A couple of Barons

[Tom Mullane]

Here are a couple of Barons....
Black TN Baron in Green Soapstone... what a pain dust everywhere, but polished real nice... AND THEN... stress factures appeared an hour after assembly.... I will eventually take it apart, it had real potential.. but I think I know what to do if I decide to do another... will have the ream the tubes until loose and CA the fittings in place... This stuff is too fragile...


Gold TN Baron in Curly Eucalyptus...real pretty and easy to turn and a real nice color and curl



Sterling Silver Baron in Bethlehem Olive Wood... this is some of that BOW that they sold on special about 2 months ago.. listed as having "beauty marks".. absolutely gorgeous stuff with some wild coloring... this one is shot through with browns, golds and subtle pinks... I love BOW...

[Jim Becker]

Tom, those are very nice. The issue you are having with the soap stone is due to the fact that the "version" that is easily turnable has a very high talc content...very soft stuff. It works wonderfully for small vessels, etc., but you're turning very, very thin on pens and there just isn't alot of meat there. You may be able to stablize with CA, but it may take a lot!!

[Tom Mullane]

Yeah, I know Jim.... been playing with it on and off and get about a 25% success rate... on this I know the stress cracks came from the tolerance of the pen kit parts to the tube... next time I will open the tubes a bit more so that the parts are more of a slide fit and CA them in place... that hopefully will eliminate the stress cracks at the ends... this piece was CA'd, but as you said there is not all that much wall left, even on a Baron.... at least I didn't totally crack the piece while still on the lathe as I have in the past...
I doubt I would ever do these for sale.. they are just too delicate and the last thing I need is a customer that I have already warned coming back to me to complain... aint worth the price of a sale...

[Richard Allen]

Great looking pens!

The soapstone is terrific. I love the look and feel on a pen. I put 1/4" - 3/8" pieces of wood (cocobolo is I recall) on the ends. The problem is that the stone won't give to the presure of the nib and such. The wood will give and therby protect the soapstone. The problem with the wood is that you can't sand it much without sanding away to much soapstone.