pens for presents for the wife

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Here's a few pens I made for the wife for work as gifts. The two white and black are tru stone, White Turquoise was the name of the blank. The black one in the middle is ebony. One is curly maple that I dyed, and the last one is coconut palm. I used craft supplies Apprentice Classica Pen Gun Metal Gray/Chrome kit.

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Here's a few pens I made for the wife for work as gifts. The two white and black are tru stone, White Turquoise was the name of the blank. The black one in the middle is ebony. One is curly maple that I dyed, and the last one is coconut palm. I used craft supplies Apprentice Classica Pen Gun Metal Gray/Chrome kit.
A nice selection of pens, John. I'm sure the wife's co-workers will like the immensely!
 
They all look great, John. :thumb: I've turned a few of the TruStone blanks. Relatively hard stuff, but it finishes out nicely. I've also turned some palm pieces (black palm, in my case), and it was a bit tricky to deal with. Looks like you handled all the different materials nicely. :clap:
 
Great looking group of Sierra Writing Instruments John!
I particularly like the Curly Maple.
Well done.
They will be appreciated.
What finish did you use on the wood?

Les

Thanks Les, coming from you that's a real compliment. I really admire all your pen posts and only hope to be half the craftsman you are. As far as finish goes I have been experimenting with CA. I've tried it using BLO and really didn't like the finish I was getting. Now I've been using just straight thin CA. I'll put on a nitrile glove and put a couple of drops of CA on my finger and rub it quickly back and forth across the blank until I feel it getting "grabby". I'll then hit it with a few shots of aerosol accelerator. I'll repeat this 10 - 15 times. I have been sanding with 600 grit after about 4 times to smooth things out, and then continuing with the CA. After the last coat I use one of the blue shop paper towels with some liquid aluminum polish on it. This seems to really smooth out the finish and make it look like glass. My pictures are terrible. The look much better in person.

Sorry to be so long winded. This is funny, I was just going to ask you how you finish your pens.:)

They all look great, John. :thumb: I've turned a few of the TruStone blanks. Relatively hard stuff, but it finishes out nicely. I've also turned some palm pieces (black palm, in my case), and it was a bit tricky to deal with. Looks like you handled all the different materials nicely. :clap:

Thanks Vaughn, This was my first time with the TruStone or palm. They were both fun to use. The palm was really soft and came off the lathe more of a powder than shavings.
 
John those are great looking pens. I'm sure your Wife's co-workers will be happy to receive the pens.

CA finish methods vary with almost every user. Personally, if finishing with CA I like to use BLO with thin CA and just CA when using the medium CA and don't sand until all is done. I've gotten to where I do 10 coats with thin and 10 with medium and no accelerator at any time unless I'm in a real big hurry to finish. I also find that allowing the blank to "dry" overnight before starting to sand makes for a much better finish.
 
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