Very different material

[Jim Smith]

This pen was a bit of a challenge. The barrel is made from petrified coral cast in blue polyacrylic. Very hard stuff, also challenging to work with as it has a tendency to chip at the edges of you are not careful. All that said, it makes a beautiful and unique-looking pen. It's very difficult to compete with the beauty of nature. I paired it with a Broadwell Art Deco kit and it looks very nice. Sorry for the poor quality photograph, I had the snap a quick shot and get it wrapped to send off as a Christmas gift.

Jim Smith

 

[hewunch]

How cool! I bet it was difficult. I turned not petrified coral before. It was brittle.

 

[tomtedesco]

Great patterns, looks great.

 

[TDahl]

Very nice and distinctive.

 

[Kenny Durrant]

Not only nice but impressive! Great work and thinking for a unique pen.

 

[Woodchipper]

Most unusual. Not aware that coral can be turned. Nice pen!

 

[turnit2020]

That looks really cool. Perhaps a negative rake carbide cutter would help with that chippy material. Thanks for showing your work.

 

[Jim Smith]

That looks really cool. Perhaps a negative rake carbide cutter would help with that chippy material. Thanks for showing your work.

Yes, I used my carbide tool to turn this blank. I thought I'd trying it with my HSS tool, but it just skipped across the surface without making any cuts.

 

[Jim Smith]

Not only nice but impressive! Great work and thinking for a unique pen.

Thank you. I like to give my son-in-law pens for Christmas and his birthdays as he loves pens and is in a senior management role where he works so he gets to use them and show them off when he signs contracts with his clients. I've probably given him well over 20 pens over the years so I try to make a unique and different one for him each time.

 

[MedWoodWorx]

This pen was a bit of a challenge. The barrel is made from petrified coral cast in blue polyacrylic. Very hard stuff, also challenging to work with as it has a tendency to chip at the edges of you are not careful. All that said, it makes a beautiful and unique-looking pen. It's very difficult to compete with the beauty of nature. I paired it with a Broadwell Art Deco kit and it looks very nice. Sorry for the poor quality photograph, I had the snap a quick shot and get it wrapped to send off as a Christmas gift.

Jim Smith

Very nice work, well done

 

[Jim Smith]

Very nice work, well done

Thank you. If it were not for the challenging material, it would have been a very simple, straightforward pen. But it does make a pretty pen with a cool story behind it.