Pen blank glue-ups

[nblong]

Anyone have a feel for pen blank materials that should NOT be combined?

I'm moving away from pens made from a single blank into gluing different colors together and I'm wondering what kinds of materials don't do well. My first effort was this satin gold slimline with pink ivory and piece of yellowheart. Had to sand forever so all the mating surfaces were smooth enough to fit together well (learned a lesson about using my bandsaw for cutting this kind of thing!) but it turned out OK; you can't see or feel the joints. Are there combinations that just don't work, for example like never trying to glue Inlace Acrylester to Cocobolo?

 

[PChristy]

Bruce, no clue on the wood choices but this pen that you showed us looks great:icon_thum You might want to talk to AlexL - he is the pen master

 

[woodArtz]

Not sure which wood works together best, but that pen is a winner! :icon_thum I have trouble keeping lights and darks from fading into each other when making glue ups.

 

[nblong]

Good advice Phillip, I'm always jealous of his work. AlexL, you out there? I'm always open to advice.

 

[Gotcha6]

Although mostly trial & error and I'm very new at this I try & keep grains of similar density together. Coarse grained woods don't tend to finish the same way as the finer grained ones. Other than that, just go for it. I have found I get better results segmenting using a TS with a mitered sled and stop block for consistency.