Chicago Bears Pens

[Daniel Heine]

Hello,

I am thinking of buying some sheets of a white hardwood like Poplar, cutting them into 18" X 1/4" strips, and dying half of hem blue, and the orhet half orange. Then, laminate them back together in alternating colors, cut into blanks diagonally, and turn blue and orange Chicago Bears pens!!!
Is this a really goofy idea, or is it doable? If it's doable, how do I go about dyeing the wood, and what wood would you suggest using?

I really appreceiate all of the input I get when posting questions to this list. I don;t know where else I would go for this great advice. Thank You all!!!

Happy Turning,
Dan Heine

[Keith Burns]

I think dyeing the wood is the problem. An alternative is to use corian. I know it is available in orange and blue cause I have some. Now all you have to do is find a source. (which I don't have anymore)

[Gary DeWitt]

Here's a source, tho I've never used them because of the expense. They seem to have orange and blue, but that's pretty general, not sure if they have the exact color you're looking for.
If you make the pens, post a pic for us.
Good luck.

Er, would help if I pasted the link, wouldn't it?
http://stonewood.safeshopper.com/index.htm?500

[Lars Thomas]

Dan, I don’t see any reason that won’t work. Sure, it will be a pain to do the glue-ups, plus you will have pretty significant waste due to the diagonal cut. When gluing, be sure to use cauls to help pull everything tight. From a turning perspective, you will be dealing with a slight end-grain issue, but nothing sharp tools can’t overcome. One thing to watch for in both gluing and finishing is making sure the colors don’t bleed. Sounds like a neat project, let us know how it goes. Lars

[Andy Hoyt]

I don't think the dying process would work because that will only alter the surface color of the material. The minute you cut and turn, you'll be exposing raw undyed wood. That's why Keith suggested the corian since it's color is through and through.

[Lars Thomas]

Andy, I was thinking these would be soaked in dye for a few days . . . I would have thought the dye would have penetrated the poplar. Remember they are only 1/4" thinck. I'll have to try it. Lars

[Andy Hoyt]

Hmmm. Failed to note the 1/4" thickness; but I still have doubts.

Give it a go and let us know.

[Jason Hallowell]

I have a bit of experience dyeing veneers for use in pool cues, and even dyeing 1/16" thick veneer all the way through is a challenge. Poplar does take dye fairly well compared to many other woods, but it often does not take the dye evenly, and looks splotchy when cut through. By far, the best wood for dyeing is sycamore. Without the use of industrial pressure dyeing equipment, I think 1/4" would be an extreme challenge. Even thin veneers require expensive analine dyes and a couple weeks soaking to thoroughly dye through. I did see a thread here recently that talked about wood that had been dyed while the tree was still alive. Pretty cool stuff.

[Paul Downes]

I will first fess up and say I haven't tried it yet but, (since Chicago kicked Detroit's butt), :eek: I'll pass on an idea or two......I believe transtint dyes will penetrate fairly well and if you have a vacuum packer, especialy the one that you can hook up to a canning jar, you can push the dye right through the wood. I have a short list of experiments to try when I get to it and I believe alchol soluable dyes will penetrate better than water soluable.
I'm working on wood stablization for pen blanks and I have the plastisizing solution ready but haven't got around to dyeing it and pulling the vacuum. You can make plactisizing soulution by dissolving cheap, as in non-siliconized plex, in acetone. you want a heavy syrup consistancy. You need the vacuum to push the plastic through the wood. Good luck