Very nice pen!!
I'm curious, you said you buffed it before and after the CA finish? What did you buff it with before the CA? Wouldn't any type of wax on the wood interfere with the CA adhering?
Mike...
I almost always buff BEFORE applying CA. I want the wood to be mirror smooth if I am going to high gloss it with CA since the CA is just like a window into the wood. You see what's under the CA.
When I buff before CA I clear the wax wheel of wax so it doesn't intefere with adhesion. I only use pure carnauba on the wax wheel and never very much. I hit the wheel for maybe a second at most. I clear it a lot longer than I charge it.
Usually I only double buff because the Tripoli is too abrasive especially if the wood is dark. It can scratch it and the scratches often show. So I usually just use China White and a clean wax wheel.
In this case the wood looked like it could handle the Tripoli wheel so I tried a triple on it. I can't see any radial scratches on the pen so I guess it worked. There are some things about it that I don't like so it will be a house pen.
There are some things I would like to try with this wood. I just found a Mahogany board that was being used underneath my cyclone garbage can connected to the dust collector. We did some clean up this weekend and my hawk eye caught sight of the wood and siad... Whoa... That looks like Mahogany! Anyhoo... it can be cut into a bunch of slimline+ sized blanks.
AND I also found some 2" x 36" Mahogany turning squares that I bought some 30 years ago. So I should be making more of these babies. I am like a pendulum swinging back and forth. I have been making wood pens out of wild figured and colored exotics. I am starting to want to make some plain and boring pens that do nothing but show the natural beauty of the wood without figure, burl, or other enhancement.
On my desk I have a plain Fat Apple cigar next to a Dark Jarrah Burl Carbara. I like the Carbaras to write with but I usually pick up the Fat Apple cuz I like its simplicity, color, and the feel of plain old wood.
:wink::wink::wink:
