Eight Father Sings...

[EarlD]

I started turning pens several years ago but didn't really know when until recently. When I started back last year I had to search around for my tools etc. Well, recently I was searching for something else and found two boxes on a high shelf that had some pen supplies in them: 8 Father Sing kits and a bunch of blanks. There was also a receipt from Arizona Silhouette for the kits (12) and some other stuff. It was dated Feb 2004. I then realized that shortly after that I started building cabinets for my daughters new house...big kitchen and three bathrooms. By the time I finished that job I didn't want to go back into the shop for a while and forgot about pen turning. Last year I lost my favorite carry pen from that period and got back into making pens (and discovered this IAP group!).

I've completed the 8 Father Sings. All were upgrade gold or platinum. All were finished with micromesh to 3600 then the Beall's Buffing system.

First is a "Inlace Acrylester Crushed Silver" from AZ.:

I guess this is a Crushed Burgandy:

This was probably a White Pearl from 2004:

This is a blank created by Bobalu that I picked up at the September IAP meeting in Atlanta. Thanks Bob!

An Avatar Explosion from ExoticBlanks.com. Thanks Ed and Dawn!

This Brooks803 blank makes me want some chocolate swirl ice cream every time I look at it:

Another Brooks803 blank. This one has three colors.

Another Brooks blank that looks like hard candy:

Thanks to Jonathon for some more great blanks.

Thanks for looking...
EarlD

 

[renowb]

WOW! Santa put them there!:biggrin: Awesome group! Really nice colors!

 

[G1Pens]

Very nice....especially the Tennessee pen at the end !!!

 

[hewunch]

Purdy! I like them all, but the last three the bestest

 

[PenPal]

Earl,

Seems like forever ago Dick Sing and his wife came to Australia for large sessions with big groups and arrived in Canberra for a small group, he and his wife were very warm and Dick incredibly organised and proficient, although worshipping at his feet I was not he sensed my enthusiasm and gave me a Father Sing Kit and a beaut blank, my mate who organised the day said you sure got involved there and I did. He demoed all sorts of small objects measured every last one displaying his training as an Instrument Maker and Perfectionist as well. Were Dick to view your pens he too would be impressed as I am with the distinction you afforded these kits and blanks.

I heeded his advice but had to wait several years but now thanks to Timberbits I can buy assorted colours of larger bands for Streamlines separately so Dick saw this as an advantage with Slimlines so long ago, thank you Dick. As to the ca
hange of length between top of pen and bottom leave it up to all of us I applaud his foresight.

Shaping and design are excellent and I have never apologised for specialising in Slimline with Streamline centre bands, love a centre band and prefer one any time.

Great find well planned turnings of quite some class in collaboration with the makers of those kits.

Kind regards Peter.

 

[LeeR]

Very nice collection. I especially like the Inlace in silver. I've turned one of those blanks in a deep purple, and while a little tricky for a new turner when I turned it last year, I went slowly and it came out very nice.

 

[Drstrangefart]

That's a really nice group of pens. As always, the Brooks blanks stand out very distictively.

 

[EarlD]

Earl,

As to the change of length between top of pen and bottom leave it up to all of us I applaud his foresight.

Kind regards Peter.

How neat to hear from someone who actually knows Dick Sing. As with so many things about the slims and variants I've slightly modified these. I didn't like the barrell being about 1/4" longer than the cap so I used standard short slim tubes on both end. The upper has about 3/32 turned off as a tennon to hold the center band so it looks slightly shorter than the bottom anyway.

Thanks to you and everyone else for the kind words.

EarlD

 

[Robert111]

Great looking group. I like the Father Sing. The clip is nice.

 

[ed4copies]

That's kinda funny, Earl.

Dick was doing a couple of the same shows we did, when CSUSA introduced the "Father Sing". Dick's "complaint" about the slimline was the tubes being the same size, as he felt the front of the pen should be longer and it would balance better that way.

At the time, nearly all the slimlines sported the "black line" on the clip, which was another improvement in Dick's design. He is an incredibly nice person!! Saw him at the AAW Symposium--first time in several years--

Your red pen is red crushed velvet. Not the easiest material to turn, but one of the prettiest finished pens---don't sell it too cheap--it cannot be replaced and no one has figured out how to make another LIKE it!! (Italy has a knock off--but it is NOT the same).

All in all, NICE pens!!!

Thanks for showing,
Ed

 

[Brooks803]

They all look GREAT Earl! I have to admit though, when I first opened it up and saw the chocolate swirl one I said to myself "ohhh I hope that's one of mine! That looks cool!" :tongue: You did a perfect job on the Fit-Finish-& Photography!

And Ed....I'll take that challenge! I'll play around with some ideas tomorrow and we'll see what happens.

 

[ed4copies]

Jonathon,

The original version was very dense. Turned just a little easier than trustone. If you could match that color pattern with your "very turner-friendly" resin, you would have a real "keeper".

Good luck, my friend, I would LOVE to see you succeed!!!!

The company that originally made it could only produce it in 5/8" depth. They were in Europe, I think Britain. But I have sent samples to the factory in Italy and they have a "look alike" that doesn't!!

 

[rizaydog]

Great set of pens. Nicely done.