First slimline pen

G’day, today at the Northern Woodturners Club I turned a pen out of some nice red gum without any actual turning help, just a bit of advice. I used 500 grit sandpaper and a light coat of Shellawax for a finish. I’ve got a lot of these red gum pen blanks so will be making quite a lot of these :P

Of course, I’d say it’s pretty good but that’s fairly biased so I’ll leave it to you to judge :2tsup:

Regards,
Ben.
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Good work Benny, you are and running. Just a hint......take your time and enjoy your time on the lathe

Well done Benny! Sorry I was not there to see you do it as I was
attending a funeral. To obtain a superb result go through the various
grades of paper before polishing. Hope to see you next week.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Allan at Wallan

Well done Benny! Sorry I was not there to see you do it as I was
attending a funeral. To obtain a superb result go through the various
grades of paper before polishing. Hope to see you next week.

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Thank you! I went to bunnings after to get the different grades (240 - 1200 etc) after we left since no one there that I asked had above 500. I only had 180 or something like that :P

Looking forward to seeing you next week [emoji4]

Benny hi mate ,welcome. Take heart one of the finest pen makers I know Les from Red Deer in Canada only sands to 400 grit then uses superfine wire wool ,then finishes.

I like your first pen ,also have a leaning to Red Gum love your pen. I clearly remember when I was your age 71 yrs ago I was in yr 8 at high school where we all had a stint in Wood Work and Metal Work that fired up my interest in all woodworking including the lathe.

Enjoy the Forum I do and have fun.

Peter.

Nice job on your first pen mate ... on wood i only ever sand to 320 then apply the finish

yes i do the occasional wood pen ... not very often

MIK

Hi Benny,
Nice work young fella. There are as many finishes as there are styles of pen. What I have found is that glossy finishes tend to show off grain better. One thing for sure, you won't be short of things to write with.
Cheers,
Mac

Good one Benny!!!:2tsup::2tsup::2tsup:

Just a personal bias by me concerning the finish on red gum. As it is a plain timber, especially in such
small sizes as a pen blank, |I think it needs a gloss finish. Look up all the info on CA finishing and give that a go..

Thanks artme, will give it a look.

I’ve just turned another 2 at home today and they both went pretty well. I’ll get some pics later.