Lacewood Pen

[Glenn Vaughn]

I am just learnig turning and am starting with pens. I was in Woodcraft yesterday and picked up a hunk of Lacewood. I cut a couple of blanks out of it and tried turning a pen. I am not happy with the results (my skills are primative so far) but like how the wood turns out.

173593

[Rodney Walker]

I'm new to turning as well. I really don't see anything wrong with the pen. It looks fine to me.
Rodney

[Doug W Swanson]

It looks fine to me. At least you have a nice pen to show for it.

I tried making a pen out of lacewood just a few days ago and it gave me fits. It was real easy to chip out and then I ended up soaking the blanks in thin CA. Once the CA was dry, I tried to turn it again and then one of the blanks blew up on me. I'm not sure if I'll try lacewood again....

JMO

[Jim Burr]

Nice looking pen Glen:D!...Lacewood turns real well

[David E Keller]

There's nothing wrong with that pen. It's hard to make a dazzling slimline... Try some other kits like the sierra/wallstreet or cigar. They're a bit larger, so they show off a little more of the wood. Careful though... Pens can be very addictive.

[Michael James]

Hey, that's a great 1st! I love lacewood but there's just not enough material to see the real magic in it in a pen. I started out last yr thinking I'd make a couple of pens to keep myself busy.... I'm afraid to figure what my investment per pen is at this stage...... :eek: the rabbit hole goes waaaaaaaaaaaaay deep!

[Scott Hussey]

Nice first pen - it's better than my first one.

I will echo what's already been said - You'll do a few pens...then decide you want to do a bottle stopper...then a salt and pepper set...then a bowl or 12 bowls...then you'll get tired of bowls and will do hollow forms. You'll soon own more tools than you ever thought you would. Soon your wife will tell you to start giving stuff away since there isn't enough shelf room in the house. Finally, to support your "habbit" you will be surfing craigslist looking for free wood and posting wanted ads for your fix.

But..it's a kick in the pants so enjoy.

[bob svoboda]

Nice first. Transitions look really good for a first. Form will come with experience and I agree with David, you are pretty limited to what you can do with a slim line. Someone's going to love having this one.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Glenn - I like it! I think you did pretty good - first pen or fiftieth! Sure is some pretty wood!

[Mark Hix]

It's a good first pen! or second, or third.....if you want a laugh, I will show you my first pen!

The learning curve is fast so watch out.
David's right about slims. A larger pen shows of the figure better.

[Glenn Vaughn]

David's right about slims. A larger pen shows of the figure better.

Got 20 slimline pen and 20 pencil kits as part of a package when I bought the lathe from PSI. Jut got the 12" duplicator from them today - to try and improve my accuracy. It seems to work well (only done one pen with it so far). Everyone is right about this getting to be an expensive hobby. I am rapidly running out of tools to buy.