my favorite pens so far

[john blanchard]

Here are a couple pens i did when a was home in july, top one is australian cypress with buckeye burl below. Is buckeye a real tree:confused: , i see things made of it i just don`t know where it comes from, i need to know so i can explain to people when they ask me. I won`t get back to the lathe until i go home for chistmas vacation:( , this turning stuff is fun, this was my first time. I do need to work on my finishing technique.

[Dario Octaviano]

Nice pens :)

Yes Buckeye is a real tree and they can get really big too! I have a slab a while back that is about 3" thick x 30" x 40" ...would have made a nice coffee table but I milled it all into tiny pen blanks :D.

[Corey Hallagan]

Nice job John. I like buckeye alot my self. Makes for some pretty pens. Can be a little difficult if it isn't stabilized.

Corey

[Curt Fuller]

Those are nice pens!

Must be tough being 'stuck' in Bermuda until Christmas;) .

[Dick Strauss]

John,
You've got some beautiful pens there!

Yes, buckeye trees are real. I've got at least three buckeye trees within 100 yards of home. Most buckeye wood is pretty bland so the burl you've got is the exception rather than the rule.


Keep up the good work,

Dick

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Nice pens John!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Those are a couple of beauties. Nice job.

[Henry C. Gernhardt, III]

Well, John, for your first time I'd say you did very well. I like the satin finish on the cypress, and the finish on the buckeye burl looks deep... It gives a three-dimensional aspect to the pen. They both look like they want to be picked up and used.

What did you use for your finish?

[john blanchard]

Thanks for the kind words everyone, the matt finish on the cypress pen is not done on purpose, I used LEE VALLEY turners polish on all the pens I did, I think I didn`t put enough on that one, the buckeye pen I coated with ca to fill some voids before the polish which seems to help with the final look. Wish I was only stuck here untill christmas Curt, I`m here untill xmas 07, that will be 9 years for me, I`m ready to get back to CANADA and working for myself again.

[Jim Becker]

The eyes in the burl really are an outstanding feature and in scale with the pen. Very nice!

Being in Burmuda isn't a horrible thing, but I guess "woodworking supplies" are not available on every corner! My last trip there (business) was interesting...I didn't realize how many Canadian ex-pats live there. Practically everyone I met with was from Canada!

[Myrel Willeford]

Very nice pens. We have a tree in California that is called a buckeye do not know its botanical name. It has large round nuts (about the size and color of a deer’s eye) that are poisonous if eaten fresh. The local Indians used to take the nuts and place them in a stream with running water and let them soak for about a month then grind them up to make something like flower.

[Mark Cothren]

John, those are some great looking pens. The buckeye burl is fantastic, for sure. Great work.