Pen: A Rose for My Valentine

[Jim McFarland]

This is a Rose Inlay with red rose/light brown maple barrel blank available from lazerlinez.com. This one is for my wife for Valentine's day -- not quite the impact of a dozen roses but should last a while longer. Kit is an Elegant Beauty Sierra from Berea Hardwoods (titanium gold trim) and finished with CA/polished with Novus #2.

Thanks for looking!

http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg62/zjem02/IAP%20Photos/IMG_7049.jpg

[Bernie Weishapl]

Wow Jim that is beautiful. Really nice finish and inlay looks great.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Wow! Very impressive pen! She is going to love it!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Very impressive indeed Jim!

She will cherish it!

[David Hullum]

is that the right web site I get a broken link. I would like to browse there stuff. :D

[steven carter]

Very nice! She's bound to love it.

Steve

[Jim McFarland]

is that the right web site I get a broken link. I would like to browse there stuff. :D

David, my bad -- laZerlinEz.com! Sorry!

http://www.lazerlinez.com/products.asp?cat=26

[David E Keller]

Very cool. Way better than real flowers in my opinion. Let's hope she agrees. They have some amazing kits on that website, but the cost has kept me from trying one so far...

[Allen Neighbors]

Awesome!!!!!!

[David Hullum]

Thanks Jim :D

[Troy Cleckler]

Nice job! I've turned a lot of pens and for about a year now I've been using CA for the finish. Just curious, how do you apply the CA and finish it?

[Sid Matheny]

Oh WOW I bet you get a lot of points for that one. Very nice job!

Sid

[Kristie Walker]

That is very nice...maybe my husband will make me one too!

[Jim McFarland]

Nice job! I've turned a lot of pens and for about a year now I've been using CA for the finish. Just curious, how do you apply the CA and finish it?

Thanks, Troy -- I change my procedure weekly it seems -- I use medium CA and do 10 coats (dry to touch between coats) smoothed with a Viva paper towel with lathe running slowly. I let it cure overnight, then sand smooth with 600g/1200g wet/dry sandpaper. Next I MicroMesh (wet with water) from 3200 through 12000 and finish polish with Novus #2. I trim CA off the barrel ends with 120G PSA paper on a MDF faceplate block with a pen mandrel/pen sleeve in the tailstock to mount the blank and keep it square.

Again, lots of ways to apply CA and I think to get a gloss finish they all boil down to getting enough coats on the blank to stand up to your sanding/polishing smooth step. Others use BLO to apply (helps get a smoother application and arguably accelerates cure time) and others use CA cure accelerator to speed the cure time. I've seen beautiful pens using both techniques but they never worked for me.

Send me a PM if you'd like the step-by-step with a couple of photos version (it's a bit long).

David K., I agree the blanks are a bit pricey -- I only buy them for "special occasions!"

[Joe Adams]

This may be a stupid question but how did you do the inlay?

[Jim McFarland]

<snip? how did you do the inlay?

Joe, the pre-drilled & cutout blank is like a simple puzzle which I put together, turn and finish. My understanding is the barrel cutouts and pieces are laser cut.

Assembly instructions are here if you're interested:
http://www.lazerlinez.com/pdf%20files/Rose%20%20%20Instructions.pdf