New Pen

[Adam Howard]

Made one of these...

Brazilian Cherry and Ebony Baron Rollerball.

http://home.comcast.net/~oxhoward/P1010152.JPG

[Roger McIntyre]

Adam,

This pen looks great. Where did you get the mechanisms from? I am in Australia and would like to get som.

Roger

[Gary Max]

Great job on the Baron----your pic came out real sharp.
Thanks for sharing.

[Steve Stube]

Stunning! Wow! That's Great!

[John Hart]

Now, that's the kind of elegance that I want to achieve Adam. Beautiful piece! How did you build your blanks? I have the wood...just need some guidance.

Thanks

[Adam Howard]

John, it's easy, really..



First take a board... half the thickness of a good pen blank, plus a little. I use 5/8" to be on the safe side. The board should be double that in width, plus a little for a bandsaw kerf plus smoothing, say 1 3/8". Make it extra long, like 10".

Take that board and cut it in half (crosscut). Place your veneer of choice inbetween the two pieces, and glue'er up. Let it cure, then make it all smooth and happy.

Cut it in half lengthwise on the bandsaw, perpendicular to the veneer. Joint/plane it smooth. Put another piece of veneer in the middle and glue'er up again.

Again, cure, make smooth and happy. Now the veneer should be a cross through the length of the stick. At this point make sure it's S4S.

Here's where a tablesaw jig is handy, or a good crosscut sled. Cut the stick crosswise in slices, however thick you want them.

Make yourself some veneer squares That'll fit inbetween the slices.

You're going to glue the slices together with a piece of veneer in between, but the slices should be rotated 45 degrees from one another (roughly). Just do it by eye. Glue them up by two's first, then four's, then eight's. You get the idea. When you have a spiny looking stick, put it on the lathe using spur drive/live center, and make it round. Then you have a round pen brick wall blank to do with what you want.

[Adam Howard]

Roger,


I buy my Baron's from arizonasilhouette.com. They buy them from Berea Hardwoods. You can also get them from Woodcraft, but it's called the "Navigator".

[John Hart]

Good explanation Adam. I'll give it a try tonight. Any recommendations on glue type? I have standard yellow, CA, Epoxy, and poly.

[Adam Howard]

John,


I just used normal yellow glue.

[Dawn Sunkle]

Adam, that is a beautiful pen. I've been interested in segmented items for a while and with your great directions I think I can handle it and will be giving it a try soon :)

Thanks for sharing!!
Dawn

[Fred Ray]

Very nice work, Adam. I really like the Baron's, Navigators, and Jr. Gents. You did a great job on the segmenting. For curiosity, is it a fountain pen or roller ball?

[Adam Howard]

It's a rollerball.

[Randy Meijer]

Adam: Nice pen. I really like the effect!! Do you have any pictures of the glue-up process?? I'm not fully visualizing how the blank is created?? Thanks!!

[Adam Howard]

I'm working on another set of blanks and will take pictures. Check back in a few days.

[Aaron Koehl]

A picture would be worth a thousand words.. and maybe an article.. ;)

[Randy Meijer]

Thanks very much!!

[Ernie Nyvall]

Wow, that is a beautiful pen Adam, and I second the motion on an article.

Ernie

[Jim Ketron]

Nice Job Adam! Thats one nice looking Pen Neighbor. Grey Tn is not that far from me pass by there every day as I go to work.
Jim