David Walser
02-21-2009, 3:53 AM
Yesterday the last day at work for a friend and colleague. He left to become the CFO of a private primary school. To say thank you for all he's done for our firm and wish him success in his new endeavor, I made him a pen. The pen kit is Craft Supplies USA's titanium rollerball version of its Jr. Gentlemen's II - Postable Cap pen kit.
The blank is Inlace Acrylester that's made with shreaded US currency. I got the blank from Woodturningz.com. One unusual thing about working with these blanks is the shredded money makes it impossible to get a perfectly smooth surface. (At least, I wasn't able to do it.) The cash and the plastic are of such different densities that one sands away more quickly than the other, leaving a "lumpy" surface. You can't see the lumps with the naked eye, but you can feel them. It's a "good" feeling and not objectionable at all. Just something I noticed.
The blanks were finished with CA glue (necessary to fill the pits where some of the paper tore out), sanded with micro mesh through 12,000 grit and buffed using Don Pencil's new "plastic" buffing compound with a top coat of carnauba wax. (Don Pencil's plastic buffing compound has a finer grit than white diamond and he recommends it for plastics and for buffing lacquer. Good stuff.) If I had applied a thicker CA finish, I might have been able to get rid of the lumpiness discussed above.
Because they were made from shredded money, we agreed to call this his "stimulus pen".
Here are a couple of pictures:
The blank is Inlace Acrylester that's made with shreaded US currency. I got the blank from Woodturningz.com. One unusual thing about working with these blanks is the shredded money makes it impossible to get a perfectly smooth surface. (At least, I wasn't able to do it.) The cash and the plastic are of such different densities that one sands away more quickly than the other, leaving a "lumpy" surface. You can't see the lumps with the naked eye, but you can feel them. It's a "good" feeling and not objectionable at all. Just something I noticed.
The blanks were finished with CA glue (necessary to fill the pits where some of the paper tore out), sanded with micro mesh through 12,000 grit and buffed using Don Pencil's new "plastic" buffing compound with a top coat of carnauba wax. (Don Pencil's plastic buffing compound has a finer grit than white diamond and he recommends it for plastics and for buffing lacquer. Good stuff.) If I had applied a thicker CA finish, I might have been able to get rid of the lumpiness discussed above.
Because they were made from shredded money, we agreed to call this his "stimulus pen".
Here are a couple of pictures: