Earrings, Pendant, and a Pen

[David E Keller]

Haven't had much turning time lately between work and weather.

Here are a couple of earrings and a pendant from stabilized afzilia xylay. The pendant has a textured portion that was "ebonized" with a Sharpie. All turned using the Joyner backer plate. Wet sanded with MM to 12000 and finished with boiled linseed oil and Renaissance wax. Buffed with tripoli and white diamond. They are to be gifts to the wife for indulging my turning habit(among other things).

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The pens were ordered by a friend. The first blank is prickly pear cactus skeleton(purchased). The kit is a Jr. Statesman from craft supply. Wet sanded MM to 12000 then BLO, CA, and wet sanded again. Buffed with tripoli and white diamond.
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The other is chinaberry burl from his land. It's the only time I've ever seen chinaberry burl... Neat stuff. It's wet sanded to 600, buffed as with the other pen and then finished with wax.143916

[Harvey Ghesser]

Beautiful work, David! I especially like the pens. You've got a lucky friend!:D

Harv

[Ted Calver]

Beautiful work!! The pens are fantastic and the jewelry is unique and classy. Did you add the findings to the earings yourself? I've been looking for findings that would work on wood without much luck.

[Baxter Smith]

All of them are very pretty. Googled "stabilized afzilia xylay" and got pen turning supplies. Understand the stabilized part but is it a tree, bush, ..?

[Gary Conklin]

Very well done. I like the chatter work on the pend. That catus pen is too cool though!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Those are beauties David. Really well done.

[David E Keller]

Beautiful work!! The pens are fantastic and the jewelry is unique and classy. Did you add the findings to the earings yourself? I've been looking for findings that would work on wood without much luck.

Ted, the findings are from Hobby Lobby... The earrings just have simple looped pins which have been wound through the openings. There are simple hooks attached to the loops.

The pendant will have a bale loop glued to the back of it at some point, but I haven't found one that I like(read she likes)yet.

[David E Keller]

Baxter, here's a description I borrowed from the spacitywood website:

Afzelia wood is a rare hardwood and highly prized, giving an outstanding finish. The wood is hard, heavy and dense and develops a beautiful patina as it ages. The Xylay figure is highly valued for its attractive and unpredictable burl and wavy grain patterns.

Afzelia is considered as a large-sized tree with an average life of 200-300 years. It can reach 30 meters in height and more than a meter in diameter. The seed pulp is used in making cigarettes and the bark is used in traditional herbal health drinks. The buried wood near the base of the trunk is especially valued. An old Afzelia tree can measure up to almost two meters in diameter. It has a light brown or brownish pink bark. The wood is very dense and durable.

It's traditionally used in furniture making, flooring, trim, crafts, and construction of fine musical instruments. It's also used in cabinetry, home building and sculpture. This beautiful timber is used for cabinet work and wood carvings, as well as for construction of bridges, house posts, etc.

Origin: S.E.Asia,Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Burma.


Family: Leguminosae

Some of the afzelia I've seen is very, very plain. The piece I used for the jewelry has the prized snakeskin grain pattern. The burl from this tree is really attractive as well.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Very nice work on everything David! Especially like the figure in the earrings! That is some kind of wood!

Great looking pens as well! Thanks for sharing!

[James Combs]

Beautiful items David. A couple of Questions::confused:
- Do you know of any tutorials on the forum (or elsewhere) for making pendants and earrings?
- Where did you get the earring hardware? Old jewelry perhaps? Edit - Just saw the post on Hobby Lobby.
- How do you "wet sand" on a lathe? Sounds very messy.
Sorry for the ignorance but I am a retired automotive manufacturing engineer and have only been doing wood for 5 years and pens for 5 months.:o


Haven't had much turning time lately between work and weather.

Here are a couple of earrings and a pendant from stabilized afzilia xylay. The pendant has a textured portion that was "ebonized" with a Sharpie. All turned using the Joyner backer plate. Wet sanded with MM to 12000 and finished with boiled linseed oil and Renaissance wax. Buffed with tripoli and white diamond. They are to be gifts to the wife for indulging my turning habit(among other things).

The pens were ordered by a friend. The first blank is prickly pear cactus skeleton(purchased). The kit is a Jr. Statesman from craft supply. Wet sanded MM to 12000 then BLO, CA, and wet sanded again. Buffed with tripoli and white diamond.

The other is chinaberry burl from his land. It's the only time I've ever seen chinaberry burl... Neat stuff. It's wet sanded to 600, buffed as with the other pen and then finished with wax.

[David E Keller]

Beautiful items David. A couple of Questions::confused:
- Do you know of any tutorials on the forum (or elsewhere) for making pendants and earrings?
- Where did you get the earring hardware? Old jewelry perhaps?
- How do you "wet sand" on a lathe? Sounds very messy.
Sorry for the ignorance but I am a retired automotive manufacturing engineer and have only been doing wood for 5 years and pens for 5 months.:o

James,
Here's a link to a tutorial for pendant making. The earrings are just a variation on the same theme.

http://content.penturners.org/articles/2009/necklace_pendant.pdf

Here's a link to Ed Davidson's website. He has several videos addressing pendants using the backer plate that several of us on this site have used.

http://www.yoyospin.com

The hardware all came from Hobby Lobby, but I would imagine most craft supply stores have a selection of items for jewelry hardware.

Wet sanding can be messy, but I usually put a paper towel or two down on the ways. A good coat of wax on the ways helps prevent problems as well. I used the micromesh pads on these pieces, and I just dunk them in a cup of water before applying them to the material. On acrylics and stabilized woods, I think I get a better finish by wet sanding.

Shoot me a PM if you have any more questions.

[John Keeton]

David, I noticed in the other thread that you mentioned posting these, but didn't get back to the computer last nite. Very nice!! I love that wood, and a very interesting description you found. Would hate to think what a bowl blank from that stuff would cost!!!!

Haven't had the urge to do pens, but these certainly are nice, and I agree on the cactus one - very unique!

[Baxter Smith]

Thanks for the info David. I really liked the earings so was curious. The web site was interesting too. Makes me feel lucky to have "free" wood to practice with.:)

[David E Keller]

Thanks to all for the kind comments. The afzelia actually came from Arizona Silhouette in a grab bag of cutoffs of stabilized wood... It wasn't terribly expensive. I have no affiliation with the site, but I've been very satisfied with my purchases there.

[Allen Neighbors]

I've searched, evidently in the wrong places, and cannot find any of the coolest pen blanks in the world... prickly pear cactus skeleton.
David, all of these turnings are beautiful, but the coolest one of them all, IMO, is that Prickly Pear pen. AWESOME!! (hope that didn't hurt your ears)
Can you tell me where to get some of those?

[David E Keller]

I've searched, evidently in the wrong places, and cannot find any of the coolest pen blanks in the world... prickly pear cactus skeleton.
David, all of these turnings are beautiful, but the coolest one of them all, IMO, is that Prickly Pear pen. AWESOME!! (hope that didn't hurt your ears)
Can you tell me where to get some of those?

Allen, the blanks came from turntex.com. Beware of the price!:eek: This one was a commission, so it won't cost me a thing. A little scary turning blanks that are that price, but the customer is always right. Glad you like it.

[Paul Douglass]

You can also get them and other cool blanks at exoticblanks.com.

Very nice work on the pendant and pens

what do you use for the texturing tool. Home made? bought?

[David E Keller]

It's a homemade tool made from a reciprocating saw blade... Works great. Can't see paying for one.