seht
Member
Warning this is a rant!
OMG frustration has set in.
I'm trying to get ready for a show this weekend, so I'm making some more pink ivory pens, they seem to be a favorite of the ladies. I sell those almost as fast as I make them.
I cut the wood for 3 of them drill the holes, (dang 10mm drill bit cuts like a butter knife on concrete.) I get the tubes all glued in and switch over to the pen mill. Lets just say this is making that 10mm drill bit look brand new. I hate those waxed pink ivory pieces. Even after scraping the wax off, they still want to slide in the vise. One of them gets hot enough to losen the glue on the tube and it backs itself out and then sets again. So now I have 1 piece of pink ivory with a brass tube sticking half way out.
Take a deep breath and move on. I finally get 2 pieces of wood on the lathe and go to work. I get the bottom half turned and all is good. I start working on the top and I must have caught an edge because it split in half.
Deep breath and some mild cussing.
look at the pen mill and see how sharp it is. hmm not very encouraging. I wonder if I can sharpen it myself. I found out that I couldn't, at least not well. Well let's try and see if it works. I manage to get another piece trimmed and turned, try to match it with the first piece, and the colors are way off. The first piece was a gorgeous pink, this is half pink with some brown in it.
Now I'm looking for things to throw.
Back to the drill I manage to get another piece ready for turning.
I put it on the lathe get it turned, and it's a good match for the other half. I get the pieces out and start to assemble the pen. When I press the first piece into the pen, the wood splits.
This is really getting to me now. I'm starting to think about how I make pens for fun, and this is not fun. Back out to the garage and cut some more wood. I'm down a blank and a half now and still don't have a useable pen.
one more pen cut, drilled, and trimmed. Back to the lathe I manage to get a piece turned with no cracks, explosions or loss of body parts. I take it back inside to assemble and it doesn't really match the color of the first piece I made, but it is better than anything else I have done for the night, so I put it together.
At this point I'm not caring if the colors match or if my lathe blows up. I go out and cut one more piece and manage to eek out another pen. So 4 hours of frustration and I have two pens that I wouldn't buy if I was the customer. they are fine structurally, I just don't care for the way the colors look.
Oh well at least I didn't get CA in my eye or catch a finger between the tool rest and a spinning block of wood. So I guess it could have been worse.
Scott
OMG frustration has set in.
I'm trying to get ready for a show this weekend, so I'm making some more pink ivory pens, they seem to be a favorite of the ladies. I sell those almost as fast as I make them.
I cut the wood for 3 of them drill the holes, (dang 10mm drill bit cuts like a butter knife on concrete.) I get the tubes all glued in and switch over to the pen mill. Lets just say this is making that 10mm drill bit look brand new. I hate those waxed pink ivory pieces. Even after scraping the wax off, they still want to slide in the vise. One of them gets hot enough to losen the glue on the tube and it backs itself out and then sets again. So now I have 1 piece of pink ivory with a brass tube sticking half way out.
Take a deep breath and move on. I finally get 2 pieces of wood on the lathe and go to work. I get the bottom half turned and all is good. I start working on the top and I must have caught an edge because it split in half.
Deep breath and some mild cussing.
look at the pen mill and see how sharp it is. hmm not very encouraging. I wonder if I can sharpen it myself. I found out that I couldn't, at least not well. Well let's try and see if it works. I manage to get another piece trimmed and turned, try to match it with the first piece, and the colors are way off. The first piece was a gorgeous pink, this is half pink with some brown in it.
Now I'm looking for things to throw.
Back to the drill I manage to get another piece ready for turning.
I put it on the lathe get it turned, and it's a good match for the other half. I get the pieces out and start to assemble the pen. When I press the first piece into the pen, the wood splits.
This is really getting to me now. I'm starting to think about how I make pens for fun, and this is not fun. Back out to the garage and cut some more wood. I'm down a blank and a half now and still don't have a useable pen.
one more pen cut, drilled, and trimmed. Back to the lathe I manage to get a piece turned with no cracks, explosions or loss of body parts. I take it back inside to assemble and it doesn't really match the color of the first piece I made, but it is better than anything else I have done for the night, so I put it together.
At this point I'm not caring if the colors match or if my lathe blows up. I go out and cut one more piece and manage to eek out another pen. So 4 hours of frustration and I have two pens that I wouldn't buy if I was the customer. they are fine structurally, I just don't care for the way the colors look.
Oh well at least I didn't get CA in my eye or catch a finger between the tool rest and a spinning block of wood. So I guess it could have been worse.
Scott