first pen I did start to finish myself

[tryingtokeepmyfingers]

Here is the first pen I did start to finish
drilling the blanks
gluing the tube
trimming the end
turning
finishing
and
pressing the parts

before I had only done the turning the finishing at the woodworking show

This is a slimline done with Zebrawood but this blank did not have many stripes

 

[Leviblue]

Nice job on the pen. I like the dark strip on the side. Gives it a good contrast.

 

[tryingtokeepmyfingers]

Nice job on the pen. I like the dark strip on the side. Gives it a good contrast.

yea the other Zebra wood blank I have has more of the lines in it so hopefully with work out better

 

[ScottM]

NICE first attempt. Make sure you hang on to that pen. As you grow and learn you will want to look back at it.

 

[skeeter]

Nice job. Careful, pens are addictive!

 

[Canuck]

Looks super!

As mentioned though, pen turning gets pretty addictive.

When I am bored, I pull out a blank and a kit and kill an hour here and there just to play. Now I have a pretty stock for gift giving.

Very good projects for pretty instant gratification.

Well done!

Wayne

 

[tryingtokeepmyfingers]

Very good projects for pretty instant gratification.

Well done!

Wayne

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

 

[tryingtokeepmyfingers]

UPDATE.... 2nd pen on Lathe today

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

now photos

 

[ScottM]

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.

 

[cskipper]

Great job. Be sure and keep the first pen so you can see how much your skills develop over time.

 

[Gary_C]

Here is the first pen I did start to finish

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....