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Ed, hi there, mind If I ask how you created the colored rings on the bowling ball pens? jsut beautiful work! how do you finish your bowling ball items? i made two things ( i will post a picture but it pa;es in comparison to your work) but do not seem to have the shine like you. thanks for any input... your work is terrific!!!!!!!!!
 
Thanks for the follow up. The red and black rings are common o-rings purchased from http://www.allorings.com/. The black one's are "Buna-N" and the red one's are "Silicone". They have dozens of different sizes...my pens are pretty thick (large), so I'm using a "-007" that measures 5/32" ID, 9/32" OD and 1/16" wide. The 1/16†ring width is the smallest they make, and its still pretty wide. So, I always use a smaller ID o-ring, relative to the OD of the pen, that has to be stretched tightly around the piece, thus making the ring thinner, and I think…more attractive.

On the bowling ball finish, I've found that some colors (red, blue, purple and green) polish up better that others...its harder to get the white and yellow to shine. The finishing process I've centered in on is: sand from about 120 to 600 grit in progressive 80-100 grit increments, then put one or two coats of sanding sealer on the piece, wiping off the excess quickly (before it dries) with a paper towel. Then I use the three-step Beall buffing system to remove fine scratches and polish the piece. The sealer is applied to fill any of the little pits (pinhole air pockets) that sometimes show up, before buffing, to keep the Beall tripoli and white diamond out…the tripoli is brown, and looks bad if it gets into any tiny pits in the light colored blanks. Likewise, the diamond material is white and may leave some freckles in a dark colored piece…so use the sealer before buffing.
 
Hi Ed. I'm about to turn my first pen from this B.B. material. What are your thoughts on a CA coat for this? Is that overkill. I use the CA finish on the wood pens I've been making.

Thanks.
 
Chuck, the material is new for pen turning applications, so who knows what might work best...I haven't tried a CA finish on the BB blanks, and I'd love to see a report on how it worked out. Good luck.
 
Ed, thanks for all the terrific feedback on turning and the o rings... will have to investigate, although I will admit I would have no idea what size to order. I usually just turn and what comes out, comes out... i do not know the general diameter I guess. I think i could easily study some of my finished product and get a general idea. Looks terrific, adn I would like to try it! thanks again, keep on turning.
 
Originally posted by Andy Ryan
<br />posted a new pen. It can be seen in my album.
as alway comments and advice are always welcome.
Click to expand...

Andy,

Your pen is very nice and unique. I guess I would rather see it flipped around so it looks like it is in a writing position. Your scanner software most likely comes with some photo editing software that could flip it. I think your scanner is doing a really nice job of capturing the image.
 
I have made three or four items from bowling ball and can not seem to get the "swirl" out. I mean by this i have rings (in the direction of lathe turning) left in the finished product. I do not seem to get this any where near as bad in Acrylic Acetate, Corian or other type of "plastics" any advice much appreciated, i love the colors of the pen blanks and want to improve
 
Check this pen out. Found it the wood on a construction site. Turned out to be spalted maple. The kit is a PSI slim line.

<b>Image Insert:</b><br />
2004717131126_spalted%20maple%20slim%20line.jpg
<br /> 42.29&nbsp;KB
 
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