Becca's Desert Ironwood

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
See more from RogerGarrett

Status
Not open for further replies.
RogerGarrett

RogerGarrett

Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2006
Messages
1,034
Location
Bloomington, Illinois, USA.
I posted this in her individual ads thread, but it should be here as well. Becca's desert ironwood was magnificent. Here is a Churchill made from the stuff. Sorry that the pic isn't a little clearer.

I made two identical pens - both sold for $100 each this past week.

Best,
Roger Garrett

016721_Churchill%20w%20desert%20ironwood%20resized.jpg
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Roger,

As I said...very beautiful pen.

I am lucky to have gotten the flat rate box deal. She threw in a lot of freebies there too, most are like this (x-cut blanks). [^]
 
Originally posted by airrat
<br />Nice job, did you stabilize it or just fill in any cracks? I have not had time to play with the stuff I got.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the compliments.

I had never purchased or made a Churchill before, but I bought several of the kits because one person selected that look from the many kits available to him (via pictures of finished pens on the internet). The kit looks quite elegant in person - and it is a nice weight and balance in the hand. I was surprised that it was so nice looking - although the wood selection really does enhance the kit's colors and lines. The second one was sold after a colleague at my university saw the first pen and had to have one. Both are fine musicians, so I trust their creative and artistic appreciation for the particular kit and the way it looks. I'm going to purchase a bunch more of these Churchills at the next group buy opportunity! [:D]

Regarding stabilizing - I milled Becca's log to oversize blocks and then added thin CA to stabilize where I thought there might be some breaking away. I then recut to appropriate blank sizes (still oversize) and drilled. I stabilized inside the drilled hole with thin CA prior to gluing in the tube, and I used thick CA to glue the tube in. I then stabilized the ends after cutting to exact lengths. As I turned, I added the fine powdered shavings left over from the milling of the wood (I save that stuff if it is a pen that might explode during production) into the voids - packed as tight as possible - and then thin CA to harden and set. After the voids were filled and the light, punky stuff was hardened up - I just turned very carefully with a very sharp roughing gouge and eventually a very sharp skew. As I got close to the desired shape and the ends, I just took more time than I normally would with, say, a stable piece of maple or walnut.

That's about it. Pretty attractive wood. I hope Becca comes up with some more of it![:D]

Best,
Roger Garrett
 
Going out in about an hour to look for Mesquite and DI burls. I'll let you know if we find anything good. Gonna have to try that Churchhill too. Again Roger, fantastic pen!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom