with 5 minute epoxy) because I take a lot of time to make sure the blank is well coated with whatever glue method I'm using. Since doing that I've had very few blanks come apart while turning. Sometimes bad things happen to good blanks too, learn from it and move forward. If you have one break, one thing I learned from Mark is to continue turning down the good section of that blank so you get familiar with the material.

As David said, John & Mark's videos are great, you'll learn a ton. Definitely set aside the time to watch them. They each have a couple videos on similar topics in addition to showing their finishing techniques and how they may be different from each other. Again, find what works for you. Hilariously enough, I've found that my finishing method is kind of between what the two of them do which is funny to me because I happen to live between the two of them also. Both of them use GluBoost and so do I. For me, I've tried a few other finishes and have found that GluBoost affords me some latitude to learn because I'm not always perfect and it's very forgiving. It's pretty much all I use now. Depending on my mood, I use Dr Kirks 3 step (craft supplies/Exotic Blanks) or wet sand with micro mesh up to 12,000.

Oh! I forgot. If you have the opportunity. Attend one of the pen making conferences that are listed on here throughout the year. You'll learn a ton in the sessions and just from talking with other pen makers. I live in the Chicago metro and will say the Midwest Pen Turners Gathering is a great experience. Over 300 pen makers there from 30-35 states and and Canada

That's crazy that you've only been making pens for 3 years and you're already as good as you are. Hopefully I'm that good in 3 years time.

Solid advice with the making sure to get a good bond between the tube and blank. That was my biggest issue when I started out. I had a couple blanks fall to shambles in front of my eyes leaving me sad. I switched to 5 minute epoxy and ever since haven't had any issues. I usually give my 5 minute epoxy 30 minutes to cure before I barrel trim and turn, just to play it safe.

I also really like what you said about still turning down a blank to learn the material. I'll definitely do that if I have any more blanks blow up.

 

[Flintski22]

You'll probably get lots of good answers since many of these questions are subjective. I can share my own opinions, but they should not be taken as gospel, nor should anyone else's. There's an element of experimentation and finding what you like here.

1. I drill all blanks (wood, acrylic, stabilized, whatever) at the lowest speed my lathe will go, which is 500 RPM. I turn at about 1800 RPM until round, then increase to about 2700 RPM for the remainder of the shaping. I sand and do all finishing steps at about 800 RPM.
2. CA glue for my money. Though to be fair, CA glue is my favorite finishing method for pens of any material, with the possible exception of pure acrylic/plastic blanks that can be polished to essentially the same level of gloss without putting CA glue over the top first.
3. I usually insert a "void filling" step in between the end of shaping with tools and the beginning of sanding, if I have any voids.
4. If it's stabilized, you probably have nothing to worry about. With unstabilized burls (especially very low density ones like buckeye burl), I will often use slower speeds throughout the shaping process and lighter cuts, compared to a standard hardwood like cherry or walnut. I'll also mention that it's really worth having a very sharp skew tool and learning how to make good finishing cuts with it when you're working with crazy grain like burl. Minimizes tearout potential, and saves some time in sanding - when I final turn with gouges, I usually have to start sanding at 180 grit. When I do a decent finishing cut with my skew, I can usually start sanding at 220, 320, or even 400.
5. CA finishing processes are about as personal as fingerprints, it seems. I'll share the short version of what works well for me:

• Shape workpiece
• Sand through 600 grit dry
• Clean workpiece with denatured alcohol
• Wipe on a generous coat of BLO
• Wait 15 minutes
• Wipe off excess and burnish with shop towel until dry (this burnishing step I will sometimes do at a higher speed than the 800 RPM I mentioned above)
• Apply 8 coats of medium CA glue with shop towel. I should mention I'm using some kind of cheap generic CA ("Magic Chems" brand from Amazon) and it has been working fine.
• Flatten CA with 600 grit paper wet until no more low spots are visible
• Polish with Dr. Kirk's scratch-free
• Polish with Dr. Kirk's micro magic waxes (#1, #2, and #3)
• Polish with Novus #2 and Novus #1
• Apply a coat of Renaissance wax to help repel fingerprints

This process results in an ultra-high gloss that is at least as good as I could ever get with MicroMesh wet sanding in the past, but it's much easier to use the wax-type abrasives IMO. The BLO underneath seems to really enhance the depth of the grain, and set off any chatoyance that was in the piece.

I find that the final quality of a CA finish is directly proportional to the amount of time, effort, and attention to detail I put into ensuring that you've eliminated ALL scratches from each step before moving to the next. That goes for sanding the wood as well as sanding/polishing the CA. I regularly spend more time on my sanding and finishing than I do on the rest of the pen turning process combined. It's so easy to miss little scratches left here and there along the way, and they will show up in the final product if you don't eliminate them as you go. The specific nature of the abrasives is probably less important than just... spending a lot of time closely inspecting your surface with a bright light before you move on to the next finer abrasive. It's not that hard to manually sand out a radial scratch left by the 400 grit paper, by sanding longitudinally with the same 400 grit paper. It's significantly harder to do so with 600 grit paper. By the time you're trying to remove 600 grit scratches with polishing compound, it just doesn't work at all.

Really good tips on drilling and sanding. Definitely worth taking the time between steps to ensure I'm doing a quality job.

The list of steps is also super helpful and it's good to hear you've been able to get good results with cheap generic CA.

Does The Dr. Kirk's Scratch Free help a lot? I keep hearing about it but I've never actually used it.

 

[Woodchipper]

I have found that the higher speeds can cause a problem with the various synthetic materials....like the bit getting stuck in the blank. AMHIK

 

[BHuij]

Does The Dr. Kirk's Scratch Free help a lot? I keep hearing about it but I've never actually used it.

I'm a huge fan of it. It does a great job bridging the gap between 600 grit and polishing steps.

My understanding is that it uses some kind of abrasive material that starts off in larger particle sizes (say, equivalent to 800 grit or thereabouts), and as you keep working it over the piece, the particulate breaks up into finer pieces, so when you're done with it, you've done the equivalent of sanding to ~1500 grit.

If someone made a version that did the same thing but ran from 220 to 600 grit, I'd stop buying sandpaper

 

[Flintski22]

I'm a huge fan of it. It does a great job bridging the gap between 600 grit and polishing steps.

My understanding is that it uses some kind of abrasive material that starts off in larger particle sizes (say, equivalent to 800 grit or thereabouts), and as you keep working it over the piece, the particulate breaks up into finer pieces, so when you're done with it, you've done the equivalent of sanding to ~1500 grit.

If someone made a version that did the same thing but ran from 220 to 600 grit, I'd stop buying sandpaper

That's fascinating. Sounds like it's pretty reliable from what you are saying. I'm definitely putting that on my list of things to look into. Thanks for the information!

 

[Flintski22]

I have found that the higher speeds can cause a problem with the various synthetic materials....like the bit getting stuck in the blank. AMHIK

Hahaha how do you know?

 

[Woodchipper]

Hahaha how do you know?

The voice of experience speaks loudly.

 

[bugradx2]

That's crazy that you've only been making pens for 3 years and you're already as good as you are. Hopefully I'm that good in 3 years time.

Solid advice with the making sure to get a good bond between the tube and blank. That was my biggest issue when I started out. I had a couple blanks fall to shambles in front of my eyes leaving me sad. I switched to 5 minute epoxy and ever since haven't had any issues. I usually give my 5 minute epoxy 30 minutes to cure before I barrel trim and turn, just to play it safe.

I also really like what you said about still turning down a blank to learn the material. I'll definitely do that if I have any more blanks blow up.

That's very flattering! Thanks very much. I owe much of it to some very good and patient friends/teachers along with the people here on IAP. The knowledge in this group is staggering.

 

[bugradx2]

I'm a huge fan of it. It does a great job bridging the gap between 600 grit and polishing steps.

My understanding is that it uses some kind of abrasive material that starts off in larger particle sizes (say, equivalent to 800 grit or thereabouts), and as you keep working it over the piece, the particulate breaks up into finer pieces, so when you're done with it, you've done the equivalent of sanding to ~1500 grit.

If someone made a version that did the same thing but ran from 220 to 600 grit, I'd stop buying sandpaper

That's fascinating. Sounds like it's pretty reliable from what you are saying. I'm definitely putting that on my list of things to look into. Thanks for the information!

Happy to see someone else using Dr Kirks, I was thinking I was the only one out there. It's my understanding that by the time you're up to #3 it's somewhat close to 10 or 12,000 grit. It does have an abrasive that breaks down with friction, very similar to Yorkshire Grit. Speaking of that, a lot of people have started to use it more and more over the last year or two and I think it definitely has a place. I won some in a raffle and need to play with it still.

As BHuij states, you'll want the scratch free and the three different waxes. If you go to Craft Supplies website they have videos showing how they use all of them. The nice thing with Scratch Free is you can use it as a sanding sealer for other projects that call for it.

Typically, I apply and work in the Scratch Free around 750 ish rpm and then crank the lathe up to 3000 or better for the micro finishes. I do my actual sanding from low grit to 600 grit around 700 too. Sanding is of course done prior to any of the Dr kirks. I'll put CA on and then use Scratch free from there.

At this years MPG there was a full segment on various finishing methods where the presenter used (so I'm told) a microscope to review all the various popular methods for finishing to state what gave the smoothest finish. I attended a different session so I didn't get to hear what he said worked the best.

 

[BHuij]

Yeah my understanding is also that the #3 (finest) Dr. Kirk's micro-magic finishing wax (different product from scratch-free, but same application method) is also that it's more or less equivalent to 12,000 grit micromesh.

What 12000 grit micromesh is equivalent to in terms of normal sandpaper grits, I don't know. I only recently found out that that the numbers micromesh uses to describe their "grits" are not the same as we understand for normal sandpaper.

At any rate, I can't tell a difference between the results I get with the Dr. Kirk's system vs Micromesh, particularly since I use Novus #2 or HUT Ultra-gloss plastic polish afterwards anyway. What I can tell is that the Dr. Kirk's waxes are WAY easier to use than wet sanding with micromesh. I also love that at some point I'll just run out of the waxes and buy more. No wondering if my micromesh pads have worn out and need to be replaced or not.

Lucky for me, I found out after I started up turning again a few months ago that I live about a 6 minute drive away from Craft Supplies USA's warehouse here in Provo, and they have a small storefront there too, so I can just pop in any time and buy kits, blanks, finishing supplies, tools, whatever. No waiting for shipping. I may or may not have already spent hundreds of dollars there.

I am about at the point though where I'm ready to start using magnification as a tool in my finishing process. The idea of eliminating scratches visible only through a magnifying lens makes sense—by definition I'd have a final finish with no scratches visible to the naked eye. Maybe I'll pick up one of the magnifying glass kits and use it for that

 

[Flintski22]

The voice of experience speaks loudly.

Unfortunately it's also the best and harshest teacher.

 

[Flintski22]

Happy to see someone else using Dr Kirks, I was thinking I was the only one out there. It's my understanding that by the time you're up to #3 it's somewhat close to 10 or 12,000 grit. It does have an abrasive that breaks down with friction, very similar to Yorkshire Grit. Speaking of that, a lot of people have started to use it more and more over the last year or two and I think it definitely has a place. I won some in a raffle and need to play with it still.

As BHuij states, you'll want the scratch free and the three different waxes. If you go to Craft Supplies website they have videos showing how they use all of them. The nice thing with Scratch Free is you can use it as a sanding sealer for other projects that call for it.

Typically, I apply and work in the Scratch Free around 750 ish rpm and then crank the lathe up to 3000 or better for the micro finishes. I do my actual sanding from low grit to 600 grit around 700 too. Sanding is of course done prior to any of the Dr kirks. I'll put CA on and then use Scratch free from there.

At this years MPG there was a full segment on various finishing methods where the presenter used (so I'm told) a microscope to review all the various popular methods for finishing to state what gave the smoothest finish. I attended a different session so I didn't get to hear what he said worked the best.

Thanks for throwing in the speeds you work each of these at. Once again super helpful. That's sick that they used a microscope to look into that. I always appreciate scientific examination.

 

[Flintski22]

Yeah my understanding is also that the #3 (finest) Dr. Kirk's micro-magic finishing wax (different product from scratch-free, but same application method) is also that it's more or less equivalent to 12,000 grit micromesh.

What 12000 grit micromesh is equivalent to in terms of normal sandpaper grits, I don't know. I only recently found out that that the numbers micromesh uses to describe their "grits" are not the same as we understand for normal sandpaper.

At any rate, I can't tell a difference between the results I get with the Dr. Kirk's system vs Micromesh, particularly since I use Novus #2 or HUT Ultra-gloss plastic polish afterwards anyway. What I can tell is that the Dr. Kirk's waxes are WAY easier to use than wet sanding with micromesh. I also love that at some point I'll just run out of the waxes and buy more. No wondering if my micromesh pads have worn out and need to be replaced or not.

Lucky for me, I found out after I started up turning again a few months ago that I live about a 6 minute drive away from Craft Supplies USA's warehouse here in Provo, and they have a small storefront there too, so I can just pop in any time and buy kits, blanks, finishing supplies, tools, whatever. No waiting for shipping. I may or may not have already spent hundreds of dollars there.

I am about at the point though where I'm ready to start using magnification as a tool in my finishing process. The idea of eliminating scratches visible only through a magnifying lens makes sense—by definition I'd have a final finish with no scratches visible to the naked eye. Maybe I'll pick up one of the magnifying glass kits and use it for that

Wait I had no idea they have a store and warehouse in provo-- I'm only an hour drive away. Definitely a long drive but maybe at some point I'll grab my friends who like turning too and drive down there and make a day of it with them.

No shipping also means no shipping prices which is clutch.

The magnifying glass thing is a great idea too.

 

[BHuij]

You up in Salt Lake County or something? Their store isn't very big, but it is very cool. Kinda like Disneyland in there. They also are usually chill enough to let me hand select blanks - I bought one of their super high end top grade AAAAA Honduras Rosewood Burl blanks a few weeks ago, and they were kind enough to bring up 4 or 5 of them so I could pick the one with the figure I liked best.

 

[Flintski22]

You up in Salt Lake County or something? Their store isn't very big, but it is very cool. Kinda like Disneyland in there. They also are usually chill enough to let me hand select blanks - I bought one of their super high end top grade AAAAA Honduras Rosewood Burl blanks a few weeks ago, and they were kind enough to bring up 4 or 5 of them so I could pick the one with the figure I liked best.

I'm in Davis County. The hand selecting blank thing gets me super interested... I always like having control over what I'm turning. I actually am going down to provo for some other stuff next week and might stop by the store on my way home.

The more you talk about it the more I want to go check it out.