Peter (Penpal) gave me a cross cut Dead Finish blank and as he handed it over said "your going to have to work for it", and he was right. I sharpened my gouge more times than I remember and had a couple of blowouts but was able to save them each time. Finish is Rustins.
On the photography front, after a few comments about the stitching in my previous background, I picked up some felt squares (white, fawn & maroon). I attached pics of each background to show how they looked. I find the white is hard for the camera to focus on and the maroon overpowers the pens (even on light coloured wood). Personnally I like the fawn as it neutralises the glare a little but has some substance behind the pen.
Enjoy,
Corbs