Pens for a couple of Friends

[leehljp]

These pens are the Elegant Beauty TI Gold - with Bloodwood, BOW (Bethlehem Olive Wood) and Holly. 30 Silver spots at the top are from core solder. .5mm brass as separators between layers of wood. Named from a Biblical passage, and made for two national (Japanese) workers in ministry. - Named "30 Pieces of Silver".

I measured the core solder (looked for silver core but couldn't find it locally) and drilled holes from a HF numbered bit that matched the solder diameter.

Problem and unusual fix: The solder caused unusual smearing of dust, dulling the bloodwood considerably. I cranked up the lathe to around 3600 RPM, and used a very very very sharp squared end chisel (of my own making) with a very light touch - and it smoothed the whole pen as though it were sanded way beyond 400 / 600 sandpaper. No sanding done to this pen - I was very surprised at the ability to smooth so well without SP.

Finished with 3 applications of medium CA.

[Uncle Cracker]

Nicely done, Hank! Very artistic.

[gad5264]

Hank, those are gorgeous

[Whaler]

Beautiful work Hank.

[Popeye]

Hank I've seen some very nice pens here and on other forums but Boy Howdy...... those by far are the nicest looking pens I've seen anywhere. Those are flat out gorgeous. Pat

[dbhost]

Uh, so... wouldn't a more appropriate name for them be "Judas" pens? Just wondering, the 30 pieces of silver reference is a bit curious is all...

[leehljp]

Uh, so... wouldn't a more appropriate name for them be "Judas" pens? Just wondering, the 30 pieces of silver reference is a bit curious is all...

Well for me, it is related to an old story I heard a long time ago of a king asking a slave how much he (the king) was worth. If the slave answered correctly, the king would spare the slave or give him his freedom or something. (It has been a long time and I forgot much of the story.) Anyway, the slave said 29 pieces of silver. The King asked why do you say 29 pieces of silver? The slave answered, because no one is worth as much as . . . who was bought for 30 pieces of silver.

Don't want to turn this into a religious post; just want to keep it focused on the woodwork here.


Thanks folks for the compliments. I appreciate it very much!

[sunsetman]

Nice work

Those pens came out really nice. Did you use a kit? I thought I saw other posts were you owned a Taig late. Do you recommend them for making a few pens?

[Kristofor]

I don't often comment on pens as it's not a skill I've worked on so I can't make much of an educated comment, but in this case.....

Wow, those are awesome Hank! Tons of detail and neat unique features, very impressive.

Kristofor.

[jking]

Wow! Absolutely stunning! Craftsmanship at it's finest.

[dbhost]

Understood. The particular reference just piqued my curiosity is all...

Fantastic pieces through. I haven't started in with a lathe yet, as I don't own one (yet).

I am eyeballing a lathe, and not sure what I want. I really want one that is flexible enough to do stuff like pens, knobs etc... But I also want a lathe that I can turn spindles for furniture, as well as bowls etc...

[leehljp]

Those pens came out really nice. Did you use a kit? I thought I saw other posts were you owned a Taig late. Do you recommend them for making a few pens?

I have a Rikon lathe for most of my pen making. I used the Taig for the first year of making pens (2005) but started using the Rikon after that. For a few months I used both as I would have two pens going at a time. While the finish was "setting up" on one, I would be turing on the other. However, my little 9 by 12 shed was overcrowded with a DP, bandsaw, TS, lathe, router table, large belt sander, so the second lathe (Taig) was put up on a shelf. I do take it down on occasion when I want to turn metal or precision parts with .001 inch or better tolerance. I recently started making some of my own bushings for some pens and the Taig is built for making such precision turning. I have the Taig setup for metal turning as well as wood turning.

If space is limited, the Taig is worth it. But if you have the space for a larger lathe at all, I personally would go with the larger midi lathe. The price of a properly set up Taig is equal to a larger wood lathe - especially in a midi size versus the Taig. Larger midi lathes give more versatility, but Taig takes less space and have "potential" for finer tolerances if the added equipment is purchased.

[gettools]

Hank, those are absolutely beautiful, so full of detail & color--Great Job

[gerti]

One of the nicest I have seen!

[JerrySats]

That's a gorgeous pen , I like the combo of all the different woods and metals . How was it drilling for and setting those small pieces of solder?