Thread: first pen

Too cold and wet and rainy to see to the ragwort and blackberries, shame.

So back to shed,

Final results for first foray into pen turning Me 5 vs. Blowouts 3. Although I can see lotsa "improvement opportunities" in the 5

I thought the toothpaste finish on the acrylics was amazing - sanded up to 1200 before applying toothpaste - after first try with paper where I seemed to melt some acrylic and had to recut it I then applied the toothpaste with my finger, with only a slight wipe with kitchen paper at end.

Are things like shellawax and EEE cream from ubeaut and plastic polish from super cheap auto even better than toothpaste ?

Tried doing a superglue finish on one of the blowouts - didnt wait long enough between coats and messed it up - but can see the potential - keen to have another go and do one properly - didnt think I would like a super glossy finish but it doesnt look too bad and brightened up an otherwise fairly dark piece of diamondwood.

Made a better pen mandrel for the wood lathe, used the Hercus, same principle as previous mandrel, but a bit sturdier. Wanted that before having 2nd go at acrylics.

Have ordered a micromesh kit from Sandpaperman.

Want to make my wife a really classy fountainpen - where do I go for a really good quality nib and innards ?

Off to search and read posts on finishing techniques.

Bill

Bill ! slow you speeds for sanding as you can generate enough heat to either melt your acrylics or loosen the glue on the tubes. Acrylics must be wet sanded ,a dish under the work and dip your pads in each time don't sand each pad too long as by the time you get to micromesh you are only polishing the surface, I use a bit of "0000" steel wool before the micromesh finishing, bunnings or mitre ten have this. Some macguires plastic polish or swirl remover from supercheap auto will put a nice shine on your pens after the micromesh is done. As to nice fountain pens that is in the eye of the beholder ,the more expensive ones are possibly more blingy ,but in my experience all the kit fountain pens write nicely, never had a complaint in the hundreds I have sold, most have a German made nib and usually between medium and fine ink deposit.I use the same tecnique for finishing CA as Acrylics (both are a plastic finish in the end ,just be aware that sometimes a bit of water can seep into the ends of the blank while wet sanding and cause an unsightly lifting or whitening in the ends ,don't over sand either as you can easily sand through the CA and leave exposed timber , not good Otherwise you are well on track to being totally addicted hehe. The roman harvest from Timberbits makes nice fountain pen in the medium range. cheers ~ john

Like the new mandrel and I see it comes with a mandrel saver - well done.
Fully agree with all John's comments on finishing. I use the Meguiar's Plastix polish, and the final finish is like glass.