Austtralia Swap Pen 2014 . . . . . Ummmm Not so fast.

This was a really fun pen to make. Right up until the very end.:~ I did something really stupid. When I was pressing in the coupling on the lower barrel, I got the trim ring on the thread side. Then when I was pressing in the fitting, It wouldn't seat. So I pressed just a little harder not knowing the fitting was as far as it was going to go.

CRACK!!

Normally, I wouldn't bother showing a ruined pen, but this one was different than anything I've done before (right or wrong):rolleyes:.

When I selected the blank it looked pretty solid. It was spalted white oak burl. When I turned the cap part down, it kept getting more & more voids. When the cap was close to final diameter, I noticed that the brass was showing through from several of the voids. I wish I'd looked closer at the blank before turning. It had to have a few visible worm holes. But I didn't notice.

Here's the cap unfinished. I started filing the voids, and decided I wanted a before picture. That's why there is a little blue already.
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o...ps61e609a8.jpg

I had a blank made with the same colored mica powder, so I filled the voids with the powder. That part wasn't all that much fun, and took longer than I thought. I know I could have filled it with coffee grounds or shavings, but I thought the blue would add a cool touch. After the voids were filled, I pressed in the cap. As I was lining up the lower barrel, I screwed in the fitting into the cap so I could align it the way I wanted. I noticed the threads weren't engaging correctly. They were too tight. Then the plastic insert in the cap came loose from the fitting, and I had to disassemble the cap to fix the problem. And here's where I learned a new lesson. Always make sure the parts work correctly before assembly. I had to rob another kit for the cap threads. This time I glued them in, and all was well.

So I again line things up, but had the trim ring on the wrong side of the fitting. I'm still not sure how I did this, but it was all my fault. The crack doesn't show on the pictures, and it isn't too bad, but not something I wanted to send even if I could fix the trim ring problem. So after it was assembled, it looks like this.
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o...psa97d376c.jpg

And here's the pen put together.
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o...psf2d103f2.jpg

I'll probably try & fix the problem, but I didn't want to spend more time on it right now.

On a positive note, I did finish another pen that will be on it's way to my Australian trade partner in the next few days.

that looks pretty spectacular - pity about the, ah, little error

Very nice looking blank on that one,

never mind the miss-hap, if it bothers you just send it over here so you don't have to look at it :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Cheers Ben,

Yep a real PITA when things go wrong, but then, when should we decide to give up. Like most pen makers, you will probably persist, after all you have used 2 kits to get this far :U.

Now that is a corker!!!:2tsup::2tsup::2tsup:

great save too!! glad you persisted!

Shame about the oops moment, great looking pen. What is it about us that makes us so determined to fix our stuff ups regardless of the great amount of time & effort we need to put in to fix it.

it looks great :2tsup::2tsup::2tsup:

Bugger! Its always that little bit extra you give it that makes all the difference.

Nice pen.