This was requested from multiple sites, so I did one for everybody.
Here’s some photos of my process;
I only had enough time to do a two-ring knot, but it’s
all the same to make a four-ring knot accurately if you follow these steps.
This shows the miter sled, the length of contrasting wood for the slices, and the bloodwood blank I’m going to use.
I’ve already squared the blank so that all four sides are the same size.
I randomly pick a side and mark it 1.
Side 2 is 180-degrees to (or, opposite of) side 1.
Side 3 is one of the two remaining sides and side 4 is 180-degrees (opposite) side 3.
This photo shows I’ve marked the blank where the slices
will go and clamped a stop block in place along the fence.
Now, I clamp the blank tight to the fence and the stop block.
Here we’ve cut thru the blank. That’s NOT my hand in the photo—it’s part of the clamp.
My hands are safely distant from all spinning metal at all times while doing this.
After gluing in my slice (Goncalo alves and aluminum, in this case),
I place the blank back on the sled clamped tight to the fence and stop block again.
This time, side 2 is up and I’m going to cut thru the first slice that was glued in.
From here out, it’s just more of the same until I’m ready to cut the blank to length.
Since we’ve marked the blank 1, 2, 3, 4 and the stop block makes repeated positioning a no-brainer all we have
to do is follow the numbers and glue in the contrasting material for each cut in turn.
Then I switch to a cut off sled that’s 90-degrees to the blade and clamp the blank on the mark.
The zero-throat on the sled keeps everything in place and accurate.
Once the pieces are glued in and you’ve drilled thru the center of the blank,
it’s just a matter of turning it to the desired shape.
Here’s my upper barrel:
I hope y’all find this useful and make many beautiful pens. As I’ve learned from many here, share and enjoy.
11 comments so far
Bill
home | projects | blog
2514 posts in 642 days
posted 396 days ago
Great work Gary. Now we can see how you make those great pens. The pictures help a lot.
-- Bill, Turlock California, http://www.brookswoodworks.com
mot
home | projects | blog
4840 posts in 517 days
posted 396 days ago
Thanks Gary! I was just looking for explanations of this process. I was talking to Bob and Wayne about it just yesterday. Thanks for the tutorial!
-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)
Bill
home | projects | blog
2514 posts in 642 days
posted 396 days ago
Yea, I could not wrap my brain around how that was done. I thought Gary was gluing up entire sections to do that. Now I see it is more like a deep inlay instead.
-- Bill, Turlock California, http://www.brookswoodworks.com
MsDebbieP
home | projects | blog
11909 posts in 641 days
posted 396 days ago
ah hah!!!
thank you so much for sharing this process.
-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)
mot
home | projects | blog
4840 posts in 517 days
posted 396 days ago
Bill, this method takes advantage of the fact that you are turning away alot of the blank. With the piece cut most of the way through, there isn’t the chance of sending that small cutoff flying across the shop with the small piece getting a ride courtesy of a saw tooth, it allows for easier assembly as the contrasting wood as it just slides into the kerf rather than having sliding pieces and trying to clamp them or hold them to glue. You are going to be turning away the 1/16th or so anway. The contrasting piece has to be exactly the kerf of the saw blade for this to work, but as evidenced by Gary’s final product, the trouble is worth it with that sort of outcome!
Thanks Gary! I was going to do this by cutting all the way through. Your method is much safer, producing the same outcome with less trouble.
Cheers!
-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)
WayneC
home | projects | blog
5690 posts in 578 days
posted 396 days ago
Have you tried this method with Corian or other man made materials? Some interesting possibliities are starting to come to mind.
-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov
Daren Nelson
home | projects | blog
332 posts in 386 days
posted 386 days ago
Glad I found this site. I turn a few pens, usually use figured wood, but I like to experiment with new tricks. I checked out your pens along with others projects before I signed up and was impressed. I have not played with the pen lathe for quite some time, reckon I will soon, you gave me some ideas. I will post pictures if I come up with something “new”. All the further I ever got was drilling and doweling blanks for a little color in my “plain wood”. Yours are much sharper.
-- Urban logger, http://nelsonwoodworks.biz/
MsDebbieP
home | projects | blog
11909 posts in 641 days
posted 383 days ago
more unique pens!!
So impressive!!
-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)
Gary
home | projects | blog
325 posts in 805 days
posted 382 days ago
Daren,
Most of what I know about creating pens I’ve learned from two primary sites:
IAP and TPS or from generous friends, most of whom I’ve met online.
I believe experimentation is the road to winning designs, and you’ve got a good foundation started!
Gary
Karson
home | projects | blog
12891 posts in 881 days
posted 382 days ago
Thanks Gary for the demo.
-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com
BlueStingrayBoots
home | projects | blog
315 posts in 483 days
posted 381 days ago
So theres basicly no limit to the amount of inserts?
As long as there in a uniform pattern, seems easy now Gary.