Scraps from the beach..

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gothycdesigns

gothycdesigns

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Joined
Nov 27, 2005
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Location
Vancouver, WA, USA.
Has anyone went to the beach and picked up wood to turn pens? Does this work ok or has anyone had problems> I was thinking of alternate wood findings for other turning projects.

Later,
Gothyc Designs
 
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I agree with Frank. Wood crack and sand love to hide in those crevices [;)]. You can get lucky...as a matter of fact I turned one of my best bowl (and definitely my most difficult) from a manzanita burl drift wood.
 
Nothing wrong with driftwood. Besides being too wet, too dry, or too much sand, there is always the salt that can interfere with almost any finish you try to put on it. Other than that, you can find some interesting wood, and some exotic species from far away lands. The bigger it is the better it is because there will be less sand and salt in the interior.

Be careful where you pick it up, and have permission before attacking it with a chainsaw. Both the picking and the sawing are illegal on many shores.
 
Have done several over the years with out problems. The grit issue is largely dependent on the wood. A wood that is relatively smooth as it comes from the beach will hold little, if any, grit after a good washing. Obviously, a very cracked and fissured piece will hold enough sand to start a sandpaper factory.

I don't have pics of one of my driftwood pens but some I did from some unknown root were absolutely gorgeous with lots of burl figure. Just recently did two from a very soft, plain grained wood a lady brought back from a mission trip to Trinidad. The pens were as plain as could be. Slim lines due to size limitations of the wood. She gave them to the missionary in Trinidad that she worked with. They brought tears to his eyes. You never know, do you?[:)]
 
This site has a remarkable search function search function!Thanks Jeff!
Of All the great pens that have been posted here, this creation by dmadis has always stuck out in my mind.(bar none)
driftpen1.jpg

Here's the link to the pen that was posted a while back.
Take a look it's worth it!
http://www.penturners.org/forum/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=4528&SearchTerms=driftwood
 
Thats a very cool pen.. but I would have never thought of searching on driftwood. How many other gems are in the database that may never get seen again? Somehow it would be nice to have access to these for people that haven't been around long, something like a rotating top 25 posting list.
 
Originally posted by dfurlano
<br />Thats a very cool pen.. but I would have never thought of searching on driftwood. How many other gems are in the database that may never get seen again? Somehow it would be nice to have access to these for people that haven't been around long, something like a rotating top 25 posting list.
Click to expand...
Try the search first and if you come up empty search archives.
This is one of the few sites where the search actually works thanks to Jeff and his tweaking
 
Very cool guys. I definitely would be looking for smooth wood from the shores. And if large enough piece would cutit down for pen blanks. I have always wondered about the driftwood and now I know there is plenty to look forward too. I will check about the illegal part of it, not sure where to check, Maybe the Oregon State or Washington State websites. I grew up in Oregon outside or Portland OR. Now currently living in Vancouver, WA. So I'll look on the sites.

Thanks again.

Ray K.
 
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