| Project by Nils | posted 716 days ago | 345 views | 0 times favorited | 10 comments |  |
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Well, as others have attested, pens are a very gratifying project! And the family is going to like them a lot for Christmas (I hope). I have a few more to do, but here’s the current production.
From left to right and top to bottom, these are:
- Zebrawood American Classic ballpoint
- Zebrawood Artists Pencil
- Acrylic American Classic ballpoint (I know, not technically “lumber”, but still beautiful)
- Cedar American Classic Rollerball
- Purpleheart and Canarywood American Classic Fountain Pen
- Amboyna Burl American Classic ballpoint
Most of this wood came from a Woodcraft grab bag, so I’m only guessing on the zebrawood, purpleheart, canarywood, and cedar. I was just going to make up wood names for my family, sending them off on a tizzy of research on Google and the Encyclopedia Brittanica, but I decided that would be too mean.
All the pen kits are from Woodcraft. I’m trying a lot of different kits to see which I like best – any recommendations would be welcome.
The Amboyna burl came from Global Wood Source in San Jose – for some reason they had an eight-blank package of Amboyna for $8! Even if all I get out of it is this pen, I’ll be very pleased, but I have drilled and cut blanks for a fountain pen/rollerball set (also American Classic) that I’ll be making for a special girl who had a big year this year – so I’m hoping I can get them to the finishing stage without too much exploding. The pen in the picture had two big chunks fly off during turning, which I was able to glue back on invisibly. I literally cannot find the glue line. It’s beautiful – and smells great while you’re turning it – but honestly, it’s nasty – basically all end grain, and very brittle.
-- Nils Davis, Menlo Park, CA
10 comments so far
miles125
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1433 posts in 902 days
posted 715 days ago
Great job on the pens Nils. The black and white one looks very cool.
-- miles125, Alabama.."Architecture is frozen music""
mrtrim
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1698 posts in 777 days
posted 715 days ago
yes great work nils i think i like the black and white also .
rikkor
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11335 posts in 771 days
posted 715 days ago
Good work. I have thought about, but never combined two contrasting woods on a pen. Yours works.
MsDebbieP
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14162 posts in 1058 days
posted 715 days ago
awesome! They are beautiful
-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)
MarkWilk
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183 posts in 773 days
posted 715 days ago
Wow! Really outstanding. I got my start with Pens at a Woodcraft weekend class, and love it. Bought my lathe, chisels, mandrel, a grab bag and kits. They do have the expertise to get you started.
I’ve found if you want to turn a lot of pens, buying the kits at Woodcraft or Woodcraft.com will break your bank account. I’ve found kits of the same or better quality from several online sources. My current favorite is www.woodturningz.com. Jeff and Ryan are really great. Excellent prices, very reasonable shiping, quality kits, and wonderful assistance on the phone. Their site has a limited set of kits available, but they can get anything from Penn State at substantial discounts. They even have terrific customer service for repairs and replacments. I about 20 kits per month from them. Give them a try.
-- Mark, Florida, http://penturner.wordpress.com/
Nils
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138 posts in 761 days
posted 715 days ago
Thanks for the nice comments – I must say I really like the black and white pen as well – it’s incredibly smooth after sanding down to 14,000 grit with Micro Mesh – very nice tactile feeling. It’s an easy finish compared to the wood pens, which require multiple coats of a finish (I’ve used several different combos of CA, BLO, and HUT Crystal Coat).
Mark – Excellent advice – I really appreciate it. What are your favorite pen kits to make? I have made these American Classic ones so far, and I have glued up blanks for a few Euro style pens which I’ll be making this week. From what I can tell, the Penn State pens are the same as the Woodcraft pens. Is that your experience? I’m not totally happy with the twist pen mechanism in the Woodcraft American Classic pens – I’m hoping one of the other manufacturers has a better design.
Rikkor – The combined woods were not really planned, but I had a short piece of purpleheart and short piece of canarywood and thought I’d take a shot. They looked OK sitting together as big chunks, and I think they look good on a pen together.
-- Nils Davis, Menlo Park, CA
Blake
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2760 posts in 771 days
posted 715 days ago
Lookin’ good, Nils!
-- Check out my new website! http://www.blakeweberwoodworking.com
brunob
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1476 posts in 1066 days
posted 715 days ago
Nils,
Thanks for the website. It’s one I haven’t tried yet but it looks good.
-- Bruce from Central New York
Bob A in NJ
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530 posts in 896 days
posted 715 days ago
Nice work, great presents!
-- Bob A in NJ
scottb
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3402 posts in 1224 days
posted 715 days ago
yep, pens are fun, and addictive. Nice save on the exploding one. I have one I’m trying to save – cut a barrel a wee bit to short, I think I can fix it with another piece of wood – if I remove a little more to make room for it.
Funny all the comments about the ones that aren’t wood. Looks cool (hate the smell of cutting plastic though.
-- 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/