The Harlequin, a pen

Very nice. Great work with the blank and also the finishing job.

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

Aw, the Harlequin, the clown. Fitting and very fun.

-- Thos. Angle, Owyhee Design, Oregon

I really like this pen, Gary!

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

Great looking pen. Obviously you paid great attention to the finish. Inspiring…

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

Gary I love it, What process do you use to build those woods up before turning?

-- http://www.LanierandSons.com

Nice pen gary. mike

-- Mike. Profisher50@yahoo.com

Thanks all.
Kerux,
I glue 1/2” X 1-1/8” contrasting woods together on the wide face. When it dries, I rip thru the middle on the wide face, turn 180 degrees end for end, and re-glue. That creates a 1” square checkerboard pattern when seen from the end. I typically do long pieces as it’s safer and more efficient than doing one blank at a time. For instance, the cherry and maple billet is about 28” long after making a pen. Numerous pens in that glue up.
Then, I pick an angle that when multiplied by the number of pieces == 90 degrees. In this case, 4 pieces per barrel, so the miters are 22-1/2 degrees.
Finally, I make slices of a third, contrasting color.
Glue, drill on center and turn as usual.
Rocket science ;-P

Gary

Gary, your pens just keep getting better.

-- Andy Stark

Thanks Andy, nice of you to say so.
Gary

I’ve just gotten around to thinking I want to do your jig for the Celtic knot.

My problem is that your methods consume a lot of time (and well worth the trouble, methinks) but when I want to turn a pen I don’t want to prepare it a week in advance. I don’t have the patience.

But keep up the instructions. One day I will sit down and say it is time to do it.

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

SD2,

The only proof I have of the statements I’m about to make are anecdotal, yet I think they’re true:

1. The most time consuming part of making the miter-jig for the TS is the amount of time spent procrastinating over it. ;-P
For instance, Darryl put off making one for the longest time and when he got it done, he couldn’t believe he’d waited sooooo long. Moreover, in my opinion, every one using a TS needs one or more sleds as it makes using the saw safer.

This jig takes less than an hour to make—the key is in cutting two very accurate slides. I typical make ‘em a hair thick and plane to fit. And, the time spent hand-planing is just fun woodwork anyway. ;)

2. Once the jig is made, making the blank to make the pen takes about an extra 15-20 minutes even doing them as “eachs”. Making two at once adds another 5 minutes to the process. For one thing, the jig is always ready to go. For another, I use medium viscosity CA, so there’s no real wait time.

3. Making custom pen blanks opens all kinds of new doors that can enrich the other woodworking we do. I’ll be making my own inlay patterns for table tops now and crafting the blanks for pens has been the foundation wherein the experience has been gained.

To each his own. I certainly can’t make you more patient. I can say it’s well worth the effort. It’s up to you when you pick your time ;-}

Cheers,
Gary

I think the only solution I can offer up SD2 is to make the pen blanks when you are not in the mood to turn!!

I tried to make my jig multi-functional and that of course made the project more interesting to make. The way I made mine allows me to still make cross-cuts on pieces up to 5” wide.

-- ~ www.darrylmasterson.com ~ www.woodworkingdungeon.blogspot.com ~