My First Non-Laser Cut Segmented Pen

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Ken Wines

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Joined
Feb 7, 2013
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277
Location
Charleston, WV
While at MOVPTG this year I had the opportunity to attend a one on one session with Jim Godoy and Leon Klepin of Cocoon Blanks on how to make a scalloped segmented pen. When I signed up for the class Leon told me that he had picked out some "special" materials we would use to make the blanks. Anyway, I'm sorry I don't remember what burl was used for the main body of the pen but the scallops and end caps are aluminum honeycomb cast with resin. I've never turned a blank before with embedded aluminum and was quite apprehensive as I turned the blanks to shape. I took my time and gradually got the end caps and scallops turned down using my trusty skew til they mated nicely with hardware. I opted to do a matte finish on the burl. I am very happy with how well they turned and grateful for not having a blowout from the embedded aluminum.

I recently purchased a sliding table for my Jim Byrnes 4" table saw and hope to do more of this type segmenting in the future.

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mark james

IAP Collection, Curator
Joined
Sep 6, 2012
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Medina, Ohio
OK, now you are making me jealous! A CNC Geek should not be playing with simple tools...

I love it. Excellent combination of materials. And I do suspect that there was a pucker factor for the scalloped honeycombs - tricky in any application, but as scallops and end caps - well done.

A beautiful pen Ken.
 

Ken Wines

Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2013
Messages
277
Location
Charleston, WV
OK, now you are making me jealous! A CNC Geek should not be playing with simple tools...

I love it. Excellent combination of materials. And I do suspect that there was a pucker factor for the scalloped honeycombs - tricky in any application, but as scallops and end caps - well done.

A beautiful pen Ken.
Thanks, Mark. I do have quite of few tools that don't get plugged into a computer. I spent some down time this summer working cleaning and reorganizing the shop. I had some drawers in a card index cabinet that had been sticking for some time. They were small enough that I could put them on the side on the CNC table and using a planing bit take a little off so they moved smoothly. This worked ok on the first one and as I was doing the second as the planing bit hit the end grain of the front on the drawer it caught and bent the shaft of the little 400 watt spindle I was using. $200 down the drain in an instance, probably using an undersized tool for the 1" diameter planing bit. Anyway the spindle got replaced with a 1.5kw VFD driven spindle. In the interim I got out my old planes and spent a day sharpening them. I used hand planes to work the other 13 drawers. I was really getting into the rhythm and euphoric feeling of planing wood by hand. I started looking for other objects that were sticking, door, drawers, etc. So I do get why people enjoy using "simple" tools.

Anyway, I do admire the work that you and other segmenters do. I've not been able to get a handle on the 3d visualization of how these pieces will look when turned. I suppose it's a matter of trying something, turning it and seeing what the result are for now. I don't expect I'll be doing a lot of this type segmenting but it would be nice to know how to do it. It all a learning thing, ever evolving and not staying at any one place that long.
 
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DB in VT

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Joined
Oct 13, 2016
Messages
143
Location
Vermont
I am continually impressed with the skill and creativity that is on display in this forum. Rarely have I looked and a pen and coveted it. Trust me, if I owned that pen, it would never leave my presence. Great job!
 
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