FGarbrecht
Member
I wanted to try something a bit more ambitious than the single tube pens I've been learning on, so I did a churchill rollerball with a hybrid technique doing rough turning on a mandrel with bushings and final by TBC. I didn't realize at the time I started that snakewood is (or can be) tough to deal with, and I think I learned some of the ins and outs of dealing with it. I actually cracked the blank on my chuck during initial drilling (I heard the crack but couldn't see it), so I just blithely proceeded on. Once the blanks were glued up and turned to final size and shape I could see a 1 cm longitudinal crack, which I attempted to fix. I think I did a pretty decent job on the crack but you can find it if you look hard enough. Finishing was a bear too. I took the finish down at least 4 times because of various problems and imperfections, but I learned a lot during the process. I used a micrometer during the turning and finishing as advised here, and the final fit is pretty near perfect.
