Cocobolo Pen

Well done, very pretty. Looking forward to seeing some more.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

nice pen ... hope to make my one myself someday. love the wood

-- a legend in my own mind ...

Looking good mot.
Good choice on the wood too!

-- Jeff - Pflugerville, TX

Nice work, Tom.

I’ve never really considered making a pen, but with Wayne’s work and your first pen – mmm – I may have to re-think this.

-- CanuckDon "I just love small wooden boxes!" http://www.canterburybaptist.org/

Great Job. Tom.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

They are actually fun to make. You can literally come home at lunch and turn a pen. I was watching the Turning Pens DVD and the variations that can be made from the same pen kit are pretty cool. As we’ve seen on this site, contrasting woods, laminated blanks, and aluminum nails through the blank. They are pretty fun, and a really neat little distraction. Now, as an aside…for the uninitiated to the world of woodworking, I’ve gotten more comments about that cocobolo pen in the last 5 hours than I’ve gotten from most of my other work. To the woodworker, the detail that comes with other projects is interesting. To people that don’t woodwork, there is a real interest in that pen. Everyone needs a pen, and just about everyone wants a distinct one. Who knew?

Just for fun, I took some of the cuttings from the burls I’ve been turning, the scrap that was going into the burn barrel, and made some pen blanks. I’m not sure how the burl will work, but what the heck. It’s simple enough to find out. I don’t mean to demean the process, it’s just that Wayne explained things too well so I had a pretty bloody good road map. I did a better job on the second pen, a neat little canary wood that I’ll just add to this thread.

And as a plus, if you turn a pen, you get to make a box! It’s like a neat little project that spawns another one!

Now if we can just get Wayne to do the howto video! LOL!!!

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

Nice job Mot. A great pen, and on your first try! I bet we see more of those from you soon.

I think the burl will work well, I have seen some places offer burl blanks, and they are more expensive than the regular blanks. As long as it is solid, it should work.

-- Bill, Turlock California, http://www.brookswoodworks.com

If your have any trouble with it, you can put a little CA on it. I use the real thin CA for this and also for stabilizing antler. I do it with the pen mounted in the lathe. I stick a small piece of cardboard or plywood on the ways of the lathe to prevent the glue from getting on them. Soak the bank in ca and hit with accellerator. Then turn as normal. Repeat if needed. You can also use CA and sawdust to fill gaps if needed.

Have to becareful with this if it is hot out. The CA can vaporized. Perhaps when the temp is ove 90 degrees or so.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

((applauding))

well done.

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

The pens have come such a long way from when it was JUST Slimline.

For some reason my cardiologist doesn’t charge me any more. So I am making some really nice pens for all the doctors in the practice and slimlines for all the nurses and PA’s

Nowadays the problem is there are so many choices and then I looked at the blogs on putting a Gordian knot in the wood and other inlays and I just bought 25 different burls from Arizona Silhouette and I need to hit up Woodcraft on Sunday for a new mandrel and Nick Cook on Monday for Slimlines and Woodturnerz on Tuesday to order more classic pens and then the new turning club that interferes with my Wed. nite group.. It’s just TOOO MUCH. I think I’ll go have a nervous breakdown

A safety note. Make SURE that you wear a mask and are covered up when you turn cocobolo. It is highly toxic for many people. It’s a member, I think, of the poison ivy family. If you start to itch just think of all the compliments you got on your pen.

-- No piece is cut too short. It was meant for a smaller project.

Love the pen and I love cocobolo.
The stuff has so much oil in it you hardly have to finish it at all.
I think it’s one of the prettiest of the rose woods.
Keep up the turning there Mot.

Bob

-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner

I was concerned that I might have given wrong information about the toxicity of cocobolo.

Here is a link that exhaustively covers wood allergies:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=41436

So it probably is NOT related to poison ivy but it sure does cause itching rashes.

-- No piece is cut too short. It was meant for a smaller project.

Thanks for the note Saw. I use my Trend airshield whenever I’m turning. As for rashes and stuff, I haven’t turned anything that my hands seem to care about. The usual cocobolo, paduak etc don’t seem to bother me. I guess washing my hands 80 times a day makes them rough and impenetrable! LOL

Thanks for the comments on the pen. I’ve been experimenting with using the slimline kit to do different types of pens, using a laminated layer as the metal accent, and then turning it using the bushings from a mont blanc. I just cut one blank about 5/16’s longer than the tube that’s in it. It makes a nice pen. Here’s a pic of one when I was just monkeying around with the process of making different looking pens from the slimline…

http://lumberjocks.com/projects/2016

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

Tom a had an alergic reastion to Cocobolo on the second pen I turned from it. The first didn’t cause any problems.

I then made a clock with a cocobolo base and again had the reaction.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

Hey Karson…yeah, typical allergic response. I’ve turned about 10 of them with no problems. I can’t be around horses though. :)

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)