She sold only one (1) pen for $35.00. She also took a bunch of bowls and my latest vase and sold $300 worth. To bad she only gets the pen money, I didn’t say anything about the bowl money. heh heh

We are still short for the dryer, so she is going to give pens another try tomorrow.

It is really quite simple.

First thing I do is take the wooden bowl and rub in Mineral Oil or my preferred method of Walnut Oil.

After allowing that to soak in and dry I use this formula:

12 oz of Mineral Oil
2 oz of bee’s wax
1/2 oz of Carnuba wax

I melt all of that over a medium heat in a metal bowl that is sitting on boiling/hot water. I then poor that into a Wide mouth Mason Jar.

Now, this is a mix that gives me a medium dense paste. Some may prefer softer and some may prefer a harder wax. All you need to do is to soften is to add more mineral Oil…. to harden… don’t use as much mineral oil.

The crew is really nice, they are so loaded down with fallen tree’s that they are glad to get rid of it. I’ve got my eye on a giant piece that looks very quilted. So when I get this done, I’ll be back out there.

Here is some really nice spalted pieces I received.

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And here is one of two bowls I’ve roughed out and is soaking in the DNA.

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As you can see it is a small simple sled. I then took the sled and marked a line of what I thought would be a good angle for most pen blanks. I don’t know what the exact angle is… I just eye balled it. It is more than 45 degree’s of that I’m sure of.

I measure up the blank as seen here so that a little less than half the blank is covered for the cutting. (The blank is pre-cut for length for the pen kit I’m using. In this case and Atlas/Polaris/Patriot.)

I then use a couple of clamps. One for a stop block so that I get the same cut on all sides of the blank and the other to hold the blank in place while being cut.

I use my fence for pushing the sled up against. All I need to do is line up my original cut on the sled. Now just push forward until the blank is cut all the way through. Pull back, rotate the blank and repeat. And this is done until the blank has the cut on all four sides.

Normally I cut a piece of constrasting wood for the inlay and then plane it down. This time I just took some stir sticks, they fit just fine so I went for it. (The only problem was the Paduak faded into the inlay when sanded.)

To glue the inlay in place I used Thick CA then spritzed on some accelerator. And I got this little creature afterwards.

This is what the final blank looks like after cutting off the extra’s and sanding down on the disc sander.

Now, just treat it as you would any other blank that you’ve prepped for a pen. Like I mentioned previously, I used an Atlas/Polaris/Patriot kit. And here it is as it was getting rounded on the lathe.

After shaping, sanding and putting on a CA finish. This is my final product:

Here is the blank being cut (Atlas/Patriot/Polaris). I stop the blade just a little before half way. It is at a 45 degree angle. And I have a stop block to ensure the segments are going to be even all the way around. Although I imagine you could vary the segment up and down the blank.

You will notice that, because I like my fingers I don’t cut the blank to size until the swirl cuts are done

My planer goes down exactly to 1/8”, so a 1/8” blade work perfect for using that size of segmentation.

Here is the finished “Swirl” blank with the segments in place.

And here is the finished product. Well almost, this is a different pen. The other pen is sold and I have no pictures of it.

Just follow the directions for printing out your logo, name…etc. One thing I have found using this material is that you MUST use a light colored blank for the background. This is transparent film, but the inkjet inks are not solid enough for darker colors. That type of decal must be purchased through professional modeler companies.

After printing out your decal you must spray this setting compound. It to can be purchased at the same place you buy the decal paper. These go hand in hand and one cannot be used without the other. But becareful not to over spray. Overspraying can stiffen the decal up so it won’t bend around your pen.

Now, lets assume to this point that you have turned your blank. For prepping the barrel for decal I follow these simple steps:

1) sand down to 1000 grit
2) Use two thin coats of CA. I use an accelerate after each coat.
3) Micro Mesh the barrel 1500—12000 grit
4) DO NOT BUFF

The barrel should be nice a smooth at this point.

Now is the time to cut out your decals. Keep the trim close but not to close that you can’t handle the piece. Size it up to where you would like it on the barrel.

Take your decal and let is soak in some cool water (you can read the direction on package for this step).

Now be gentle as you slide the decal off the backing and place it on your barrel. Be very gentle rubbing out any creases and bubbles. THIS A MUST!

Now let the decal dry over night or 12 hours. You may see the outline of where you cut the decal out. That is okay and there is no need for any special decal over cover liquids. We will be applying enough heat when we put our finish on that the line will melt into the CA finish.

Here you can see the two barrels I’ve prepared to this point.

Now that the decal has completely dried be careful mounting it back onto the lathe. The decal can be easily be ripped at this point.

Now you need to take some thin CA and apply it with a shop towel. Quickly going over the blank as it is turning on the lathe. I then apply an accelerate. This seals a nice little top coat over the decal and protects it for the next applications of CA Glue.

I put on 3 coats of thick CA with accelerate after each coat. Some may think this is over kill but I like to be sure I don’t go through and sand the decal off… starting another over night wait.

After the CA Coats are applied I then Micro Mesh the barrel, 1500 – 12000 grits. I then use my beall buffing system. I only use the White Diamond skipping the Tripoli. Then finish off with a couple coats of Renascence Wax.

Now just put your pen together.

First of all I make a checkerboard blank. The one in this Tutorial is Paduak and Maple. (It works best with contrasting colors).

The next step is to cut the sections in equal sizes. I made a ‘zero tolerance’ jig for my miter saw that helps me cut all the sections.

In order for this work without a little pieces of wood flying out, bring your miter saw down and leave it down until the blade stops turning. Then you can retrieve your section easily.

For this pen I use an 11-degree cut on a sacrificial stop block then turned it over to cut the piece. Slide in the blank and cut. For the next cut, just flip over so that the angle of the fits in to the sacrificial stop block.

The next step is to cut some dark wood strips for the spacers. Just make sure you cut them long enough to cover the angle length on the sections you just cut from the checker board blank. This is what you end up with:

The one thing I do is to make sure to sand off any chips and splinters off the sections.

Now we are ready for some assembly. I use CA glue to put all the pieces together. Make sure you alternate the light/dark to create a new checker board effect.

After the blank is glued up to the size you need for your blank. I sand all the sides down to ‘square it up a bit’. Then drill the hole for the barrel. When finished you should end up with a blank looking like this:

From this point treat the blank as you would any other pen blank. Here you can see the blank has been put on the mandrel/lathe and has started the turning process.

After sanding and putting on a cyanacrylic (CA) finish and buffing… Here is the final result, using American Roller Ball Screw Cap Pen.