Thread: Aust Grasstree with a bullet.

Thats sweet!

I sure would like to make a few of those. I've got hunt'n buddies that would for sure go ape over that!

jim

Nice one Skew , so I see you survived the dismantling of the "live" bullets

Pretty smart Skew. Looks very smart indeed.I know you rave over a CA finish.
Tell us a story about the grass tree,how did it turn? The blank looks like it has some color it it.

Regards Terry

that bullet pen with the flat top is gorgeous
Toni

thats grass tree looks really nice and i like the bullet pen concept, good stuff..!

Originally Posted by schaf

Pretty smart Skew. Looks very smart indeed.I know you rave over a CA finish.

Moi? Rave over? Rage at, more like!

Tell us a story about the grass tree,how did it turn? The blank looks like it has some color it it.

Very, very dusty wood to turn, similar to turning black-boy, fern tree or banksia nuts. Although I used a gouge to rough, I quickly switched to a skew chisel as there was a lot of tearout. Light sanding was definitely required, but it sanded quickly so that was only a matter of a quick (maybe 2 second) pass in each direction with each grit. There was maybe a whole 30 seconds worth of sanding all up... I can live with that.

It has a very attractive finish that's almost like a snakeskin or honeycomb. You can just barely see this in the first pic.

I did try taking some closeups of the timber, but it's beyond my abilities... the glare/reflections from the finish drown out the detail. Next time I turn some Grasstree (I'm not sure if I have any more in stock) I'll hit the raw timber with a bit of EEE and take the photo before I throw on a finish and make it all glossy.

great job skew. i like how you have converted the kit, looks much better than and ordinary slimline built like that

cheers

Skew, good one, and if you didn't tell us about the two sizes of bullets used, you would think it was purposely made that way for character. Must say that Australian Grass wood looks very distinguished, great character, could you try just taking a few shots of the top part with different backgrounds, because i know that the pen would look much better in presence than what your photos show it. PS, where do you get that Grasswood? Amos

Amos, that pen has already found a cosy new home so is beyond reach of my camera.

You're quite right, my pix don't do it justice... they never do. I did try a few material backdrops, but in all honesty I hate using my $#%^@% digital POS. I've lost all interest in photography since my SLR was retired, so I haven't bothered with setting up a light tent, etc.

I'm not sure which Grasstree it is, but I do know that all of them are pretty hard to come by nowadays. Legally, anyway. From memory, that piece of Grasstree came to me courtesy of either Rowie or Vern (TTiT) Most probably Rowie, I think. I haven't seen any posts from him lately, but a quick look at the members list still shows he's here.

search for pen blanks on ebay and you should find some grass tree. someone in WA sells it and they're quite good to deal with IMO.

edit:
look here http://cgi.ebay.com.au/GRASS-TREE-KN...QQcmdZViewItem

sorry for the hijack skew

No problems, Stirlo.

I was wondering where to get some more myself.

Skew,
as you are an old SLR guy, you probably know, but a polariser lens will help show the detail through your glossy finish- if your digi cam won't take a polariser lens then you will be suprised at how well simply holding (or even bluetacking) a polariser lens over your digi lens will work... hell, you can even just use a pair of polariser sunglasses (with a tiny bit of photoshop color correction)

and now I am confused- I thought 'grass tree' and 'black boy' were one and the same with the prior name replacing the later due to political correctness?

and by the way-
bloody nice pen.
That is one I would like to buy.
I must say I don't really get this whole pen thing (maybe you have to own a lathe before you truly understand) and neither am I a gun nut- but all the same, bloody nice pen.

Originally Posted by hansp77

as you are an old SLR guy, you probably know, but a polariser lens will help show the detail through your glossy finish- if your digi cam won't take a polariser lens then you will be suprised at how well simply holding (or even bluetacking) a polariser lens over your digi lens will work... hell, you can even just use a pair of polariser sunglasses (with a tiny bit of photoshop color correction)

Good suggestion, but I tried that and the blasted autofocus goes screwy. Tried manual focus, but that also requires manual control of f-stop and shutter speed, which on this camera takes something like 50 button presses and half-an-hour trying to interpret the manual.

It's a great camera for holiday snapshots, but for anything beyond that...

(I want my old Praktica back! )

and now I am confused- I thought 'grass tree' and 'black boy' were one and the same with the prior name replacing the later due to political correctness?

Yup. But there are quite a few different sub-species... (ref: http://www.pawlan.com/Monica/xanthor/index.html) It's a bit like calling something an 'acacia' or a 'eucalypt.' It narrows the field some, but there's still a lot of players to choose from.

Thanks for those tips Skew and for the link Stirlo, Amos