SCR0LL3R
Member
I am feeling rather discouraged in my progress with this hobby. My girlfriend says there's a learning curve, but I feel like I fell off the curve and was sent back to the start. Every pen is a journey into how I can find a new way to screw up. I messed up the last three pens in a row.
Many (most in fact) of my problems stem with getting the blank squared off and onto the pen without lifting up any CA glue on the edge.
My other 2 recent screw up include a baron with a beautiful thuya burl which I assembled wrong TWICE. I was lucky enough to get it apart the first time but the 2nd time it seemed there was no way and I cracked the CA really bad trying. If I get a perfect sized punch there is a very small possibility of still salvaging this one but even if I do there is a small nick in the black ring which means it will either have to go without the ring or with the nick, best case it'll still be flawed . So far I have invested about 5 hours into that one and I may just let it go.
Tonight I tried my first lucite blank. First impression... I am going to have to be very gentle and slow. I got the hang of it and did very good until I got to the point when a tearout would be critical... and I found a way to do it!! All I did was loosen up my mandrel because it had gotten excessively tight somehow. That gave the pen a new center and paved the way for some nice tearout.
I'm just venting my frustration in the hopes that I can get a little positive reinforcement. The best I can come up with is "How many more possible ways are there to screw up!"
Many (most in fact) of my problems stem with getting the blank squared off and onto the pen without lifting up any CA glue on the edge.
My other 2 recent screw up include a baron with a beautiful thuya burl which I assembled wrong TWICE. I was lucky enough to get it apart the first time but the 2nd time it seemed there was no way and I cracked the CA really bad trying. If I get a perfect sized punch there is a very small possibility of still salvaging this one but even if I do there is a small nick in the black ring which means it will either have to go without the ring or with the nick, best case it'll still be flawed . So far I have invested about 5 hours into that one and I may just let it go.
Tonight I tried my first lucite blank. First impression... I am going to have to be very gentle and slow. I got the hang of it and did very good until I got to the point when a tearout would be critical... and I found a way to do it!! All I did was loosen up my mandrel because it had gotten excessively tight somehow. That gave the pen a new center and paved the way for some nice tearout.
I'm just venting my frustration in the hopes that I can get a little positive reinforcement. The best I can come up with is "How many more possible ways are there to screw up!"