TN & Aluminum Jr. Gent

[wolftat]

This is a pen that I always wanted to try, Lee happened to have a set of aluminum blanks and he wasn't using them so he gave them to me. This is a first for me, but far from the last. Thanks Lee. The rest of the pen is a TN Gold Jr. Gent

 

[NewLondon88]

That looks sharp.
I got a few sets of blanks, too. But I haven't done anything yet except try
to fit the kit parts to them. I'll need to do some boring, I guess.

How did you finish them? Some say sand, some say don't. Some say polishing
makes them look like stainless steel. Yours looks good.

 

[leehljp]

Lee is a great guy! You did the blanks well. Great looking pen! I have long wanted to try one. There is something about all of the polished aluminum pens that I have seen (of course yours included) that looks elegant!

 

[B727phixer]

Looks sharp Neil! Good Job!:biggrin:

 

[Jim15]

Great looking pen.

 

[toolcrazy]

That is cool, nice work.

 

[jttheclockman]

Excellent workmanship. I too would like to know how you went about finishing the pen. Thanks for the reply.

 

[LEAP]

Nice job Neil, Let me know if you want some more aluminum, I'd be willing to trade for a few of your coffee blanks.

 

[Mather323]

Very nice job using aluminum it looks great!

 

[ldb2000]

Great job Neil . How did you like turning it ? It's different then any other type of blank , and brass turns even better .

 

[talbot]

Great looking pen Neil, will it keep its finish or does it need regular buffing/polishing?
regards, Bill

 

[jttheclockman]

Can you powdercoat it??

 

[wolftat]

This is my first aluminum pen, so I am just guessing as I go along as to what to do. The way I did it was to turn the blanks using a gouge and then a skew. I followed with every grit of sandpaper in my shop up to 12000mm. I followed that with a 3 step buff and then some Ren. wax. I then removed the scratches I put on with the Ren. wax and went back to the buffer again. I then put it back on the lathe and used Nev-R-Dull as it spun. This seemed to give it a ton of shine. I would have to say that it does look a lot like Stainless, but I think that any metal can if it is polished. I was considering using a Lacquer finish, but the customer was pacing and didn't want to wait for that (impatient but wealthy). My next one will have a Lacquer finish and will have a lot more time in it to get every little scratch. I also want to try a brushed finished on one. Thank you for all the comments, this was a fun pen to turn. I guess I need to turn something very different every now and then.
I would've liked to try powder coating it, but I don't have the setup for coating YET.

 

[desertyellow]

Aluminum, I have not had the pleasure.
It looks good.