Laying in some Pen Turning Stock, hand-tool focus

[C. in Indy]

I wanted to get ready for about a half-dozen pens coming up.   I use all sorts of odd stocks, so preparing a few at a time helps save a little time.

I realized I could use a Spokeshave to prepare better for the lathe, save on dust, etc....   Rough rounding is facilitated by putting the blank in its bushings inside the vise soft jaws:

   

Here I've laid in a few packages for later:

   

Here is one of the walnut ones; I couldn't wait any longer!   The finish is Doctor's Woodshop Pens Plus.   I'm not a French-polisher, but I think there are elements of the same action there.... shellac is friction-set, and walnut oil serves as a lubricant during application.

   


Happy woodworking!

Chris

[Arlin Eastman]

Good looking pen Chris

Did you do the whole thing by hand without a lathe?

[MichaelMouse]

Good looking pen Chris

Did you do the whole thing by hand without a lathe?

From what he said, no.  Though I have to wonder why he bothers rounding anywhere but on the lathe.  Simple, short, safe, and no dust until you sand.

[C. in Indy]

Howdy,
    I do use a lathe; my spokeshave skills are still developing


    The main reason I like pre-chamfering or pre-rounding is to reduce impacts at the pen-mandrel on the lathe.   It seems like mandrel is always on the cusp of either too loose or overtorqued due to wind-up.   The less major corners on the wood pieces, the easier I can manage the setup and keep things true.   Somewhat fewer risky situations at the bandsaw are a good thing, too.

[C. in Indy]

Here are some excellent faceted wood pencils I found to admire on the Instagram feeds (not my work)!

https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/u...ils/?hl=en


Faceted tool handles are very interesting to me; I wonder why we don't see more of them.


Happy New Year,
Chris

[Bruce Haugen]

Here are some excellent faceted wood pencils I found to admire on the Instagram feeds (not my work)!

https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/u...ils/?hl=en


Faceted tool handles are very interesting to me; I wonder why we don't see more of them.


Happy New Year,
Chris

The grip on my Parker 75 fountain pen is triangular.  It makes a significant difference.

[2beast]

OP......
I see you have some apricot blanks 

Apricot is among the most beautiful wood I have used for pens 

[Stwood_]

Here are some excellent faceted wood pencils I found to admire on the Instagram feeds (not my work)!

https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/u...ils/?hl=en


Faceted tool handles are very interesting to me; I wonder why we don't see more of them.


Happy New Year,
Chris

  Some of those are pretty neat

[Arlin Eastman]

I went to the link and I really liked how most of those pens turned out.  Looking forward to seeing yours.

[C. in Indy]

Inspired by those Instagram posts above, I got around to a proof-of-concept on an Octagonal pen.   This was based on the Penn State Civil War style kit.

The (no-name acacia) blank was drilled and roughed to a tapered octagonal prism shape with the bushings, vise, and plane:

   


Further refinement to equalize the 8 faces was done on the same plane, inverted so that the wood-blank could scoot across, jointer-style, interatively:

   


I used the lathe for a minor bit of end-coving, then applied some molten waxes with a small iron (beeswax and shellac waxes).  I then used a small blank of almond hardwood to scrape off the excess wax and do more burnishing, following by cloth buffing:

   


The finished pen is now ready for trials!  The shape is not uncomfortable, but not super; I might wish to further break the edges next time.  The hard wax finish does feel nice, though, which helps.

   


Happy woodworking!
Chris