"This Old Belt" - Tony Lama Be Proud

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shawnmhill

shawnmhill

Member
Joined
May 30, 2010
Messages
197
Location
League City, Tx
Well, when my fiance found and old belt of mine,the light bulb went off!! Perfect time to try a leather pen. I don't know if it's leather anymore. I think it is just CA. I cut 1"x1" squares. Started with CA on one then, applied to another and so on. Saturated it over and over with thin CA. Drilled hole for tube. That actually went pretty easy. I started turning down. Once round, I would stop and pull off lathe, saturate with thin CA again. This went on until I finished shaping. Sanded 320-600. Applied 5 coats of thin CA, 10 coats of Medium, 3 more coats of thin CA. I wanted tomake sure I didn't have any voids because of the leather being so pourous. FINALLY! Sand 600, wet MM to 12k, Hut and Ren to top it off.

This was actually fun because I really didn't have any idea if I was even close to getting it right!!
 

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Nice job! I just finished a couple of leather pens myself in the last few days, got a new on on the lathe as we speak. If it wasn't so darn hot out there, I'd be turning it rather than typing. I don't know if I'll invest the time to get the finish on mine that nice though, I use them mostly on bullet pens or paired with antler, so it's ok if they look a little more "rustic".
 
jskeen said:
Nice job! I just finished a couple of leather pens myself in the last few days, got a new on on the lathe as we speak. If it wasn't so darn hot out there, I'd be turning it rather than typing. I don't know if I'll invest the time to get the finish on mine that nice though, I use them mostly on bullet pens or paired with antler, so it's ok if they look a little more "rustic".
Click to expand...

Hope you have a gallon of CA! :bulgy-eyes::eek:
 
I really like this pen. Looks fantastic. Great shot too - or great fixing up. Could you increase the thickness of the CA as the process goes along? I really think you should work on a couple more of these! : ) And then you might be willing to part with one!
Martin
 
shawnmhill said:
jskeen said:
Nice job! I just finished a couple of leather pens myself in the last few days, got a new on on the lathe as we speak. If it wasn't so darn hot out there, I'd be turning it rather than typing. I don't know if I'll invest the time to get the finish on mine that nice though, I use them mostly on bullet pens or paired with antler, so it's ok if they look a little more "rustic".
Click to expand...

Hope you have a gallon of CA! :bulgy-eyes::eek:
Click to expand...

Actually, I don't tend to use that much. I have a gadget that I made to cut out leather disks about 5/8 inch and stack them, so I don't waste as much glue. If you're interested, I'll post the process and some pics.
 
jskeen said:
shawnmhill said:
jskeen said:
Nice job! I just finished a couple of leather pens myself in the last few days, got a new on on the lathe as we speak. If it wasn't so darn hot out there, I'd be turning it rather than typing. I don't know if I'll invest the time to get the finish on mine that nice though, I use them mostly on bullet pens or paired with antler, so it's ok if they look a little more "rustic".
Click to expand...

Hope you have a gallon of CA! :bulgy-eyes::eek:
Click to expand...

Actually, I don't tend to use that much. I have a gadget that I made to cut out leather disks about 5/8 inch and stack them, so I don't waste as much glue. If you're interested, I'll post the process and some pics.
Click to expand...

Heck yea! I would love to see your process. I'm gonna have to find some more belts!

Shawn
 
That is an excellent recycling job!! And, it looks fantastic!
 
Thanks for all the nice comments. I really appreciate it. I've only been turning since March/April timeframe and I'm always looking for new things. I watch this forum constantly and see amazing work from the very ones that commented. It gives me motivation to try and do work that meets the standards of the "Veterans". Thank You So Very Much.

Shawn
 
Shawn,

Absolutely stunning job!!!

Did you stack the washers "cross grain" intentionally?

Kinda reminds me of the old Marbles knives handles.
 
Blue Danube said:
Shawn,

Absolutely stunning job!!!

Did you stack the washers "cross grain" intentionally?

Kinda reminds me of the old Marbles knives handles.
Click to expand...

Yes, I tried to make sure I had defined lines. Thanks for asking! I am going to work on a black/brown one but scared the dye in the black one will give me some problems with CA.

Shawn
 
Sure is a nice finish for a leather pen, it looks great, some day I'll try one but the only old belt I have around is braided Horse Hair, guess I could buy one at the flea market though!!!
 
The CA isnt really as caustic as PR or something like that so I doubt it'll give you a problem with the dye. I'd give it a shot anyhow.
 
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