two, two-tone platinum pens

Two Tone Bamboo Modified Slimline

Actually a fast growing grass, but as tough as maple, bamboo is a very sustainable product. This design is actually a modification to the standard slimline kit. Rather than include the narrow centerband, instead I used an asymmetrical centerband of natural bamboo, running perpendicular to the grain of the pen. This allowed me to make a slightly beefier pen than the rather slender standard slimline. I used the slimline bushings for the top and bottom, and the smaller center euro bushing to size the middle. The darker color isn’t stain, but actually caramelization from heating the bamboo and cooking the sugars in the grass!

Two Tone Mesquite Hybrid Cigar Pen

Heartwood and sapwood together make for a striking color balance, as do the silver platinum and smokey grey of the black titanium hardware. Mesquite is such a great wood to turn and the endless variety of the grain never fails to surprise. I knew there would be some of each color in this pen, but never knew how it well it would balance out until I was done turning.

Both pens are sanded super smooth to 1000 grit, then Micro Mesh to 12000, and finished with several coats of boiled linseed oil, shellac and caranauba wax.

These are the 27th and 28th projects in my 30 projects in 30 days challenge

cross posted on Facebook: B C Woodworking
this? and other projects, for sale on Etsy: B C Woodworking

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso -- http://blanchardcreative.etsy.com -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/