The kiddo and I cast a blank a while back and I finally got around to turning it. The ‘wood’ inside is just the tops of acorns found in the yard. We weren’t sure how much resin to mix and ended up making 2 batches. We pearlized the 2nd batch and swirled it in a […]
Buffalo, you infernal beast!
Quite a while back I turned a Wall St. II pen out of 1/2 a blank of buffalo horn. Within days, an unsightly split formed up the side. I wrote this off to it being too hot, cold, dry, or some incompetence on my part. Little did I know that it is most likely the […]
Custom order
I recently received a custom order request for several slimline pens with a specific clip. The parts are in, so it is time to get to work! I have months to complete the order, but I may as well start on this rainy day off work. The blanks are from a grab bag, so I […]
Dust Deputy Cart
Recently I purchased a cyclone kit for my shop vac. Having burned out 1 motor on my shop vac and spending way too much time cleaning filters (or money replacing them), this seemed like a good investment. I read a couple of reviews, watched an excellent one at http://www.thewoodwhisperer.com/videos/cyclone-separator-shootout/ , and decided on The Dust Deputy […]
A couple of tops
This month’s CCW demonstrator was Ron Brown. He demonstrated making several items for us, including a scoop, instructions on spatualas, an acorn, and a top. With the North Georgia Folk Festival coming up in a few weeks, I decided it would be a good time to get some practice making tops. They can be easy […]
Another Steampunk Pen
This is my second attempt at a Steampunk themed pen, and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. This time I used a black chrome Wall Street II mechanism that matches the paint that I used for the pen tube. I attached 8 watch gears of various sizes to the tube before casting in […]
A Custom Set
Work has started on a special order for a friend… Update Tuesday night: I’m getting closer to finishing… Update Wednesday night: Ready for delivery!
Pens for Troops
My good buddy, Terry, is in Afghanistan for the next several months as a liason officer to the French. Along with some movies and snacks, I decided to turn some pens for him and his troops. Not knowing how the wood would hold up to the conditions, I asked him to keep that one for […]
Pepper Mills for Christmas
This year I took on the challenge of making pepper mills for Christmas. That’s one for each of the 3 sets of my kid’s grandparents, one for my sis’s family, and one for my wife. As you can see, I had a good helper during the process. Left-to-right, they are made of mahogany, purpleheart, 3 […]
Kaitlin’s Teacher’s Christmas Present
Kaitlin and I decided to make her teacher a pen for Christmas. This style of pen is called a Teacher’s pen, and has red ink on one side and black on another. We decided to use red acrylic on one side, blue on the other, and wood in between. Kaitlin was a huge help […]