ghostrider
Member
After doing around 10 or 15 pens on a drill press, I decided to buy a lathe. When I found one on Craig's list in another town, I contacted the guy to see about when he'd be home so I could come see it. When I arrived at his place, he informed me that he couldn't find the tailstock for it, nor did he have the live center. About all he had was the bed, motor and head stock, and a faceplate for it. He did have some turning tools to show me that he had for sale, and was going to sell me the lot of them (probably around eight or ten) for $20 to which I agreed. Among them was a Sorby ½" skew, and a Crown Scrapper, as well as a couple other high speed tools, and what appeared to be Harbor Freights low cost set. Him and I sat there and traded stories for some time (I offered to help him look but we couldn't find it) and I told him I'd take the tools. Once we gave up looking for the parts, he told he felt real bad about the whole thing, and that he'd feel better if I just took everything now, and paid him when he found the tailstock. So, I packed up everything, and before leaving pulled out the $20 for the turning tools. He asked me what it was for and I told him. He responded by saying that I should just take them keep for free since he felt so bad. We parted ways with the agreement that he would contact me when he found the tailstock. He never did contact me, and I called him a couple times over the next year or so with still no luck finding the tailstock. Before leaving, he also handed me a few pieces of wood to play with. A couple looked to be Maple burl with inclusion, and three or four pieces of this Cherry Burl. I've already made one, and I stabilized this one with Deft Clear Gloss.
I finally got around to finishing it the pen this morning. I started it a couple months ago, and got to the point where I tired of looking at the unfinished blanks. Besides, it's been a long time since I did any wooden pens. I left a few errors in it, but got to the point where I just didn't want to go back and start over with the finish, so I left it as is. All-in-all I am quite pleased despite the errors. Hope you like it and thanks for looking.
As always, any comments/critiques/questions welcome.
I finally got around to finishing it the pen this morning. I started it a couple months ago, and got to the point where I tired of looking at the unfinished blanks. Besides, it's been a long time since I did any wooden pens. I left a few errors in it, but got to the point where I just didn't want to go back and start over with the finish, so I left it as is. All-in-all I am quite pleased despite the errors. Hope you like it and thanks for looking.
As always, any comments/critiques/questions welcome.
