11 pen blanks in excange for a finished pen!

**robutacion** · 12th March 2009, 04:41 PM

Originally Posted by gawdelpus

Damn! that looks a lot of work and a labour of love, I am sure there are some real "treasures" waiting to be unlocked in that assortment , you could always PM the recipients with your first choice of wood for your return pen , no one would begrudge you that hehe. Although I probably have a few too many blanks already, most likely any one been making pens for a while already has ,I may send you another one and have some nice wood for "swaps" hehe , I have some pretty ordinary stuff as it stands!

cheers John!

Hi John,

Your comment is absolutely right. I lost count, on the number of blanks that I went trough (in all species), that caught my eye/attention. Absolutely none was ever put a side as "my stash", they all went as if they were all being cut for myself, maybe my lost but again, my problem...!

Now with this said, and anyone that ever had anything to do with timbers know that, some "treasures" are hidden, some show themselves a little bit, and other times you cut right trough the middle of it, exposing the treasure like some people when they are sun-roasting on the beach

. Is this a good example?, oh well, it will do!

Talking about those treasures, some times a piece is selected for its visual "potential" and end-up being a complete fiasco, other times something comes up from the most unexpected places. What I'm trying to say is, any piece that I see that is going to fail, is taken out immediately, others are left as they can go either way (most rare, uncommon and unique, or to the firewood pile/bin). Each one sees a natural characteristic, as either a feature or an imperfection, some people will go to all extremes to keep (glues, etc) what nature created, others see it as rubbish. For a commercial purpose, timbers are normally cut and re-cut until all "imperfections" are removed, and at the paddock anything that looks not clean/flat/straight grain, is left behind to rot, I on the other hand select my timbers in that same "reverse" order. I will some times waste large amounts of timber just to get the "busy, curled, twisted, knotted, and whatever will make the piece to look anything but just plain. This is indeed the reason why so many timber species in Australia and in many other countries around the world are never used for commercial purposes. I'm glad if they keep that way, otherwise would be nothing left.

So that you know, any blanks that you believe unworkable, or you can show me (pic) that, it disintegrated or similar, while turning, It will be replace (as soon as convenient) for both parties!

It goes without saying that, I'm experiencing a great deal of excitement just to see how some of my timbers will turn up on a pen. I don't recall to ever seen (but, I'm sure, it was done many times before) pens made out of some of my preferred timbers such as the pines and its relatives.

These pen blanks will be added to my web site (when I have the chance) so we will see what happens...!

Cheers

RBTCO

**robutacion** · 14th March 2009, 01:50 PM

Hi Everyone,

I'm just updating the timber species list here and make it available as a separate Word file so that people can just download and print. I would suggest that you keep a copy of this list near to where you will store the blanks, this will me making identification a lot easier as faster.

Looking forwards for the reactions when parcel (bag) arrive!

The timber species I have at the moment are:

1- Golden Cypress (Macrocarpa) trunk timber
2- Golden Cypress ( " ) root timber
3- Pink/Rose Gum
4- Blue River Gum
5- Yellow Gum
6- Red Gum
7- Spotted Gum
8- Curly/Twisted Gum
9- Ancient very dark brown Gum
10- Poplar
11- Liquid Amber
12- Willow
13- Radiata Pine
14- She-oak/Bull-oak
15- Bay tree (Bay leaf relative)
16- Black Wattle
17- Silver Wattle
18- Golden Wattle
19- Almond tree
20- Wild olive (darker yellow and less heartwood)
21- Maggestic Olive (good mixed colours)
22- Old Olive Root (burl look a like)
23- Melaleuca
24- Cork tree
25- Knotty (knotted) Pine
26- Platypus Gum (not yet dry)
27- White Wattle (not Silver)

at least another 5 species not yet identified!

Cheers

RBTCO

**ElizaLeahy** · 16th March 2009, 01:17 PM

I'm in lust wtih 21, 22 and 25!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm sure the others will have surprises inside, but those blanks are just amazing!!!

Which to cut first? What a delema!

**gawdelpus** · 16th March 2009, 03:37 PM

Got my parcel today !

,should of sent you new glasses not a pen lol, you either can't count or are seeing double , either way you ain't getting any back hehe,cheers mate ,and enjoy

**ElizaLeahy** · 16th March 2009, 03:57 PM

He's generous - or should that be penerous?

**Fireman sam** · 16th March 2009, 04:08 PM

Hi
mine arrived today just wondering if he lost count if so thanks they all look great

Thanks Andrew

**ElizaLeahy** · 16th March 2009, 05:10 PM

I cut some! Not a pen, but I couldn't resist - too pretty.

Majestic Olive Pendent

**mick61** · 16th March 2009, 06:16 PM

G`day got mine Friday thanyou very much should shuold have pen in mail by Friday.
Mick

P.S. I think you bay tree might be Alocasuarina Vertisilata or Literalis.

**Shakie** · 16th March 2009, 08:35 PM

G,day again Robutacion,

Received the blanks you sent. Very happy thank you. Nice collection. I hope you were happy with the Mango pen.

You placed a small quarter slab in with the blanks. What timber is that??

Once again, thanks. Pleasure doing business.

Shakie

**gawdelpus** · 16th March 2009, 10:06 PM

Originally Posted by ElizaLeahy

I cut some! Not a pen, but I couldn't resist - too pretty.

Majestic Olive Pendent

Eiza just out of curiosity ,as those look like pendants, do you cut them in half so that they would tend to lie flat ,plus get 2 for one lol.

**robutacion** · 17th March 2009, 02:14 AM

Hi everyone,

I'm happy that the bags are getting to their destiny, and that everyone seems pleasentaly surprised with the contents. OK, I offered, as everyone know, 10+1 pen blanks in exchange for a finished pen. I knew that the blanks alone wouldn't fit in a 500gr bag, and I had a few extra bits that I was going to offer to each one. For that I needed the 3kg bag, as the 11 blanks alone weighed about 900gr. As I was cutting more species, I became more divided in which ones I was going to send, there is, the 10 x different species + 1 repeated for the making of my pen as per the original offer. I made a decision to try my best to cut all the species that I could find and select one of each and put then in the bag. I can count and I wasn't seeing double, I end-up with 25 species cut out of the 27 I am sure I have but, after a full week cutting like a mad person, I and the machines needed a brake and service(sharpening + other minor repairs). I did felt that I had the opportunity to demonstrate to those that did make notice of my offer, and have the modesty to accept it, to demonstrate my special thank you on my on way. So 25 pen blanks from 25 different species, means people as the chance to see, touch/work and feel the selection I have manage to call mine.
Now, each bag has and I just couldn't leave any paid weigh unclaimed, I added a small half log of dry #14 timber. This particular pieces lost their bark naturally with age, making then very good candidates for the making of a natural edge small bowl (pieces are approx 6" to 7'' square X 4" deep). This timber is dry and ready to be worked in anything you wish, pen blanks, etc. but my idea was to provide a similar sample to everyone and ask for those to be made into a natural edge bowl. Because the edge is not the outer bark but the inner bark or skin, this allows for the "rim" to be left a little wider then normal as is no bark there to risk separation. This is only my suggestion for the use of that bonus piece, but you are free to do whatever you want to do with it, no questions asked. but a big thank you will given to those that are prepared to have a go at a natural edge bowl.

Have fun with it, and make your own selection on the one you want to use for me, as I mention on the previous post, I've got some of the best pieces of pine species and its relatives that you will never find available in any other stores. I have 6 distinct varieties of Radiata pine and 5 of them from a single plantation (extensively discussed in the forum). After rigorous selection, I made it in various groups, (knotty, birdeyes, blue slice, single or double resin veins, white, canary yellow and orange, chocalate plates, and others, then is the "ancient" 150plus years, capable of producing knots the size of a large platter, indeed, I got some made where the knot is basically the hole platter. This are interesting as they become nearly transparent into the light.
Sorry, I'm getting a bit off track here but, honestly I don't mind if they are all made of the pine and cypress species, #2, #13, #25 so far...! really I don't mind, as they would surprise a lot of people, that I'm sure of it! Remember soft timbers require a softer touch and sharper tools.

Good luck everyone, and thanks for being a sport!

Cheers

RBTCO

**Ozkaban** · 17th March 2009, 09:02 AM

My wife called this morning to say that the parcel had arrived. She knows how big a pen blank is and said "there's a lot more than 11 blanks in there"...

Can't wait to unwrap the little pressie when I get home!

Cheers,
Dave

**bowl-basher** · 17th March 2009, 02:34 PM

parcel arived safe and sound... your pen will leave sydney on friday decided to send you a pen in a timber you don't have (conkerberry)
regards
Bowl -basher

**Touchwood** · 17th March 2009, 03:31 PM

Mine bag of treasures arrived today - just got back from a lovely horse ride in a tuart forest nearby (30m + trees in height and big, spreading canopy and little under storey - nice!!) only to find a HUGE bag of treasures. So, time to sit with a coffee, the species Key and have a "look see". Thanks for the great selection, most generous.

JD

**Touchwood** · 17th March 2009, 04:08 PM

Oh, I should also say I particularly liked the LADY cutting wood picture on the wrapper ... cute!!

JD

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