First Leather- comments?

[keithbyrd]

Here is my first leather pen- capped on each end with white tail antler. Glued with CA then finished with thin CA. Sanded with 400 and No polishing except with 4/0 steel wool. Constructive criticism encouraged!

 

[Jim15]

Great looking work.

 

[dpstudios]

Looks good. Well done.

 

[TonyL]

Nothing to criticize. Would love to know the process. Nice work!

 

[johncrane]

come up good Keith!

 

[mbroberg]

Looks great!

 

[keithbyrd]

thanks for the positive feedback guys!

 

[keithbyrd]

Nothing to criticize. Would love to know the process. Nice work!

Tony - regarding the process.
1 I cut 3/4' discs using a leather punch and then using a 3/8" punch punched out the center of each. Using med CA I stacked them on a tube (this was an executive) and had two white tail segments drilled at 3/8 for the tube and used them with a clamp to compress the leather until dry. Then soaked the leather with thin CA and turned the pen - sharp skew! after turning the leather was softened up some so I put some more thin CA on it, turned it lightly again and then burnished the leather using 4/0 steel wool. I think that was a cool way to finish!

 

[TonyL]

Tony - regarding the process.
1 I cut 3/4' discs using a leather punch and then using a 3/8" punch punched out the center of each. Using med CA I stacked them on a tube (this was an executive) and had two white tail segments drilled at 3/8 for the tube and used them with a clamp to compress the leather until dry. Then soaked the leather with thin CA and turned the pen - sharp skew! after turning the leather was softened up some so I put some more thin CA on it, turned it lightly again and then burnished the leather using 4/0 steel wool. I think that was a cool way to finish!

Thank you..very done!

 

[MTViper]

Beautiful job, Keith. I especially like the antler pieces top and bottom. I'm going to have to copy that with my next ones. I followed a process very similar to yours. Instead of stamping out the 3/4" pieces, I just cut pieces off scraps of leather of all shapes. Most were in the 3/4-1" range. Then I punched the center hole like you did. I glued mine with Locktite Go2 CA glue. I did not put any CA finish on them before I started turning since I had ragged edges. I turned it round, then to the size I desired, then put 3-4 coats of thin CA on it. Sanded it lightly. Then put on 3-6 more coats of thin CA. Really fun to turn.

 

[keithbyrd]

Beautiful job, Keith. I especially like the antler pieces top and bottom. I'm going to have to copy that with my next ones. I followed a process very similar to yours. Instead of stamping out the 3/4" pieces, I just cut pieces off scraps of leather of all shapes. Most were in the 3/4-1" range. Then I punched the center hole like you did. I glued mine with Locktite Go2 CA glue. I did not put any CA finish on them before I started turning since I had ragged edges. I turned it round, then to the size I desired, then put 3-4 coats of thin CA on it. Sanded it lightly. Then put on 3-6 more coats of thin CA. Really fun to turn.

Did you have trouble turning it with the varied sizes and no CA on it? Seems like it would be tough to cut?

 

[Larryreitz]

Great pen. I can't remember if I've ever seen a leather one here before yours. Will be interesting if we see more being posted.

 

[MTViper]

Did you have trouble turning it with the varied sizes and no CA on it? Seems like it would be tough to cut?

Surprisingly it was very easy to turn round. I just took light cuts just like I would with any jagged piece of wood. There was a certain amount of turning air until it got round. Surprisingly, it seemed to sharpen my gouge as I turned it like it was stropping the gouge.