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Thread: Today's Effort
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25th April 2013, 11:04 PM #1Member
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Today's Effort
Ok guys, I've had a couple of goes at doing pens. A couple of successful ones and one spectacular failure, where I put the mechanism in to far. I was initially using CA as a finish. However as somebody said on one of my previous threads, CA is a one of the dark arts. I had trouble getting a nice good even gloss on the finish.
I showed my pens to some of the people at work and had a couple of ppl offer to buy some of me. Whoohoo. So I decided it was time to try something different. I wanted a finish that was easier to use and looked a whole lot nicer than my poor attempts at CA.
After trawling through the forums for ideas, I came up with a plan of attack.
Step 1: Wet sand 120-600 grit. Rubbed down with clean rag between grades.
Step 2: Dry sand 800-2000 grit. Rubbed down with clean rag between grades.
Step 3: EEE Cream (whoever designed this stuff is a genius)
Step 4: Two light coats of shelawax (magical stuff)
So using this approach I did six pens today. Love the finish. Can't remember which pen is which but there is curly jarrah, flame she-oak, padouk, woody pear, bubinga and African ash.
All feed back welcome
Rhys
PS: The African ash has a ring of grevillea around the center instead of the gold bushing. Made this on for my mother who isn't keen on how narrow the center of a standard pen kit is. Personally I don't like it but she loved it.
PPS: The grevillea was from a tree we cut down in our own yard. Now that's using local timber.
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25th April 2013, 11:24 PM #2
Hehe! it's a slippery slope from here on the same folk who make the EEE and shellawax also make a product called Glow, this is a friction polish for pens and will give an even better finish while retaining the wood feel U-Beaut who are forum sponsors will have a stand at the working with wood show in brisbane coming up soon ,so any advice you might need you can get from the manufacturer themselves . What area of brisbane are you as I am sure there will be someone near enough to give you a hands on session in some of these things ,for instance I am near Beenleigh . Sometimes we make a pen that we don't value highly for one reason or another, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder ,and I am still surprised myself what some folk will take a shine to I have sold some ugly looking pens in my eyes ,but a treasure to others. I don't see any value in wet sanding wood at all ,but definately always wet sand acrylics ,and not fast either as any heat generated can melt the acrylics very quickly cheers ~ John
G'day all !Enjoy your stay !!!
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25th April 2013, 11:47 PM #3Member
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Thanks for the response John. I'm from over wynnum way. I was looking at glow before I decided on the shelawax. The main reason I decided on it was because the glow said it added a shade or two to the timber. As I prefer the darker timbers already, I reasoned It'd be better sticking with the standard shelawax, so I didn't make them too dark.
Cheers
Rhys
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26th April 2013, 09:21 AM #4
It's good to experiment with different finishes. CA is not hard to do, it just takes a little practice until you get the touch. Its so easy in the beginning to either rub it on a little too gently and get ripples or do the opposite and have the paper stick to the blank. Still after a while you get the feeling for it and it goes on well. Using MM to wet sand it back will give a brilliant finish. Again, go lightly on the heavier grades of MM as it can cut into the CA. I have tried Shellawax and while it goes on well and is easy to apply, I found it doesn't really protect the timber and it doesn't take long to get discolourations on the timber from handling the pen. There are a of other options for finishing. If you are going to the Wood show, call in and see Neil from UBeaut and get some ideas from him.
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26th April 2013, 02:41 PM #5
Re: Today's Effort
Hey Mate
Well done on ur efforts they look great ;-) I have to say BLO and CA work a treat for me when I do use it most of the time I use #### hot waxstick on my timber pens nice easy and convenient ;-) I have also use clear acrylic spray and PC too but I have become really addicted to plastic lol as HazzaB say I am a plastic turner atm
Thanks
Ian
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26th April 2013, 03:13 PM #6
Hi Rhys, good effort on those pens. You asked for feedback so here goes. I am not sure whether it is the photos or not but to me it looks like you may have some "out of round issues" there. The transition from blank to fitting seems to be slightly off to one side, its hard to tell exactly as the pics aren't really sharp. If this is the case there are a few causes and a few fixes to go with them.
Like John I live at Beenleigh and if you ever want to pop over for coffee and a chat (bring your pens) I would be more than happy to run over some of the finer points with you show you my set up, how I do things, some things to avoid etc. Alternatively get along to the up coming woodwork show (again bring your pens along), introduce yourself at the forum stand, find one of us pen nuts and take it from there. Talking to other people who have been where you are now is the fastest and best way to get to where they are now.Regards Rumnut.
SimplyWoodwork
Qld. Australia.
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26th April 2013, 07:46 PM #7
Hi Rhys. I'm not quite Wynnum but if you want to drop by on a Saturday morning (my home alone shed time) then just give a shout. More than happy to help show you the ropes with CA finishes.
cheers
WHI don't suffer from stress, but I have been told I'm a carrier
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26th April 2013, 09:49 PM #8Member
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Thanks for the offer hacker. I'm on the wrong side of town this weekend so will have to decline. Hopefully I should be getting to the twww show in a few weeks (that's if I'm not working) so I might stop in there.
Cheers Rhys.
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26th April 2013, 10:29 PM #9
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27th April 2013, 05:25 PM #10Skwair2rownd
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They are really good looking pens Rhys!!.Well done indeed!!
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