luckyscroller788
Member
Well, today makes it 60 days since I joined here, so I thought I would share a bit of that went. I heard from a few people I have met in the past that I haven't heard from for ages. I made a bunch of new friends. I learned that I live about 15 miles from a well known company here in the pen turning community that I have never even knew existed, that being Exotic Blanks. Ed at Exotics invited me to ride along with him down to the first ever Chicagoland chapter of IAP meeting , my first IAP event I attended ( and it wont be my last!). Here I got a look at a partial showing of the IAP pen collection thanks to Mark James driving all the way there, and watched another Mark ( Dreyer) put on a great demo and set the tone for upcoming meetings I visited Ed at his business, and although he was drowning in orders to fill and stuff to do, he took the time to give me a tour of his place and he turned a pen while I studied his techniques. thanks Ed! I spent quite a bit of money buying a bunch of blanks in the classifieds on here, as well as ordering a great new toolrest from Rick Harrell , as well as placing an order with Exotic Blanks . I won a couple prizes during my first BASH (thank you again), and now have an excuse to get into trying to cast some Alumilite!
Also, I was the lucky winner in Georges Mr. Anonymous #39 contest, and now have a great selection of blanks from him to turn. Thank you George. I even learned that it isn't cheap to have stuff shipped from Aus., but it only took about 10 days or so to arrive!
With my wife wanting to turn pens every time I go down to the lathe to use it, I did a ton of research on lathes, asked a few questions, went and looked closer at a few lathes, and a couple weeks ago I added a new Rikon 70-220vsr lathe to my shop. I've also learned countless things that most of you here probably never even think about, like for instance, painting inside the pen blank to hide the tube. I have in the past colored an occasional tube with a black sharpie, but never even thought of painting the inside of the blank. Also, on that note, I was impressed with a pair of pens Mark Dreyer passed around at the Chicago IAP meeting showing the drastic difference one can get from the same blank simply by the color the tube hole is painted.
This is just a small portion of all the events and things I have soaked up from my first 60 days in here, and a big thank you to everyone here, both the whole IAP team that holds this place together, and to every member of the IAP family that so freely shares their expertise and makes everyone feel so welcome here. I truly appreciate it! Thank you! And now, I am anxiously awaiting next weekend to attend my first MPG !!! and am looking forward to being a part of this family here for a long time!
Also, I was the lucky winner in Georges Mr. Anonymous #39 contest, and now have a great selection of blanks from him to turn. Thank you George. I even learned that it isn't cheap to have stuff shipped from Aus., but it only took about 10 days or so to arrive!
With my wife wanting to turn pens every time I go down to the lathe to use it, I did a ton of research on lathes, asked a few questions, went and looked closer at a few lathes, and a couple weeks ago I added a new Rikon 70-220vsr lathe to my shop. I've also learned countless things that most of you here probably never even think about, like for instance, painting inside the pen blank to hide the tube. I have in the past colored an occasional tube with a black sharpie, but never even thought of painting the inside of the blank. Also, on that note, I was impressed with a pair of pens Mark Dreyer passed around at the Chicago IAP meeting showing the drastic difference one can get from the same blank simply by the color the tube hole is painted.
This is just a small portion of all the events and things I have soaked up from my first 60 days in here, and a big thank you to everyone here, both the whole IAP team that holds this place together, and to every member of the IAP family that so freely shares their expertise and makes everyone feel so welcome here. I truly appreciate it! Thank you! And now, I am anxiously awaiting next weekend to attend my first MPG !!! and am looking forward to being a part of this family here for a long time!
