New Pen Turnings

[Jeff Sudmeier]

As part of the Christmas gift push, I have been working on some pen type kits.

Below is a photo of what I worked on this weekend. Sorry for the photo quality, I can't get anything better from my cheapy digital.

From the left are an Areomatic Cedar Letter Opener, Corn Cob Slimline Pen, Walnut Pencil and Walnut Pen. I "harvested" the corn cobs for the pen last year and they have been drying since The walnut pen and pencil will be a set and both of them show about 30% sap wood. They were actually scraps from the cutting boards I posted.
PensSIZED.jpg
Pens 2SIZED.jpg

[John Hart]

Hey Jeff,

Very good sir! The picture's a tad outta focus so it's hard to see any detail. I bet they'll make some great gifts! So....how's that cedar? I just cut a bunch of blanks of aromatic and I'm wondering how to finish and how it behaves under the knife.

[Chris Barton]

Nice pens Jeff. How was the cobb to work?

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Hey Jeff,

Very good sir! The picture's a tad outta focus so it's hard to see any detail. I bet they'll make some great gifts! So....how's that cedar? I just cut a bunch of blanks of aromatic and I'm wondering how to finish and how it behaves under the knife.

John, The cedar worked great! It worked like a soft wood and required some 120 grit gouge work when done, but it sands SUPER easy. I have some more that I am hoping to use for a full pen. I like how it has darkened over time.

I finished it with my old standby turning finish, BLO and thick CA.

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Nice pens Jeff. How was the cobb to work?

Chris, the Cob worked great. One thing I learned is that it requires a WHOLE lotta CA to use a fresh cob. If you let them dry out for a year, they work a lot more easily. Also, I now glue in all of my tubes with Poly glue, I have a blow out about every 5th cob pen now that I started doing that. You have to let it dry over night, but it is worth not having a blow out when you are 10 seconds from done

[Jason Christenson]

I now glue in all of my tubes with Poly glue

You mean like gorilla glue?

[Jeff Sudmeier]

You mean like gorilla glue?

Jason, I have not yet used Gorilla Glue, but I have heard of good results. I use titebond Poly Glue. Simply because it has been cheaper than Gorilla and I haven't had poor results.

[Mark Cothren]

Nice pens, Jeff! I really like the corncob pens - pretty neat!

Thanks for the picture!