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Project Information

Wood And Materials Used
Oak Root or Burl, Big Ben Pen Kit, Comfort Pen Kit
Tools Used
Shop Fox W1704 Lathe
Location
Potter County, PA
Made a set of pens as a gift for family. They are made from what I think is Oak stump/root or a burl. the chunk of wood looks like a stumper had it's way with it but I guess it could have been a chainsaw as well. This is one of those projects I wish I could pass around because the pictures really don't capture the beauty and depth these pens have. I plan on getting better phots of these projects but my DSLR is about to go in for repairs, or a dumpster. Cell phone pics will have to do for now.

When I cut the blanks, they were very light (weight and color) and at the one end punky as anything. I broke off by hand the worst of it and then saturated the blank with thin CA. Boy did it soak it up. The following day I put another few drops on and it did not soak in. Turning was pretty easy, but to be sure I stopped tooling early and sanded the rest until I was happy.

I used friction polish for a finish and I really like the way it feels. Not too slick for a pen in my opinion. Pen kits are the Big Ben and a comfort grip without the rubber grip thing.





Enjoy!

Comments

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Beautiful job!
 

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Man, those are nice. I need to get into pen turning. I've got a pile of Mesquite cut offs that I've been trying to figure out what to do with. Anyway, nice work. Thanks for the post and inspiration...
 

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Beautiful job!
Thanks JCamp!



Man, those are nice. I need to get into pen turning. I've got a pile of Mesquite cut offs that I've been trying to figure out what to do with. Anyway, nice work. Thanks for the post and inspiration...
Glad I could inspire!

I am down to about 2 1/2 hours per pen. I know I can get faster, but with burl, you really need to take your time or it will chip out bad, or worse.
My goal is 1 hour, blank to assembly. I think it is doable.

I would stay away from the comfort grip kits. No matter what I do the center ring has just a little bit of play in it. I mean like a 1/64". I tried not trimming the blanks to the tube, being extra precise, but no matter what I tried, all of them have the play in them. The Big Ben kits are rock solid though.
 
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