My first pen and 1 more bowl

maple bowl 7' x 3 1/2"

maple left overs.
Comments please. I was wondering do any of you who have the Beal buffing system think that it would help in buffing up the end grain. The bowls have all been buffed to 12000 then BLO and two coats of poly. The system is on sale at woodcraft for $59.95.
Thanks Ken

Ken, I don't have the Beal system, but I use the equivalent series of buffing wheels and compounds, and to me it sure seems to add a bit of extra shine beyond the Micro Mesh 12,000. I believe (but could be wrong on this) that the Tripoli compound is coarser than the 12,000 Micro Mesh, so I usually go from 12,000 to White Diamond compound on pens. On bowls and hollow forms, I don't use the Micro Mesh at all. After the finish cures, I go straight to the buffer, with maybe a light touch-up with gray Scotch Brite to knock off the dust bumps before buffing. Tripoli, White Diamond, then wax.

The sale price at Woodcraft looks pretty good. I went cheap and got a single wheel mandrel that fits my little Wilton mini lathe, and I swap the wheels out between buffing steps. The mini is now my dedicated variable speed buffer.

Good job on the first pen, and another pretty bowl, too.

Nice bowl and pen. What kind of wood is the bowl?
A suggestion, try to get the pictures in focus. And with a small object like a pen, use your photo editing software to crop away background that isn't what you are showing. That way you post a bigger image for us to criticize.

Ken love the bowl. I really like the wood. Pen is a beauty.