2 Jr Gents, 1 Antler and a Dying Experiment...

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Old Griz

Passed Away Oct 4, 2013
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Hagerstown, MD, USA.
Here are two TN Gold Jr Gents I did in some nice spalted red elm I have... a little tricky to work.. open pored and can be chippy... but pretty wood...
JrGntSpltRedElm.jpg


JrGntSpltRedElm2.jpg


This is a special order for a customer.. he supplied the antler.. NEVER AGAIN.. this sucker had to be 100 yrs old and dry and super porous... what a PIA to turn and finish....
CustomAntler.jpg


This is a little experiment with some transparent artists' ink I got at Michaels Art Supply...
It is a Black Chrome Atlas kit and the material is paralam.. a building material used for rafters and supports... a real PIA to turn because of chip out.... but I had to try.. the ink worked out real nice... finish is CA and did not smear the ink at all... the ink dried real quick...
YellowAtlas.jpg


I also loaded a bunch of pics in my photo album... and eliminated a bunch that were way way out of date... actually was embarrassing .... did I really do that badly back then.. LOL.. YES and I still do some like that today...
 
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Tom, the red elm is beautiful, as is the yellow one, very different and nice.
It is a good thing you get a good finish on your pens.
Because your photography will pick up any blemish you have.
Wonderfull pics.

Anthony
 
Nice job on the pens, and the pics, Tom! The yellow one is interesting; not sure that I'm a fan of the material, but the pen came out good, and the black and yellow certainly look good together.
 
Well Griz you have done it again. Gone and put that bar so high I can't even see it. Oh well guess I just start turning while I stand on a ladder.That Elm is out of this world. GREAT JOB!
 
The elm is awesome in grain and color! Antler and the yellow one are good looking too. Nice touch with the ink. Your photography is comeing right along. Good pics.
 
Tom,
What did you use to finish the Antler? It looks great. As a newbie here, I have done about 6 or 7 antler pens (Age unknown) and flooded them with CA to seal the pores. No problem getting a nice finish after that.
 
Great looking pens. I like the red elm most because I like wood. The antler is tremendous & I have several members that now are proud owners. It was before I knew of you guys or pics. The lam was not my favorite because of color.
 
Thanks all... I actually do not spend anywhere near as much time as I would like making pens.. has something to do with raising a 6 yr old daughter, LOL... for some reason they like to spend quality time with their Daddy, asking questions and doing "stuff".. not that I mind.. but I won't work with the power tools when she is in the shop with me... In all I probably spend an equal amount of time on each,yesterday about 3 hours all told .. my wife claims I am "anal" about my work.... DUH!!!! If you want it to sell, you make the best you can make... LOL

As for the photography, I am dusting off the training I had doing traditional film photography and finally learning how to redo a lot with my digital... If I took out my Nikon system, it would all be nice and comfortable, but it would cost me a bundle in film and developing... LOL .. As Daniel said, it is a matter of learning to talk to my digital camera... it is a differnt language from film work.. LOL..

I am not enthused about the Yellow Atlas either, but my daughter loved it... wanna guess where it is now... LOL
I did it as a dying experiment.. wanted to see how the ink worked.. and I had a piece of that paralam and wanted to see how it turned.. Final results are that I will work some more with the ink for dying and never turn another piece of paralam... 50% aint too bad... I have a feeling these inks will work real well on some of the curly and burl maple I have... we have a few Red Hat Society Clubs around here... them women will buy anything red or purple, I did a couple of DT Euro/Perfume Applicator sets for Christmas and sold them all in one morning.. all were dyed burl or curly maple..

The antler is finished with CA.. but what I do is just before I reach the final diameter, I sand some thin CA into the antler with 320 grit paper... hit it with a little mild accellerator and then finish turning and sanding.. this helps seal and fill most of the pores... final finish is a coat of medium CA sanded in with 400 grit, sanded again to 600 grit, then my normal finish of sanding sealer buffed with 00000 steel wool followed by 3-4 thin coats of thick CA, sanded to 12000 MM wet and plastic polish and Ren wax... this particular piece of antler was extremely old and very porous... a real PIA...

One thing I have to say I am not as enthused with the Jr Gent at this point as I am with the Baron.. the platings are great and the kit is gorgeous, but they still have a problem with the centerband threads... I spoke to Nils about this and he said that they are redesigning the Jr Gent to totally correct that problem with a totally new threading... So don't give up the ship.. as usual CSU has a handle on the problem and is listening to the penmakers to correct the issue...

For those interested, I may have a load of spalted red elm blanks coming... if there are as many as I expect, I will offer some for sale or trade... I am also expecting a bunch of red padauk in 3/4x3/4x10" pieces and some spalted tamarind in the same size...
 
As a historical reenactor who has a lot of 'stuff' made with antler, horn and other natural materials, I like the natural look of the open pores. I just finished a pen with a piece of old, very hard, antler. After drilling and glueing in the tube I soaked it in water for a week then let it set for a couple days. The retained mositure made it quite 'turnable'. No chipping, just small shaving, which, incidentially, I saved for future whatever use. Natural antler will take a patina with time if left unfinished. Some might like it, some might not. BTW, I considered soaking in mineral oil but there is a concern that could stain a shirt. Not a concern when the clothes are already soiled buckskins.
 
Originally posted by Old Griz

...snip
One thing I have to say I am not as enthused with the Jr Gent at this point as I am with the Baron.. the platings are great and the kit is gorgeous, but they still have a problem with the centerband threads... I spoke to Nils about this and he said that they are redesigning the Jr Gent to totally correct that problem with a totally new threading... So don't give up the ship.. as usual CSU has a handle on the problem and is listening to the penmakers to correct the issue...
Click to expand...

Glad to hear that they are addressing this issue. I've run into a few of the Jr Gents that had the thread issue. The Barons just seem to be more solidly constructed.
 
Great work as usual, Tom. So many beatiful pens are never represented well due to poor photography but yours pics are clear and well lit. I'm certain that our new line of Jr. Gents will leave no room for complaints. Hopefully they'll be here soon! In the mean time we're hand checking all of the Jr. Gents that go out to ensure a smooth threading. As you said, we're on it. Keep posting those pens! :)
 
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