The Pen that was and is not.!

**PenTurner** · 5th November 2008, 06:22 PM

From time to time it happens, and even though it is good to remind me , I still don't like it. This pen no longer exists, it is dismantled and the remenants in my "Reject" box.
It was meant to be a beautiful Red Mallee Burl Cambridge, I carefully placed the kit parts in Acetone and removed the black paint from it, as Brett explained in one of his threads, I even did the top with cotton bud and tooth brush, all was fine.
Prepared the Blanks the night before, with all due diligence, the next day(Melbourne Cup day) being a holiday here, I was to produce two Cambridge pens, one Rollerball and one Fountain pen, in Red Mallee Burl and I would have a beautiful set, those were the plans!
The reality, they turned beautifully , no problems, prepared them with sanding as per usual, then apply CA finish as have been doing, lower blank good, upper blank, No good! a little CA lifted and the blank had stuck to the bushing and a little piece came off. No worries, fill it up with fine sawdust and CA, re sand and apply CA, -but-didn't go on properly, OK, Resand and prepare , re do CA and this time between centres as is supposed to be done so it won't stick. Not good enough, uneven edge where the filling had been done, Resand start again, CA finish not satisfactory, re sand do again, now 4 hours later, finally satisfied with the finish. Put the pen together and it is overturned on the Clip and the lower portion had not been squared properly.
Dismantle the lower portion and square it up ok, in putting together put the wrong end in and forced the blank to split. At this stage gave up on the pen, dismantled it, put the turned pieces in the "Reject" box and will start again another time.
Many hours went into that "learning experience", I guess that is the secret to experience- many mistakes to teach the lesson or drive the lesson home. In this case particurlarly frustrating because I was actually putting thought into all I was doing, I had actually coated the inside of the bushing with Danish Oil so the CA would not stick, but must have used too much CA and it did stick!.
Don't despair if you are just starting out, it happens to all of us. Amos

**munruben** · 5th November 2008, 07:22 PM

Wow Amos, you have given me new hope. If you can make mistakes, what am I worrying about.I don't feel so bad now. Sorry about the pen though. It would have been beautiful.

**timberbits** · 5th November 2008, 07:24 PM

Its a shame to hear that the blank was eventually demoted to the reject basket.

I worked out long ago not to try and save them. The amount of time need to salvage a pen gone wrong is not worth the cost of the blank and the brass tube. For the sake of $5 - $6 its not worth the investment of sometime over an hour.

Buy lots of extra tubes and make many blanks ready to turn, I found this method the most productive.

The blank looks great by the way.

Timberbits.

**Sawdust Maker** · 5th November 2008, 08:11 PM

bugger
nice burl too
thanks for the reminder lesson
can you give us one a week, I need them - but draw from experience, don't wreck a project just for my lessons

**Dangermouse** · 5th November 2008, 08:31 PM

Dont you just hate it when that happens!

What a difference it makes cleaning off the black paint, though!

I've done the same thing with one of mine, havent got the photos posted yet (slacker!).

Didnt think of using a toothbrush on the top - good idea!

**ciscokid** · 5th November 2008, 11:28 PM

At least you had fun though. A bad day turning pens beats a good day at work.

I love that red mallee burl. It's one of my favorite timbers. You may want to give a little paste wax on your bushings a try. I've been doing this and it's been working very nicely. My bushings literally slid off my last pen blanks after 20 coats of CA!

**Mobil Man** · 6th November 2008, 05:27 AM

That would have been a beautiful pen, but you can only do so much. Amos, I've got a question. You dipped the kit in Acetone. Did the parts that were painted come out sterling silver like the rest of the pen? Didn't hurt the finish under the paint? I've considered buying the Cambridge [Woodcraft] but don't like the black on it. Did you get rid of the black on the clip end, & if so, does it look better overall? I wish it had the gold on the clip end also, but then it'd an Emperor. Thank you

**Penpal** · 6th November 2008, 09:53 AM

Since I dont use these kits my awareness is not there of the peculiar characteristics of the kit. I join with David in saying I dont bother if it goes wrong I wash my hands of the brass and blank and kick goals not behinds (Aussie Rules Phrase as between the two centre posts is a Major Score and between the two shorter outside posts a minor score)
Join with you in your admiration of the Mallees, both Red and Brown.

Share with you your joys and failures as you call them.

Regards to you and yours Peter.,

**PenTurner** · 6th November 2008, 11:22 AM

Mobil Man, the black paint came off the centre band and clip and left the gold colour that you see, the very top of the pen I used cotton buds and toothbrush with acetone, also a pin to scrape off any tiny bits. I did not want to dip the whole plastic end cap in acetone, mind you, I did drop some on the top and some did run down without affecting the plastic. the gold piece on the clip came off because of the acetone eating away the glue, but a small bit of CA and it will stay on. Tonight if I get the chance I will photograph a Before and After and post them here so you can see what I am talking about. Thanks all for the comiserations, the reason I tried to save this pen was because of the beautiful wood, now i am an expert in "failure"!!

, Al, sure it was "fun" but after a while it was also very frustrating! Amos

**PenTurner** · 6th November 2008, 05:32 PM

As promised the before and after , cleaned of with acetone, if the clip decor comes off as in photo, a little CA will attach it back. Amos

**ciscokid** · 6th November 2008, 11:22 PM

Originally Posted by Mobil Man

I wish it had the gold on the clip end also, but then it'd an Emperor. Thank you

The Cambridge can only be confused with an Emperor in a dim light. And certainly not once you held it. I find the Cambridge to be rather light in weight compared to the Emperor, lacking the nice balance of a fine desk pen. Certainly a good pen for the money, but lacking the finer platings of the premium pens. Just my two cents.

And, while I am on the subject, I do wish the pen designers would come up with a few new premium designs. It's time for a change.

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