BOE
Member
Got home today and found a box from PSI :biggrin: Finally I can get started.
Last night I glued up a scallop blank for my first pen. Went to the firewood pile and grabbed a chunk of spalted alder which we have been heating the house with. Not wanting to be to small I started with a 1 inch square blank, used some black walnut I had and put a piece of thin brass between the walnut and alder using tips learned from Tim. :good: I also learned it is a long way lathing brass from 1 inch square to the tip of a comfort pen. :tongue:
I ordered some slimline and some comfort pens and pencils from PSI since they were cheaper than some of the other ones, and I was just getting started on this hobby.
I finally figured out how to get the live center off the lathe and the mandrel saver on the lathe, got the mandrel mounted in the lathe and looked over the parts, it all seemed simple enough. There was a little gray plastic piece I have no idea what I should do with, and the kit I opened had two clips
Anyway it was chip making time, I sharpen the heck out of my tool and got started. The brass was going better than I expected (more on that later )
When I was done and the writing part wouldnt come out the tip it took me a while to figure out how to get the guts seated deeper, but finally I work thru those issues. I was less than happy when I realized I made the middle part to small, that plastic piece in the middle was a different sized piece and I should not have lathed to the bushing. Wont make that mistake again anytime soon. :embarrassed:
I didnt have any MM and all I had was 600 grit sandpaper on the fine end of the scale, I need to get to a bigger town or place an order online for some finishing supplies.
Still trying to figure out this CA, I didnt have any accelerator and when I thought I had given the first coat enough time to dry, I reached up and felt the wood with the back of my hand with my latex gloves on. It is amazing how fast a glove is ripped off your hand when the lathe is spinning. Wrapped the glove around the blank, and latex doesnt sand off a blank real well. Wont make the mistake again anytime soon. :embarrassed:
Anyway, enough babbling here is how she turned out
I have since removed the black band in the middle which is bigger than my wood, and it looks better without the oversized band. (well maybe the band wasnt oversized, the tool on the tool didnt know what he was doing is more like it :wink.
My scallops didnt turn out nearly as big as I had envisioned them, I lathed most of them away.
I took a pic of the blank when I was about half done, it was looking OK
but what the last pic didnt show was the reason I stopped and took a pic. I blew out the scallops. I glued the piece that flew across the shop back together and went back to lathing. I cant even see where I put it back together
When it was all done and said, I came out smarter, no blood was shed, and I didnt completely stick myself to the workbench with CA
Do I ever need to get some more finish supplies
One down, several more to go.
Last night I glued up a scallop blank for my first pen. Went to the firewood pile and grabbed a chunk of spalted alder which we have been heating the house with. Not wanting to be to small I started with a 1 inch square blank, used some black walnut I had and put a piece of thin brass between the walnut and alder using tips learned from Tim. :good: I also learned it is a long way lathing brass from 1 inch square to the tip of a comfort pen. :tongue:
I ordered some slimline and some comfort pens and pencils from PSI since they were cheaper than some of the other ones, and I was just getting started on this hobby.
I finally figured out how to get the live center off the lathe and the mandrel saver on the lathe, got the mandrel mounted in the lathe and looked over the parts, it all seemed simple enough. There was a little gray plastic piece I have no idea what I should do with, and the kit I opened had two clips
Anyway it was chip making time, I sharpen the heck out of my tool and got started. The brass was going better than I expected (more on that later )
When I was done and the writing part wouldnt come out the tip it took me a while to figure out how to get the guts seated deeper, but finally I work thru those issues. I was less than happy when I realized I made the middle part to small, that plastic piece in the middle was a different sized piece and I should not have lathed to the bushing. Wont make that mistake again anytime soon. :embarrassed:
I didnt have any MM and all I had was 600 grit sandpaper on the fine end of the scale, I need to get to a bigger town or place an order online for some finishing supplies.
Still trying to figure out this CA, I didnt have any accelerator and when I thought I had given the first coat enough time to dry, I reached up and felt the wood with the back of my hand with my latex gloves on. It is amazing how fast a glove is ripped off your hand when the lathe is spinning. Wrapped the glove around the blank, and latex doesnt sand off a blank real well. Wont make the mistake again anytime soon. :embarrassed:
Anyway, enough babbling here is how she turned out
I have since removed the black band in the middle which is bigger than my wood, and it looks better without the oversized band. (well maybe the band wasnt oversized, the tool on the tool didnt know what he was doing is more like it :wink.
My scallops didnt turn out nearly as big as I had envisioned them, I lathed most of them away.
I took a pic of the blank when I was about half done, it was looking OK
but what the last pic didnt show was the reason I stopped and took a pic. I blew out the scallops. I glued the piece that flew across the shop back together and went back to lathing. I cant even see where I put it back together
When it was all done and said, I came out smarter, no blood was shed, and I didnt completely stick myself to the workbench with CA
Do I ever need to get some more finish supplies
One down, several more to go.
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