A Lttle of This and That

[James Combs]

Was piddling around it the shop last week just straightening up a bit and the next thing I know I have made these.

A couple more birdhouses(replacing the ones that sold over Christmas on my "Show-em-off" stand)
LtoR - Walnut on Spalted Maple with lower Cocobolo accent, next is Honey Locust on Maple(the top ball is HL sapwood, the transition just happened that way)
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A few replacement bottle stoppers for their display stand.
LtoR - Box Elder pen blank as a stopper handle(a little small but I like it), Spalted Maple, Purple Heart.
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And another faux knife pen. The hardware is a WC Chrome Retro. The scales are Cocobolo with aluminum and thin maple segments. Brass welding rod are the rivets. The Retro is normally a top and bottom barrel pen but the twist mechanism is driven by the finial on top so it was easy to convert it to a long barrel. I am not real happy with my fit and finish on this one but it will make a nice carry pen. I had lots of trouble with it, It de-segmented(read blew apart) several times. The epoxy didn't seem to hold like it should. It is either getting old(or maybe me):rolleyes: or I mixed it wrong.:o
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As always, C&C welcomed.

BTW I still need to straighten up some.http://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif

[Eric Holmquist]

I really like the faux knife Retro, great idea.

[James Combs]

I really like the faux knife Retro, great idea.
Thanks for the comment Eric and for looking. The pen got a lot more attention over on the IAP.:rolleyes:

[Harvey Ghesser]

You do beautiful work, Jim.

[Baxter Smith]

Nice work on all JD. I have never seen a penknife before.(or did I get that backwards!):)

[Michelle Rich]

luv the first birdhouse! cute!

[Jim Burr]

You really are inspiring me to get some ornaments started...those are great! How do you like the silicone stoppers? I Like the wood but the stopper part has always bugged me, dunno know why. That pen is sharp! I'm working on a similar style and had the same thing happen. I keep hearing drill low and slow since heat will de-laminate the blank. The nib mating end looks a little fat, but it is super cool overall! Finish is your usual "mirror" smooth!

[James Combs]

You really are inspiring me to get some ornaments started...those are great! How do you like the silicone stoppers? I Like the wood but the stopper part has always bugged me, dunno know why. That pen is sharp! I'm working on a similar style and had the same thing happen. I keep hearing drill low and slow since heat will de-laminate the blank. The nib mating end looks a little fat, but it is super cool overall! Finish is your usual "mirror" smooth!

Thanks Jim, I use the ornaments as fill in time for when glue or finish is drying on a main projects(like the pen). I have some of Ruth Niles SS stoppers also and tend to use my premium woods for them. These silicone ones are made from cutoffs and other bits and pieces I have left over from other things which also applies to the material for the birdhouse ornaments. I have a display of the stoppers set up at a local craft pavilion but so does another craftsman. His are a little more high end then mine, he uses spiral cuts and embellishments like that on his but he is using cork as the stopper material. He has his priced aroung $18.00 and they are in these nice plastic cases. Mine are $5-7 and are in a rack. When I get around to getting the Ruth Niles' ones made I will be packaging them individually like his and pricing them at about $30. I just want to see how much market there is for them before hand. So far I have not seen any of his sell(can't be because of my cheapies) but mine sell pretty good, anyway if his more premium ones aren't selling I am reluctant to put higher price ones there.

On the laminated faux knife pen I messed up and went to a larger tube then originally planned. If you look at the blank closely I have two pieces of aluminum, one on each side of a center core of scape UHMW. The UHMW is sacrificial, will be drilled out. the width of it is the same as the OD of the planned tube, there fore you aren't drilling aluminum when you drill the blank except for the thin stuff on the outer lamination. That process worked great on the first one but I went from a 7mm tube planned, to a ~10mm tube actual. That meant the drill had to cut off 1-1/2mm of aluminum off the 1/8" thick center pieces and that is what caused the problem on this one. If you stick with planned designs it tends to work out better. lol