A Segmented Panache Pen

[jttheclockman]

Here is a segmented Panache pen with a black chrome kit, holly and gabon ebony blank with aluminum rings and black and white plastic dots. Finished in CA and polished. I also included a couple photos of the blank parts before glued together to get an idea how the design looks before turned. The design lends itself to many combinations of woods and layout. Any questions or comments are always welcomed.

 

[skiprat]

Well......you certainly nailed that one!!! Love it..

 

[Alan Morrison]

Brilliant John. I keep looking at your pen and seeing possibilities based on this design.
I wouldnt have dared put holly beside ebony. You have no colour transfer, I assume skew and no sanding?
What width is the aluminium?
Congratulations John.
Alan

 

[jttheclockman]

Brilliant John. I keep looking at your pen and seeing possibilities based on this design.
I wouldnt have dared put holly beside ebony. You have no colour transfer, I assume skew and no sanding?
What width is the aluminium?
Congratulations John.
Alan

You are correct. I used a skew to get to final size. Would have had a mess with the aluminum and or the ebony on the holly. The aluminum rings are 1/16" as well as the dots. As I said so many variables can be done with this such as to hide the glue lines better on the holly, use some colored paper or thin plastic to highlight the lines and celebrate them. You can never hide glue lines on light colored woods easily. You could layer the angled cuts with different woods. Have at it and love to see others designs from the same concept. all is good. Have nothing to hide.

 

[TonyL]

Handsome. Very smart!

 

[Alan Morrison]

John, are the glue lines in the holly are more noticeable on the photograph than they are in the hand?

I keep coming back to your pen. The panache would not be my favorite kit but it's your design that attracts me.

 

[KMCloonan]

I have a bad habit of not reading posts in the order they were posted. My comments on the other ebony/holly pen apply to this as well (although now I know how you avoided the color transfer from ebony to holly!)

I really admire the precision of the dots on the ends. They add tremendous detail to the pen.

 

[MRDucks2]

Quite Nice!

 

[Jim15]

That's beyond awesome. Great work.

 

[Penultimate]

That is very nice. How did you index to drill the holes.

 

[leehljp]

Excellent and beautiful.

I will note that a finely sharpened scraper can also leave it baby's behind smooth and then the aluminum/holly/bloodwood/ebony will not leave a messy smear.

 

[jttheclockman]

John, are the glue lines in the holly are more noticeable on the photograph than they are in the hand?

I keep coming back to your pen. The panache would not be my favorite kit but it's your design that attracts me.

Alan as with all photos they become more magnified but you can see the glue lines in the hand as well. But that is the nature of using light colored woods next to each other. You do not see the glue lines in the black ebony at all. Even the black against the holly you can not see a glue line. By the way these were glued with CA and not epoxy. CA is more clear than just about any other glue. But CA will also add a slight tint of yellow color to holly. I am going to try Aspen on a few pens to see if there is a difference. I did not bleach the holly on this pen which at times I do to keep that pure white color. Thanks for the kind words.

 

[PatrickR]

very nice work with some difficult materials. I especially like how you alternated the ring treatment.
are the black dots ebony also?

 

[jttheclockman]

That is very nice. How did you index to drill the holes.

Thanks for the kind words. The dots were done using my drill press and a 5C spin indexing fixture https://www.shars.com/5c-spin-index-fixture. I tried using my lathe and router that I usually use but just a slight movement off center and the hole gets oblonged so went to the drill press and worked alot better.

 

[jttheclockman]

very nice work with some difficult materials. I especially like how you alternated the ring treatment.
are the black dots ebony also?

Thank you. No the black and white dots are plastic dowels.

 

[SteveJ]

Very interesting design thanks for the photos.

 

[sorcerertd]

Beautiful and unique. I like the way you alternated the colors between the body and cap.

Question: When I have done aluminum inlay (basically just have used soda cans so far), it always seems even coming off the lathe, but after sitting for a while I can feel a slight "bump" where it seems like the metal is sticking out, even though it's just barely noticeable. Is there a trick to using metals with wood like this?

 

[TDahl]

Absolutely incredible John. I really love the combinations of all the materials and especially the pins. Your craftsmanship is absolutely impeccable.

 

[jttheclockman]

Beautiful and unique. I like the way you alternated the colors between the body and cap.

Question: When I have done aluminum inlay (basically just have used soda cans so far), it always seems even coming off the lathe, but after sitting for a while I can feel a slight "bump" where it seems like the metal is sticking out, even though it's just barely noticeable. Is there a trick to using metals with wood like this?

As far as trick, there is no trick. One thing you have to remember is wood moves and it will expand and contract with moisture. Getting a seal coat like CA on it will prevent this. Also if you are sanding, wood will sand faster than metals. That is why I do not sand when segmenting different materials. I just use the skew to get me to final dimesions and then CA. I do like to use acrylics with metals more than woods for the above reasons because then both materials do not expand and contract.

 

[RichAldrich]

Very nice pen! Thanks for sharing the details and photos!!

 

[jttheclockman]

Just wanted to close this out and say a collective big Thank You to all that hit the like button and also added a few nice comments. This along with the Zen with the same style design I shown were the last pens that came out of my shop. Hopefully I will be able to do a few more this coming winter. Have a few neat ideas. My bath and kitchen remodel has been delayed and could very well wind up during winter months but with so many delays who knows. That would deter from shop time. Anyway thanks again.