Zebrawood SL

[JimGo]

My parents' neighbor has a zebrawood mantle, and still had some cut-off pieces from it from when the house was built about 20 years ago. He offered me a piece the other day, so I now have about a 2' long by 6-8" wide by 3/4" or so (haven't ACTUALLY measured it). This is the first of the pens I'll be making from it, and is a thank-you for him. He actually picked the design. Next time, I'll use calipers (or ANY measuring means) on the beadwork to make the beads more consistent.

 

[woodscavenger]

Not the design I would have picked, but as we all know the customer is always right. I agree on the bead thing. I also see a few that are a little too sharp edged. I can never get my beads symmetric. BTW, what finish did you use? I have tough time getting CA to work with all of the beads.

 

[JimGo]

Shane, thanks for the feedback. I agree about some of the beads being too sharp; what a pain this was! Oh well, far be it from ME to complain that my skew kept fighting me (bad sharpening job last time). I thought I'd be able to round everything over when I sanded, but sanding in between the beads was tough too, that's why the edges only got knocked part way down. I used BLO/CA as the finish on both halves, but used a LOT of BLO in the grooves, was really careful to make sure I got some thin CA in the grooves too, and had to "sand" down the inside of the grooves with some 0000 steel wool on more than one occasion.

I'm chalking this one up to being a good learning experience. It DOES look better in person, too...both my wife and I were surprised when I put it together! [] On the plus side, even with the weird sizing differences, the grain lines up nicely!

 

[elody21]

The pens look great. I have not done much with zebrawood but I think I'll give it a try!

 

[Old Griz]

I am not a big fan of beads and coves on pens... but you did a good job on the pen...
One other opinion.. since that wood is 3/4" I personally think it would be better suited to larger pens where the grain will really show up better.
Of course this is only my opinion for what it is worth... probably about 2 mils or so...

 

[rtjw]

Wood looks great but I have to agree with Old Griz on the beads.

 

[JimGo]

Tom,
I agree! I like the "bigger" kits for wood like this. I showed him my personal collection, which includes various styles, including SL's, Jr. Gent's, Baron's, Polari, and cigar pens, but he chose the slimline, and something of a style similar to this one. I was actually pretty disappointed, because the chunk of wood that I took had some nice grain to it.

 

[MDWine]

Nice job, Jim

 

[jvsank]

Nice looking pens, Jim

 

[atvrules1]

Good job on that one Jim. I also don't like beads on pens, but when the customer want them....well, gotta make the sale. For just eyeballing the beads, I think that you did a good job, but I can sure sympathize with you on trying to sand and finish that. I bet that you were tired of it by the time you got done. Oh, congrats on the piece of wood, sounds like a few more pens will be coming out of that one. You might even have enough to get some cross or diagonal cut blanks just for variety.

 

[Justin_F]

Innovation - its good to see - keep up the good work.