Photos Fresh off the lathe. . . .

Cool! I just saw a vid of a dude trying to bring out some more purple from purple heart by burning it. He wasnt very uniform on the burning part but the polishing process is kinda what I was envisioning. I think he was turning at 500rpms? Thats slow as heck for what im used to on metals etc. It that similar to what yall do to polish?

Man yall are corrupting me quickly! I dont need any more hobbies:D
Hey what about antler? That would be killer wouldnt it?

Never would of thought to darken a turned item with flame. That's neat though.

He used U Beaut Shellawax friction polish. Bet it's good stuff. In December when I bought my first batch of turning supplies, I bought Mylands friction polish. Had asked for some kind of simple finish and that's what they gave me. A friend and I love it. Wonder how it compares to U Beaut Shellawax. Shellawax says it's water proof. Gets me wondering if Mylands High Build friction polish is too.

EEE-Ultra shine paste wax looks like good stuff! Just read up on it a little. Supposed to make for a better shine, helps remove sanding marks, etc. I hope to have some in by the weekend. My turnings look good, but they could always look better. ;)

From what I've seen, Antler looks great turned. But it does stink. I'd like to turn some antler and some buffalo horn. It's a future project. My hope is to do Antler and Stacked leather on a project. Learned how to do Stacked leather pens. I'd like to combine that with the Antler and maybe brass to match some hidden tang knives that I have.
 
Ordered the EEE-Ultra shine paste wax, thin CA glue (to harden certain parts of projects), accelorator (makes CA glue dry faster), and Renaissance Wax as a finish after using the friction polish.

While I wait for these supplies, I'll clean up the set of tools that came with my big lathe and learn to use them.
 
Can a person spin leather? I've been looking for the right size piece of antler. Like a knife handle it has to be just right or it won't work.
Trying to get a hole centered through antler will be challenging at best.
 
Stacked leather and antler! Thats sounds sweet!
It sure does. Some day, some day. . . .

Can a person spin leather? I've been looking for the right size piece of antler. Like a knife handle it has to be just right or it won't work.
Trying to get a hole centered through antler will be challenging at best.

Yes, you can. It's involved, but works well from what I've seen. Finding the right antler might be hard. The Antler I have probably won't work. Going to look for more pieces.
 
What kind do yall need? Moose would probably be good eh? I have some beam pieces that are pretty solid. Also got a bunch of elk sheds. Ill send yall some if you could use it. Tell me what size hole you drill and roughly the diameter and ill see what I got.
 
Hopefully Wildman can confirm but the tube that goes in the hole is 7mm. Not sure why it's metric, maybe all made in china probably. Actually some use a larger hole also.
I've never played with Moose so no idea what it's like, I've heard it's actually hair but maybe I got my breed mixed up.
Something pretty solid for sure.
I'm always on the look out for deer or elk antler for handles. I don't know how they make gun handles out of the stuff, they must go through a lot of antler finding the right piece. I could never make it work on a gun. Even a 1911, size has to be just right.

Fix up Wildman first, I got stuff to play with for awhile.
 
For the slimline pens/pencils, the hole is 7mm. I turned the finger grip part of this pen to about 0.44" diameter. The pocket clip area was turned to about 0.39" diameter. 0.45" diameter is about the thickest I'd turn one of these slim line pens. The thinnest would probably be around 0.35" diameter. . . The brass tube you glue inside the blank has an OD of about 6.75mm. That way you have room to glue it in place. The tubes I use are 2" long, blanks/antler needs to be at least 2-1/4" long to 2-1/2" long. You need the extra room for squaring things up to the tube.

The wood blanks need to be about 3/4" x 3/4" x 2-1/4". If I'm careful, I can use 5/8" x 5/8" x 2-1/4" blanks. Am not sure how much wiggle room for finishing I need for Antler. Might be able to use pieces that are 0.5" thick, or we might need 0.62" thick (5/8"). If you'd like to send some Antler, I'd love to give it a shot. Just don't pre-drill the hole. The chances of the antler or other blank material shrinking in the dry Utah air is quite high. It happened with a blank I got from Bawanna. I drilled the blank one day, waited two days to glue the tube inside and by then the blank had shrunk enough I needed to re-drill the hole. Doh! The Seam ripper turned out nice, once I fixed the hole.

This is the pen mentioned above. The thickest part is 0.44" thick. It's made from Padauk wood. Using a 7mm Slimline Beaded pen kit.
pen3_06_resize.jpg

I'll PM you to talk more about antler. Thanks!
 
ok Khul Heber. I wanted to ask where you got the blanks too.
Bawanna : Moose is much harder throughout. It doesnt have much of a pith like white tail and elk. Elk is larger than deer but still is pretty pithy. I can see how it would be hard to get a matching pair for a 1911.
 
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ok Khul Heber. I wanted to ask where you got the blanks too.
Bawanna : Moose is much harder throughout. It doesnt have much of a pith like white tail and elk. Elk is larger than deer but still is pretty pithy. I can see how it would be hard to get a matching pair for a 1911.

Lets see, some are from Amazon, others from different Wood Turning/working stores, and others from family and friends including Bawanna Bawanna Got a bunch of Olive wood blanks through Ebay from Israel.
 
I finally go tired of the cold and poor light and lately shoveling snow to get to my lathe so I brought it inside. Did one pen so far in Purple Heart. Actually more chips than dust so not making as much of a mess as I anticipated.
Sure is more comfy and I can take more time since my teeth aren't chattering and hands getting frost bit.

Snowing again now. Looks like several more snow days for me this week.
 
I finally go tired of the cold and poor light and lately shoveling snow to get to my lathe so I brought it inside. Did one pen so far in Purple Heart. Actually more chips than dust so not making as much of a mess as I anticipated.
Sure is more comfy and I can take more time since my teeth aren't chattering and hands getting frost bit.

Snowing again now. Looks like several more snow days for me this week.

Sounds much nicer, glad you can now turn in comfort.
 
Well I haven't left the hill since last Friday. Heard we got a total of 33" of the white stuff. Wife and son been out a couple times in the 4x4 truck but I'd rather stay home myself. It's a bit warmer and melting today but probably at least another snow day from work for me and maybe Friday too if my attitude doesn't improve.
Anyhow I turned some more pens and started working a rifle stock I've had on a back burner for years so it's a good time for me.
Some snow shots.


In the future always put doors on gable end, when the snow slides off, you got a mountain to dig through to get to the garage.

Some pens. The strange looking one on the near end is a concept kubaton pen, it's promising but still in the research and development stage.


I never stay in the box too long, gotta crawl out and mess with stuff.
Back to the sawdust.
 
That's a good sized garage and lots of snow!! :eek: Wish we had that much snow in the valley. Stay warm my friend!

Those are some cool looking pens. I like that you're experimenting with shapes and colors. The 3 on the right are the shapes I like to do. That variety pack sure has a lot of colors in it. :cool:
 
That would be a great garage with electricity and heat and my little aluminum boat outside.
I originally planned for one more bay and kick myself everyday for not sticking to that plan.
I went on the cheap. Bad move. Be nice to have one dedicated work on stuff bay, it's kind of a storage unit but still lots of room especially when the van isn't in there.
Kids got me a garage door opener, wish I'd done that 10 years ago too. Great invention.
 
let me know if you want to make a fountain pen .... I could pay in money or knives ;)
 
Have to look, never seen a fountain pen kit. Maybe Wildman knows, the thunk all this up.

If there is such a thing it might not be too tough to make one.
 
let me know if you want to make a fountain pen .... I could pay in money or knives ;)

Have to look, never seen a fountain pen kit. Maybe Wildman knows, the thunk all this up.

If there is such a thing it might not be too tough to make one.

Funny you guys should mention Fountain Pens. I've been looking into them. One of my regular suppliers stocks a bunch of kits, they come with German made nibs. I'm tapped out this month, but can consider getting into them next month. Would need new drill bits and bushings and that's on top of the fountain pen kits. I'll put fountain pens on my list for March. Got to finish the dozens of kits I've already bought. he he he.
 
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