Bubbasville East

[BigRob777]

Well, we had our first monthly Bubbasville East gathering and it was great. I got to meet two people who are members of IAP, which is always good. We chatted about pens and materials and showed off the same. My stoppers even showed up. I'm already looking forward to next month. Anyway, I hope the others will share some themselves. We had 5 guys for this one and the next two should be more. I encourage anyone within driving distance to come to the next ones.

Everyone who could stay long enough, turned a pen and Joe helped me with my awful CA finish. I brought an assembled cigar pen and we took it apart, so I can refinish it. We shared materials and tips and just had a blast.

Joe did a demo on a cartridge pen, but I'm hoping he'll talk about that. We're all hoping for a demo from one of our friends on home brewed PR. No, that's not a form of moonshine.

BTW, Joe's shop is enormous and unlike mine, you can see the floor.

I took a couple of pics, which don't include me, as I don't have a wide angle lense. []

Please feel free to join in on this post, whether you were there or not.

An interesting note: Here is Clueless talking to Clewless (IAP names). Their names are no indication of their skills, or knowledge though.

 

[BigRob777]

Oh, here's the pen I did. The spalt goes through the blank, for some reason, perpendicular to the pen. I've never seen that in spalt. It's the first CA finish I've done in a long time, but I was able to buff it and finish it with TSW.

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[clewless]

It was great to have the four of you guys joining me in my shop. I hope that we can do away with the Texas heat and humidity in time for our next meeting on <b>August 12th</b>.

Jason, please tell your wife to schedule the delivery so it doesn't
interfere with your penturning meeting. []

The shop had just been cleaned/reorganized. I couldn't find anything and it was sterile feeling, but by the time the guys left, it was back to it's semi-messy self. []

I provided the HF punch set and watched as Rob and Glenn whacked away at their pens...resulted in smiles-no fingers hit and one pen resurrected from the grave and another disassembled for refinishing.

Mike and I got to take Glenn's pen vise, which had an alignment issue, apart (I love taking things apart) the set screw on a cog was loose- realigned and retightened- and Glenn was a happy camper again. We didn't even have any left-over parts.

Review of the surveilance video (we're close to DC-ya know) showed that I actually gained a few pieces of wood...so we're on for next month so mark your calendars.

We hope to have someone who has done PR casting come and do a show and tell. (Hint to you NOVA guys.)

I'll post a reminder the week before.

Joe in (steamy) MD

 

[JimGo]

Looks like a good time was had by all! I'm sorry I couldn't make it, but the NOVA contingent had it's own little get-together to do some PR casting. We'll be happy to do a traveling road show for you! Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it 'till at least September, and probably more like October, but I look forward to meeting up with you guys!

 

[BigRob777]

And we can't forget about the 2" of rain we got.[^]

I guess the main thing I learned about the CA finish, was to put the CA on the paper towel, instead of on the barrel. I'm going to try it again, once I get my buffing assembly squared away (with extra spacer).
Rob

 

[johncrane]

G'day BigRob your cigar pen looks good mate is it a gold kit or what? I would like to get to meet you guys one day. it would be good.

 

[BigRob777]

Hi John,
Thank you. I'm not too happy with the way the spalting showed up as spots. The cross-cuts were gorgeous, with little spear-head shaped groups of black lines lined up and going all of the way through the blank. The ends, are the black dots. What a shame, but I'll know better next time I see this pattern, to cross-cut it. I'm happy with the fit and finish though. I thought I had turned the clip barrel, CB end too thin, but it seems to have worked out. Now I remember why I like cigar pens so much. I love the feel of them in my big paws.
You're welcome to join us, if you ever make it to the US. Of course, if you bring wood, it'll get bought up quickly, or traded. We did some nice trades. All of my white holly is in logs, under my hot tub room, drying and Jason brought some of his. It really helped me out, because I was 2 short on an order, that's overdue. What a lifesaver. Thanks Jason. They're cut and drying now.

Glenn, I just love that Acrylester pen blank. It's my favorite color and I was thinking of buying some, but never got around to it. I have a backlog of pens to turn, but I can't wait to try it.

It was great hanging out with you guys. I'd seen Mike Vore's name so many times on another forum and I finally got to meet him (nice guy too). I can't wait (redundant, I know), until the next gathering.

Let's bring more wood to trade, if you want. I picked up 2 amboyna burl in a trade recently, and I'm psyched. I got my first black palm too (completely unrelated to this post, sorry). See ya next month.
Rob