My FIRST Pen

[dazzler]

Hi

here it is. Nothing flash. Myrtle from the Huon.

cheers


dazzler

[Iain]

And whats wrong with it???
Finish is???
You ahve a lot to learn, posting a piccy with no info:D .
I have just started to rediscover my little lathe and bought a mandrel with the morse taper, made one hell of a difference, also started using a gouge rather than a scraper, amazing, less breakages, and useing the rotary sander, it works, and EEE paste, and shellawax glow.
My pens have suddenly come of age and I can produce one in under 5 minutes from who to go (plus glue up time).
Starting on a heap for Xmas presents as well as keyrings etc.
My only problem now is, it's almost embarrassing, how the hell do you sharpen a gouge, any flat blade, not a problem, but I hate the prospect of gouge sharpening.
Anyway, keep up the good work.

[dazzler]

Thanks Iain

I used the carbatec pen turning kit and the carbatec $18 for 5 pen kit.

I use the gouge for most of it and the 1/2 inch skew to taper to the bushings.

Sanded to 800 grit and finished with


UBEAUT SHELLAWAX
:D


B'fdies and xmas are easy now!

[Shedhand]

Hi

here it is. Nothing flash. Myrtle from the Huon.

cheers


dazzlerNice one Daz. Now you need to make one of Huon from Myrtle.
Cheers. Have a greenie

[Tassie Boy]

Good start to your pen turning career dazzler!
I was down in huon valley a week ago, beautiful country down there!
Good timber too...

[bdar]

Daz, Top effort with your first pen. Nothing flash hey, Tassie Myrtle, nice choice of timber. The fit up seems to be good from what I could tell in the picture and has been finished well. If you ever have a spare piece of Tassie Musk Burl I'll look after it for you. What did you sand to and finish the pen with? I know you said it takes you 5 minutes to finish your pens Iain, what do you sand to? On the information provided on the U-Beaut site, the finer the finish the better the finish using shellawax. Though I use shellawax for other turning, I don't for pens. My prefered finish is CA, BLO/CA, dipped lacquer or plexi finish, they take a bit longer, about an hour for CA, BLO/CA or plexi a few days for the lacquer finish. I turn my pens with a skew, start with 240 grit to 600 grit wet and dry, then I start with 1500 Micro Mesh to 12000 Micro Mesh.
8000 MM is equivalent to 2 microns. When I sand, if my pens don't look as though they have had a finish on them when sanding is complete they are not ready for finishing. I use this method because I sell through jewellers and high end gift shop. More time has to go into prepraring the surface for final finishing otherwise I think you don't do the timber justice and could give a finish a bad rep because of poor sanding practices. This is my process for finishing and my thoughts, everybody hase their prefered finish they use but it should take more than 5 minutes.
Darren

[Iain]

Using the rotary sander I progress through 80-120-180-240-320, this is what the kits comes with.
Now I am sure that Neil states that 320 on the rotary is the equivalant of 1200 static.
I then use EEE paste and it's as smooth as a babies bum, only takes a few seconds then apply shellawax glow or cream (depending ipon what is sitting next to me) and Voila../..perfect finish.
Neil reckons that you can then go trad wax or EEE again but to date I haven't tried it.
I haven't tried CA on anything as a finish but I will give it a go one day.

[ss_11000]

nice pen dazzler:) ....

and great signature line to;)

[tonysa]

nothing wrong with that pen dazzler, looks pretty good from here !

another black eyed peas fan , kewl

[Gil Jones]

That is a fine lookin' pen, Dazzler!!
The Myrtle sure is purrdy :D