Thanks and yea I like that Instant Gratification and also the level of creativity you can add to it... I have decided for my next pen to take 3 different blanks I have and made segmented pens with them
I turned this one out of some scrap ApplePly wood that is basically maple multilayer plywood
I learned alot with this pen... it did not go as smooth as the first one
1. I had the CA glue dry up before I got one of the tubes all the way in.... I ruined the blank and rescued the tube and started again ( I guess in the future maybe I should trying slower setting glue cause I thought I was working fast )
2. While turning I had a blank totally bust apart so I cleaned the tube cut another blank and did it again...
3. I was using the barrel trimmer in the drillpress and butchered the end of the tub upon sliding the tubed blank to trim... bent it back and go lucky
4. I had a bit of tear out on the end of each blank... I hid one under the clip and the other just will have to live in the middle of the pen since I did not want it on the writing end
--- I have glued up 3 segmented blanks I made using three different types of wood to make striped pens so that is my work in progress the lessons I learned today should help with them
I think we have all had the issues you stated but maybe not all on one pen.
On CA'ing the tube make sure to use CA Thick. It has slightly slow dry times then med. Better yet switch to 2 part epoxy. Yes you have to wait a little longer to start turning but it does eliminate the issue of tubes being stuck.
Nice work...I'm at about the same place you are at...just getting my first pens done. Klingspores had pens on close out so I bought about 15 copies of one kit. I figured I should practice on the lower priced kits...and if I did the same one over and over I'd eventually get it right!
Not sure mine are as pretty as your Zebrawood, though....