mgoetzke
Member
Many years ago I turned maybe 3 pens and then got interested in bowls. Few days ago I found two USPS small boxes of pen blanks in my garage/shop and thought it's time to turn some pens. One box was a verity of exotic wood and the other has great figure but it looks to me now like splated maple. I purchased 15 pen kits for practice and prepared blanks for all of them.
So excited I bought a few new toys to make these including a Colwin Way Signature skew. Ha - don't think I ever used a skew because of all the bad things I heard about them. I loaded the first blank in my new turn-between-centers mandrel and couldn't believe it I made a perfectly good piece only using the skew. Loaded the second piece and oh-no I see longitudinal cracks. Laid a little CA in them but don't know if I should try to turn it or not. So I go to another blank set. This was called "unidentified" Brazilian wood. Once again I surprised myself with the skew.
I sanded the blanks and they looked terrific! I purchased a Glu-Boost kit to finish the pens. I saw two different ways to use the two sealants - 2 coats thin/orange followed by 2 of the pro/blue and the other just the opposite. I went orange then blue but wondering if this was a mistake? After the two applications of thin the pen looked gorgeous but then when I applied the blue the surface got textured/bumpy. I still went ahead and used my three step Beall buffing wheels.
It came out pretty good but hopefully I will learn a little on the others before I use more expensive kits.
(Please be critical - I'm here to learn from the pros!)
So excited I bought a few new toys to make these including a Colwin Way Signature skew. Ha - don't think I ever used a skew because of all the bad things I heard about them. I loaded the first blank in my new turn-between-centers mandrel and couldn't believe it I made a perfectly good piece only using the skew. Loaded the second piece and oh-no I see longitudinal cracks. Laid a little CA in them but don't know if I should try to turn it or not. So I go to another blank set. This was called "unidentified" Brazilian wood. Once again I surprised myself with the skew.
I sanded the blanks and they looked terrific! I purchased a Glu-Boost kit to finish the pens. I saw two different ways to use the two sealants - 2 coats thin/orange followed by 2 of the pro/blue and the other just the opposite. I went orange then blue but wondering if this was a mistake? After the two applications of thin the pen looked gorgeous but then when I applied the blue the surface got textured/bumpy. I still went ahead and used my three step Beall buffing wheels.
It came out pretty good but hopefully I will learn a little on the others before I use more expensive kits.
(Please be critical - I'm here to learn from the pros!)