A different use of worthless wood.

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IPD_Mrs

IPD_Mrs

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Joined
Jun 27, 2007
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Location
Zionsville, Indiana
This is a pen that we are putting in an art gallery. The owner really liked a Sierra that we did similar to this. The wood is Taz from Nolan. The blank was cut 3/16" shorter than the tubes. We then added 3/16" slabs of truestone malachite to the ends of each blank. Drilled for the tubes centering them 3/32" shy of the outer edge, then milled flush to the tubes. Once drilled we picked all the punky wood out of the voids then began to fill with crushed malachite. Had green finger tips for a few days after doing this.:( Finish is CA. It was a challenge turning dealing with the softness of the wood and the harder truestone.

Constructive critisism is much appreciated as we are trying to determine what way to go from here with this concept.

Mike & Linda


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Mike and Linda, you both know I'm a fan of the "impregnated" wood concept and your workmanship is fantastic but IMNSHO the uniform bands of malachite detract from the ramdom look of the rest of the fill. Was there a reason for these Oops bands?
 
The only thing I see that is wrong, is that it isn't in my collection!![:o)]Seriously I like the concept, I like the bands and the fill looks great, and the finish looks to be worthy of an art gallery piece.
 
Originally posted by OKLAHOMAN

Mike and Linda, you both know I'm a fan of the "impregnated" wood concept and your workmanship is fantastic but IMNSHO the uniform bands of malachite detract from the random look of the rest of the fill. Was there a reason for these Opps bands?
Click to expand...

Roy,
Thanks for pointing this out. The wood had voids that went all the way to the edges. We have put crushed stone in blanks before that go all the way to the bushings and have had problems taking the bushings off without pulling out some of the stone. So to avoid this problem we added the truestone to the blank before we drilled it so that when we put the stone in it butted up to the band rather than a bushing. Any ideas for adding something to the edges of the blank without the confussion of the random voids and symmetry of the bands?
 
When you need to repair the end of a blank, put a piece of wax paper between the end of the blank and the bushing. You can glue in crushed stone or whatever floats your boat and still get the bushings off. Love the pen!
 
Mike and Linda, I think the pen looks great!

The only thing I can think of to do different would be to put a thin band of brass, 36 gauge, between the trustone and the Taz. This may break that transition and make it look less like an oops band.
 
Originally posted by VisExp

Mike and Linda, I think the pen looks great!

The only thing I can think of to do different would be to put a thin band of brass, 36 gauge, between the trustone and the Taz. This may break that transition and make it look less like an oops band.
Click to expand...

THIS is a very interesting idea, Mike and Linda!!! Never occured to me, but it has all the advantages without LOOKING like an ooopps.[:p][:p]
 
That looks great Mike! It looks like it took some work. You pulled if very nicely. The only criticism is that you spelled criticism wrong.:D
 
Originally posted by ed4copies

Originally posted by VisExp

Mike and Linda, I think the pen looks great!

The only thing I can think of to do different would be to put a thin band of brass, 36 gauge, between the trustone and the Taz. This may break that transition and make it look less like an oops band.
Click to expand...

THIS is a very interesting idea, Mike and Linda!!! Never occured to me, but it has all the advantages without LOOKING like an ooopps.[:p][:p]
Click to expand...

Oh Ed this only looks like an opps to you because you are so use to using this method.[:p]

The brass idea is good but posses a problem with regard to the 22k adornments on the kit. Too much of a color tone difference between the brass and the 22k. It would almost be better to use aluminum if the color tone is close enough. In either case if the color matches, you still have what Roy mentioned in the contrast of the symmetry of the bands and the randomness of the the void fill.

At this point I think Lou's mention of the wax paper might be the best solution to all problems. It is just too hard to convince Ed that not all bands are opps bands. [8D]

Mike
 
Don't know why I didn't think of the wax paper as I've used it myself before, Also have you thought about casting crushed stone with PR? Again just a thought.
Originally posted by MLKWoodWorking

Originally posted by ed4copies

Originally posted by VisExp

Mike and Linda, I think the pen looks great!

The only thing I can think of to do different would be to put a thin band of brass, 36 gauge, between the trustone and the Taz. This may break that transition and make it look less like an oops band.
Click to expand...

THIS is a very interesting idea, Mike and Linda!!! Never occured to me, but it has all the advantages without LOOKING like an ooopps.[:p][:p]
Click to expand...

Oh Ed this only looks like an opps to you because you are so use to using this method.[:p]

The brass idea is good but posses a problem with regard to the 22k adornments on the kit. Too much of a color tone difference between the brass and the 22k. It would almost be better to use aluminum if the color tone is close enough. In either case if the color matches, you still have what Roy mentioned in the contrast of the symmetry of the bands and the randomness of the the void fill.

At this point I think Lou's mention of the wax paper might be the best solution to all problems. It is just too hard to convince Ed that not all bands are opps bands. [8D]

Mike
Click to expand...
 
If you use the wax paper idea, you CAN end up with an edge that is prone to chipping (inlaid stone dust is not always great). The 36 guage steel would give a flat edge and I don't think you would notice it. Just a little wider than your average human HAIR!!
 
Overall a very interesting pen, I like the idea of the non-oops band, but agree witrh the other comments that it would look better if made from the same material as the fill. If not going for an exact match, a complementary MIS-match might work better. As it sits, it does have an "oops" feel to me. I have a DI blank on my bench that I am trying to end-fill to match some inlays, so will try out Lou's wax paper suggestion (and mine is DEFINITELY an oops![B)].
 
How about turning the blank down to near completion (maybe a 64th or two prouad of what you want), dig out all the dust in the channels as you did. Mix your stone dust in some PR and cast the blank in that, then return down to finished size. It should give you the same effect but with the PR you might not need the bands on the ends at all.

The only thing I could see going wrong would be on the final turning finding a new vein of dust than would need to be cast.

Awsome looking pen as is, but I agree that the difference in coloration between the bands and veins is distracting.
 
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