Thread: Tiger Myrtle Pen

Top stuff Ben,
Remember it's our failures that show us the best lessons sometimes, and there the ones that push us forward.
If your getting hot fingers with the sandpaper your pushing to hard on it.
Just let it do its job it doesn't work harder the harder you push[emoji849].

Top pen mate

Cheers Matt

Nice save Benny, good looking pen. Pity you weren't able to apply as many coats of shellawax as you would have liked.

Tony

Nice job - awesome to hear that you stuck at it when you encountered a problem.... Adapting and sourcing new solutions often created whole new ideas and can lead to brand new things that no-one has seen!!

Keep up the great work

Well shaped and a nice piece of wood.

\Just a couple of suggestions. I notice rotary scratches on the blank. Try sanding along
the grain with each grit as you go. This will help eliminate the scratches.

With Shellawax the first couple of coats need to be well worked into the wood. Whatever number
your final coat is it will really shine with heat and pressure from the friction.

As a personal preference I would do a Ca finish. But that is just me!!

Originally Posted by artme

Well shaped and a nice piece of wood.

\Just a couple of suggestions. I notice rotary scratches on the blank. Try sanding along
the grain with each grit as you go. This will help eliminate the scratches.

With Shellawax the first couple of coats need to be well worked into the wood. Whatever number
your final coat is it will really shine with heat and pressure from the friction.

As a personal preference I would do a Ca finish. But that is just me!!

Thanks!
I noticed the scratches too. They came from the fact that I had to redo the whole sanding thing after the cloth I used for polishing was pulling hairs out and getting stuck in the polish and wood. Of course, I had already gone through all the grits before that so my mind was not focused on the fact that I had to redo it, since I used 240 to get the polish off. After I got the polish off I just put another 4 coats on while forgetting that I had to redo the sanding, thanks to my head thinking I had already done that. I realised that about an hour after assembling it, so I figured it was too late...

I only have shellawax at the moment, but I’m planning on getting some other stuff.

Thanks for all of the advice!!

Regards,
Ben.

Benny sometimes at the chipout it pays to turn off the rest and start again with another blank. This because the average blank for this pen is just around 55 mm. No great sacrifice and the patched up blank unnecessary IMHO. To buy a few of this size brasses can be an advantage then if problems arise simply use another pre glued blank and carry on. Sounds weird to you maybe but real satisfaction comes from sound blanks.

Take care mate and enjoy the journey, it still is very important to me as well.

Kind regards Peter.

Some very good points for you from different people. I aso noticed that the componenets don't look as if they are pushed in properly as the looks like a gap especially at the nib end. Not sure if you can get something like Melamine lacquer in your neck of the woods but if you can this method of applying it works very well.achieving succes with melamine as a finish.pdf

Good to see you persevered with it Benny. If you are having fibres from the cloth sticking to the finish it is probable that you have put too much Shellawax on in one go and it goes gluggy and sticky. Just put a very small amount on and rub it in well with the friction before putting the next thin coat on and so on. The top of the pen can be dismantled using a hammer and punch if you wanted to refinish it. If you can find a punch or piece of round bar that fits neatly inside the tube you can knock out the endcap and clip. Do not use a punch which fits up inside the endcap as you will just punch the grey and chrome end off. Hold the blank firmly in your hand (some people recommend wrapping a rubber band multiple times tightly around it for extra grip) hit the punch with a hammer with short sharp blows. It will often take multiple hits before you start to see the endcap start to move depending on how tight a fit it was when pressed in. I find it this easier to do with a small hammer as you have more control over the swing action.
There used to be a tutorial on here on how to apply Shellawax correctly. I will see if I can find it and post a link.

Originally Posted by Treecycle

Good to see you persevered with it Benny. If you are having fibres from the cloth sticking to the finish it is probable that you have put too much Shellawax on in one go and it goes gluggy and sticky. Just put a very small amount on and rub it in well with the friction before putting the next thin coat on and so on. The top of the pen can be dismantled using a hammer and punch if you wanted to refinish it. If you can find a punch or piece of round bar that fits neatly inside the tube you can knock out the endcap and clip. Do not use a punch which fits up inside the endcap as you will just punch the grey and chrome end off. Hold the blank firmly in your hand (some people recommend wrapping a rubber band multiple times tightly around it for extra grip) hit the punch with a hammer with short sharp blows. It will often take multiple hits before you start to see the endcap start to move depending on how tight a fit it was when pressed in. I find it this easier to do with a small hammer as you have more control over the swing action.
There used to be a tutorial on here on how to apply Shellawax correctly. I will see if I can find it and post a link.

Thank you!!!

Just a quick question, would some paper towel be alright for applying polish?

I don't think paper towel would be a good medium to use as I believe it would break down when applying the pressure to generate the heat by friction. It is also suggested to use soft cloth to apply.
Here is the tutorial for preparing the blank and applying the Shellawax.
Below is a clip from the U-Beaut instructions on the level of preparation before applying the Shellawax.
Sanding.jpg

Good work, Ben.
Pleased to see you working on diifferent things and not letting a setback stop you.
"We learn from our mistakes" (so I should know lots....).
cheers
phil