Random rant for your reading fun at my cost.

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redfishsc

redfishsc

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Joined
Feb 11, 2006
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North Charleston , SC
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OK just wasted several good hours at Hard-Way University.


All I had to do tonight was turn 5 pens. And that I did.

One was a Zen from homebrew PR that I cast 6 months ago. A customer saw my black-ti Zen and fell in love and asked for one just like it. Sure thing! I had 3 blanks of this one particular pattern. It took me all 3 blanks to get the pen done. The first blowout was my own stupidity, my hand flinched and I jabbed the blank with the skew. Second blowout happened when I was milling up the ends of the replacement.

The last blank took me an hour just to turn B2B just because I was being anal, seeing my wonderful record thus far with this blank. I suspect my problem was one of the colorants, I used an acetone-based die that seems to have made it more brittle than normal (which is hard to imagine with PR).


Second :mad: of the night: yet a different homebrew PR. Managed to get the pen turned and buffed to a beautiful sheen, only to find a couple of great big craters that I'd missed and not filled with CA. :mad: Start over with the sanding after filling the holes....:mad: I hate double work.....


Managed to get the holes filled and the pen assembled. Looked wonderful! Until the light caught it *just* the right way to reveal a hairline crack:mad::mad::mad: just south of the center band, I guess it happened when I pressed in the transmission, which would be a first for me.

Now, to make things even more fun. I always glue my pens together. I've seen slimline tips and finials come off, so I use 5-minute epoxy to solve that problem. Even after only curing for 15 minutes, the pen would NOT disassemble. I wound up ruining the whole kit:mad: (other than the clip and cb)--- Now, I probably could have preserved more than that had I not been acting out some aggression issues:at-wits-end:.


Add to that the two pens I made from wood (dogwood and black ash burl), and gave the CA finish yet another shot and ended up with yet two more failures:mad: even after working on the finish for an hour each pen.:hypnotized: No matter what, I got dull spots in the finish (I even tried a new brand CA). I give up! I'm shooting these with catalyzed varnish like I always do and saying good-freakin-by to CA finish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMz_RQuTBlI&feature=related
watch



Ahhh, now see..... that's all better......:redface::redface:
 
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LOL, almost as good as Calvin and Hobbs!

I know the feeling. Don't give up on CA, just put it on a sabbatical until you finish seminary and have a little more time to give it.

For me, When I had a problem that other people did well, I spent time attacking the problem with action. I over did it, and under did it, I tried my own ideas. But I was always pushed by the fact that hundreds of others did it well without the problems that I had. I just accepted the fact that "my interpretation" of their written methods was off, so therefore I had to figure out the translation and make adjustments mentally. (Learning to read between the lines of a Japanese conversation really helped me with problem analysis :wink: ) My objective was not a pen, but overcoming the problem. When I was successful once, I did it again until I could duplicate success over and over.

THEN I started back to making pens as a goal. Making pens with different materials, cuts and segments, and finishes are actually a series of different projects (steps) piggybacked together. Once you fairly well master each individual project or step, then success comes to the finished product. Don't think "make a pen", but think "each step."
 
As soon as I realize nothing is going right and I'm having a day like that I close up shop. When I go back the next day all is back to normal.
 
fiferb said:
As soon as I realize nothing is going right and I'm having a day like that I close up shop. When I go back the next day all is back to normal.
Click to expand...


Well that would have happened (I know this type of situation ALL too well) but I had to get the pens done for the customer.

Finished up the one that cracked today with a new blank and kit and it looks great. Whew!!!
 
I feel your pain.

I have experienced your pain.

I live with your pain.

I'm mad as ....

(Voiceover) "We now return you to your regularly scheduled rant, already in progress."
 
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