A mahogany candleholder

A little over a month ago I was commissioned by a coworker to make a candleholder for him to give his wife for Christmas. After some color discussions (to make it match his dining room table), we settled on lacquered mahogany.

I found some 8/4 slabs of mahogany and realized it would be great if I could make the entire thing out of a single slab of wood.

From the scraps I made a pair of endgrain mahogany and copper pens.

The base of the candlehoder is solid mahogany. The angled sides were cut on the bandsaw with the table tilted. I drew the oval with a pencil and two nails and a string and cut close to the line, finishing with hand sanding to remove the saw marks.

The center I routed out with a straight bit on my handheld PC 690 router. The candlestick holders were turned on the lathe and 5/8" holes drilled to hold the candles. The dishes in the base are epoxied into 7/8" holes. A drum sander added the detail underneath.

The candleholder was finished with Deft lacquer while the pens were finished with CA.

Turning Burl

I know, it's been a while since I posted. But life gets in the way sometimes.

Here's my first successful shot at turning a burl pen. The one in the photos is box elder burl with an imperfect but cool green dye job.

I started with three burl blanks. I tried to use them for Sierra pens. Big mistake. The wood is too thin on the tubes for my ham-handed tool control. So the other two blanks, one purple and one blue, were destroyed. I figured out the bad choice a Sierra is for me, so I switched to a euro for the last one.

I also changed my technique. Instead of my 1" gouge like I usually use and finishing with a skew, I used strictly a round nose scraper once the blank was turned round. The finishing cuts were made using the scraper as a skew. It took the finest threads of material I've seen and didn't catch at all. With a skew I have to get at least one catch per pen. That usually keeps my heart rate nice and high.

I also soaked CA into the pen after every few passes to help hold it together. I finished with 4 coats of medium CA and polished it up.

The burl took longer to turn than a "normal" pen, but the results are worth it!

Drill Bits

If you've been turning pens, you'll have begun collecting odd sized drill bits. 27/64, 15/32, etc. Even the cheapie ones are $5 or more each.

Ugh.

Last week I purchased a Navigator rollerball kit from Woodcraft. $10 for the kit, $6 for the bushings, and $35 for the two drill bits! $51 just to make a $10 kit.

So I was standing there in front of the rack of expensive drill bits at Woodcraft when I noticed a box at the bottom. Drill bits in 64ths. A whole set. $25.

I opened it to ensure it had the sizes I needed, and it did! I put the $35 pair of bits back on the rack and grabbed this bad boy.

It's the Wood River 29 Piece Fractional Inch Brad Point Set. (Link here but it's $31.99 online.) I've been using them like mad this past week and loving it! Having all the odd sizes is great! For example, I was doing one of PSI's penlight kits that calls for a 1/2" hole. Well, 1/2" was a sloppy fit, so I went down to the next smaller size and the tube was a great fit!

Grab one of these kits if you can. I'll be getting the metric one next.

Herringbone Pattern Pen In Red Oak

Today I have a walk-through of making a herringbone pen.

The creation of this pen isn't difficult or complex, as long as these things are kept in mind:

1. Your table saw or band saw can make glueline quality cuts.
2. You are patient.
3. Your turning tools are sharp.

I don't know that a band saw can make these cuts, but I'm certainly not a band saw expert. I do know that I can't get flat, smooth cuts from mine.

• Start with a thin board 1" wide or wider.
  Make it as thick or thin as you like, but remember that the thinner the board, the more glue joints you'll have to make.
• Cut the board in 1" sections.
  I use my Rockwell table saw with a 64 tooth carbide tipped blade. It makes absolutely smooth cuts, perfect for gluing. (Photo of the saw is in this post: November Shop Tour ) I also use my Small Crosscut Sled because it is safer to use for small piece cutting.
• Glue up in an alternating pattern.
  The pattern itself isn't really critical. As long as you used good tools, the faces will all be square to each other and the glue up will be easy. The glue you use isn't terribly important, as long as it is strong enough to handle the torque of being turned on the lathe. I used Titebond II for this particular one, but I've used CA glue as well. If you have woods that bleed, such as padauk, CA may be a better option because it will seal the wood surface.
• Clip its "wings".
  Square the blank. If the glue-up went well, the sides will still be straight and square, so you can use a crosscut sled or miter gauge to square the ends. Once the ends are square you can CAREFULLY trim the sides lengthwise. I again used my sled, holding the blank against the rear fence with a scrap piece of wood long enough to keep my hands well away from the blade.
  
• Cut to length and drill, just like any other blank.
  Well, not completely. Because of the changing grain direction, and possible glue joint weakness, you need to be extra careful when cutting and drilling. VERY light cuts with the drill bit, inspecting for glue joint separation, and being aware that heat can weaken glue are all necessary. Particularly with denser woods that are prone to heating up anyway.
• Mount and turn!
  I use my 1" gouge to rough the blanks. Light cuts and frequent inspections are needed. Make a pass, turn off the lathe, and look for cracking or separating of the glue joints. If a bit of the blank starts to look fishy, soak it in CA. Thin CA is great for this. Let it set for a minute or two and spray it with some accelerator, or let it cure longer naturally. Make sure your tool is VERY sharp. Hone it frequently, or if you're like me and have cheap "High Carbon Steel" tools, keep the grinder running and touch the tool to it frequently.
  
  
• Finishing
  Generally, you can use whatever finish you like. If you are using a brittle or open pored wood, I would soak the pen in thin CA first. That will stabilize the wood and harden it to some extent. The one in the pics is finished with BLO and shellac. This rustic looking pen needed the texture of the wood to come through, so my usual thick CA finish was out of the question.
  

As you see, it's not "difficult", but it does require some patience and care.

Enjoy!

More Corian

I'm getting into production mode with these. I'm able to make them consistently of high quality in a relatively short amount of time. The most time consuming part is having to keep sharpening my gouge. Corian is hard on carbon steel tools. I really need to invest in some higher quality tools.

But in the meantime...

Purse Pen - Acorn and Gold
My wife needed a pen she could toss in her purse. I thought about getting one of the small pen kits made for wallets/pockets/purses but I hate those tiny things. So I made her one from Acorn Corian with a 24k gold slimline kit. I left the clip off since they just get in the way when in a purse. She loves it.

Slimline in Sahara and Gold
Another one made from the same kit as the above purse pen. I have settled on this profile for the bulk of my slimline pens because it seems to be easiest to write with. The gentle swell of the barrel from the waistband gives enough weight to the pen to balance it nicely. The weight of the Corian, significantly heavier than wood, helps with that too.

If you've never written with a weighty pen, give one a shot. You'll find that your cursive flows much easier, and even if you're a block letter writer like me you will find your writing to be more legible and easier on the hand.

Finally...

Euro / Designer in Storm Blue and Black Titanium

I really like this color Corian. Corian describes it this way:

Deep denim blue tone with small particles in brown, blue and white

I couldn't have said it better myself.

These pens, and their clones, will be for sale soon at http://www.donimages.com.

Working with Corian

Today I received some blanks from another penturner. They were Corian and Formica.

I decided to spin up one just to see what it was like to work.

It cut reasonably well on the table saw, so I squared up one end and cut blanks for a common 7mm slim pen kit. Drilling was about like a typical acrylic blank. Noisy and needs small bites to keep the blank and/or the bit from overheating.

I glued the bare brass blanks in with 5 minute epoxy and let them set for an hour or so.

Turning made a bigger mess than the acrylic blanks usually do. It looks like it snowed on my lathe! I did take very fine cuts initially until I got the hang of the material. I'm glad I did! At one point the gouge slipped and nicked the blank I wasn't working on. The momentary contact at around 1500 rpm took a series of gouges out of the blank. Luckily they were in the waste portion of the blank, so I didn't have to repair it or do a redesign to cover it up.

I sanded starting at 400 grit through 2000 grit using automotive wet and dry sandpaper with KleenStrip's KS Pro Paint Thinner as lubricant. I like that stuff because it's odorless and doesn't attack your skin like regular mineral spirits can. I just wear a face shield to keep it out of my eyes and mouth.

After sanding I polished the barrels with Meguiar's Plast-X plastic polish.

As you can see, the end result looks terrific! I have many other colors that came in that package, so I'm going to have a little bit of fun!

Herringbone Pen in Maple and Padauk

NO PEEKING DAVE!!!

(Inside joke. Please ignore if your name isn't DAVE and you're not home playing hooky.)





I didn't take any pics of the process (I'm a dummy) but here's the final result. I think the padauk and maple is too gaudy. But it was a good test of the concept!

First Fountain Pen

This is based on the Penn State Industries Designer 24kt Gold Fountain Pen Kit. I turned the barrels from tulipwood.

The pen kit was a challenge because it needed more than just a 7mm hole and some bushings to make. I needed to use a pair of step drills and drill to a very precise depth. Then I had to cut a tenon in the cap to hold the center band. I have not needed to do that much yet with a pen kit.

It was fun!

The finish was done with CA. I used the Gel this time and it worked great. Being so thick I was able to get nice thick coats on the barrels easily. Sanded and polished it looks like glass. Outstanding finish.

I'm taking it to work today and see how it is to write with. The nib is a bit bigger than the ones I'm used to with the dip pen in my Blue Mahoe Dolphin set, so we'll have to see. I can purchase different nibs for these, though it's a bit difficult to swap them.

Definitely a beautiful pen that should get some oohs and aahs.

Small Notebooks in Cherry and Blue Mahoe

Shown in the photos with a Parker stainless steel mechanical pencil.

The paper is 3x5" index card. I found some with a graph print so it can be written on in either direction.

These will soon be for sale with a matching chrome and cherrywood pen for around $50 to help launch my sales business.

The notebooks are bookmatched cherry. Some will have trim of various woods such as this blue mahoe (I'm out of BM though, so maybe not unless I can get my hands on some more).

As usual, the discs are from Rollabind, in this case they're chrome plated. I'm not a fan of the plating, but I've gotta get rid of this bag of the things I have.

About Shellac

Many of my projects use shellac in at least some part of the finish. It was the first finish I was able to apply well, it's a natural and renewable product (at least, when mixed yourself... Off the shelf stuff may not be fully natural), and it looks great.

The only downsides are low abrasion resistance and low liquid resistance. That's it. Not so good for table tops, great for pens!

The pencil shown in the photo at right is made from kingwood finished with several coats of 1# shellac. This was my first penturning attempt and I still use it every day. The finish is still great.

Shellac.net has some good info on shellac. Their "Why Shellac" article is good:

Shellac is a good choice for
furniture, smal craft, and wood instruments because it is ..

• Beautiful, Lustrous
• Easy to apply
• Dries within minutes
• Sticks to almost anything!
• Seals in minutes
• Can be recoated within 15-20 minutes if wiped
• Can be recoated within 2 hours if brushed
• Infinitely easier to rub out
• Easily repaired
• Has good clarity
• Completely reversible
• Feels well in the hand
• Offers a wide range of colors without sacrificing clarity
• Environmentally safe
• Healthier
• Compatible with most other finishes
• Once you shellac, ain't no going back!

And they missed one of the most important reasons: It's a renewable resource and fully natural!

Shellac is made from secretions of the Lac bug. It is sold either prepared or in flake form that you mix yourself with denatured alcohol. Shellac is used for more than just wood finishes. It can be found in medicines as a pill coating and packaged foods to add a shine to glazes or candies. It's completely edible when cured and safe around children.

If you haven't tried shellac yet, get a small can of prepared shellac and play with it. If you like it, buy some flakes and alcohol and start mixin' yer own.

My son pwns j00

Can you believe he's only 17?

Black acrylic with red traces, copper slim pen kit.

Sanded to 2000 then polished with Meguiar's Plast-X.

He's awesome!

Several Firsts in this Project

I was home sick yesterday, but it was nothing to prevent me from working in the garage. So off I went!

I did 4 things for the first time here.

1. My first time working with Lyptus-
   I've never tried this wood before. Woodcraft had a bowl full of figured lyptus blanks for $2 so i bought one. Here's a good article about lyptus: Woodweb. For me, it worked much like maple. Small chipouts in the figure, nice and hard, looks great. The pen above was finished with BLO and several coats of a three pound cut of shellac.
2. My first time making a "euro" pen-
   I've only been working with the slimline kits. I thought I'd give the euro kit a shot. This was a Woodcraft $4.99 kit in 24k gold and a black cap. I've never seen the black cap before. Kinda cool.
   
   Turning this is a bit different because of the diameter changes required. The middle of the pen is a bit thicker than the ends. Most folks turn these with a gentle curve between the ends. I went for a bit straighter blank to avoid the "chunky" look. I need to turn a few more and decide what I like better.
3. My first time successfully making a band in the blank-
   The band is cocobolo. In the lyptus blank I used my table saw to cut a kerf, not quite cutting all the way through. I cut a slice of cocobolo just a bit smaller and glued aluminum foil (Reynold's if you care) to both sides with CA glue. I then set the whole sandwich into the lyptus blank with more CA glue. I let it cure for a couple hours to prevent separation later.
   
   The foil adds a very thin border between the lyptus and the coco. I couldn't go much thicker because of the gold hardware, but it serves its purpose nicely. Wood to wood doesn't look quite right in all the pens I've attempted it with. Using the foil to separate them did the trick.
4. My first time trying to make a satin finish on a pen-
   Because this was intended to be a "user" pen, I didn't want a glossy finish. I wanted a smooth, but satin finish to make it more comfortable in my hand.
   
   I achieved this by applying several coats of 3# cut blonde shellac. Before the last coat fully dried, I applied some Butcher's Wax with a 0000 steel wool. This gives the pen a durable finish that isn't too glossy or slick.

Overall I'd call this a success!

Cocobolo Candlestick Holder

I had a chunk of cocobolo left over from my other projects. Too short for a pen, too nice for the trash, I was determined to find a use for it.

As I was digging through the "box'o'candles" (everybody's wife has one of those, right?) I found a seriously fugly rocking horse candlestick holder. It was plated pot metal, with a screwed on candle cup sticking out of the top. It was plated with a gold color that was partly worn. It really looked crappy.

I removed the cup from the rocking horse and chucked it in my lathe. The cup was pressed steel, and had pressure ridges, scratches, etc. I sanded it to 2000 grit paper to get it smooth, then hit it with the buffer and white diamond compound. Polished steel looks much better than cheap "gold" plating.

I chucked the chunk of cocobolo and turned the simple shape shown in the photo. Sanded to 800 grit and applied two coats of thin (1# cut) shellac followed by a couple coats of Hut's Crystal Coat.

A note about Crystal Coat. It's crap. It can add a nice deep shine to your turning, but durable it isn't. Just removing the piece from the lathe can dull the finish! I left this piece on the lathe for an hour before removing it to drill the hole for the steel cup's mounting screw. I still ended up marring the finish. Once I had the hole drilled and the screw run through a couple times so it would go easy later, I re-mounted it on the lathe and applied another coat of the finish.

I left it on the lathe overnight before taking it off and mounting the cup. I then immediately placed it on the shelf in the living room where it sat for a week before I had the courage to take it down again to photograph it.

I have no experience with other friction polishes, but Hut's Crystal Coat isn't worth the bottle it's sold in, unless all you're going to do is take pictures of your work.

99c Store Turning Kit

This pickup tool was purchased at the 99c store several years ago. Over time, the end and pocket clip have fallen off and been lost. The telescoping tube and magnet on the end are just fine however, so I never tossed it.

Last night I decided to see if I could turn a nice handle for it.

I mic'd the fat end of the telescoping tube and got 7.98mm inner diameter. I then loaded up a kingwood pen blank and turned a handle with an 8mm tip, 1/4" long. Finished with shellac and friction polish, the kingwood handle was inserted into the pickup tool with a few drops of CA glue.

The handle is in VERY snug and the glue will keep it from coming loose.

I may have to buy a few more of these things from the 99c store and see what else I can do with them!

Sneak Peek

Playing with inlays. This is powdered copper in walnut with 4 coats of lacquer.

Son's First Pen Turning

My 17 year old son, the one I built the black desk for, completed his first project on the lathe.

Using my Harbor Freight Mini Lathe he turned a mechanical pencil using a Rockler kit. The wood is some scrap padauk I had, and the finish is shellac.

While he had some guidance from me, the work was all him.

He's excited and wants to turn many more!

Harbor Freight Mini Lathe

I was so excited I couldn't wait to try it. So no pics of the lathe in a "pristine" state.

=D

This is Harbor Freight's "8" x 12" Benchtop Wood Lathe", item number 95607-7VGA.

It came today. I unboxed it and had a 1x2 of some really light and soft pine chucked in 10 minutes.

The variable speed is awesome. It's huge to be able to change speeds on the fly while cutting instead of having to stop, move the belt, start again and hope you still have your groove.

In this horribly soft wood I used a 1/2" skew chisel and cut it down into a cylinder, then cut a captive ring. My first! The old 40" HF lathe wasn't stable enough to let me achieve this in any wood, let alone something as soft as this.

Yay!

I can't wait to see what else I can make!

The Trend RoutaSketch

Trend doesn't seem to sell this any more. It's the "RoutaSketch" and I picked one up on clearance at Rockler for $25.

It was when they had the coupons 50% off any clearance item. They had two of these RoutaSketches, original price $99, clearance price $50, with my coupon $25.

I figured for $25 it was worth checking out. I was intrigued by the concept, that's for sure.

Inboxed, it's clear the thing was made as cheaply as possible. All plastic except for a pair of brass thread inserts in the base and the steel bars to hold up the template and the tracing stylus.

I assembled according to the directions. The steel bars were a REALLY tight fit in the plastic bases. Tight enough I feared I'd break the plastic before even getting to try it. But they survived. The plastic may be tougher than I initially thought!

After assembling the stands I looked at the instructions to determine which holes in the base to use for my Porter Cable router. But, alas, there were no PCs listed in the table!

No Porter Cable support? How can this be?!?!?!

I suspect that maybe PC isn't as big in Europe as it is here in the US. Trend seems to be based in the UK. That might explain it.

I tried to line up the holes in my PC with the myriad holes in the base of the Routa Sketch. No luck. None at all. Bleh.

I decided to grab the Harbor Freight plunge router that's been pretty much setting on the shelf. Sure enough, the template holder screws were a match. In fact, Trend was nice enough to include long screws that fit! A good thing since the ones that came with the router were far too short to mount the RoutaSketch base with.

After some dry runs making sure I had the motions down and was comfortable controlling the router with this big thing attached (really it isn't that bad, things moved quite smoothly) I picked one of the designs that came with the RoutaSketch.

The RoutaSketch comes with a good assortment of line art to use. Oddly enough (or maybe not), at least a few of those are public domain line art. My wife saw one of them at the local library for the kiddies to color!

With the paper on the tracing platform, my plunge router dialed in to make a very light cut, and my daughter and I wearing goggles, I started cutting.

The reason I wanted to use the PC router is I hate plunge routers. I understand the need for them, which is why I own one, but I prefer a straightforward simple router without the plunge feature. During this trial, the biggest reason I hate plunge routers showed itself. If I concentrate on the work, I'll relax my arms, causing the router to "de-plunge". The router keeps making the right motions, but the bit is no longer cutting. Grr...

Another thing that was irritating me was the stylus would grab the paper causing the paper to move. Well this screws up the pattern being cut into the wood. It turns out that the package came with a sheet of acetate to lay over the paper so the stylus moves more smoothly.

Whoops!

Even so, I thought it came out pretty decent!

I just carved into the mini-bench top. Don't worry, I'm not damaging my work surface. I had enough damage to it already that I need to resurface it with my jack plane.

I didn't carve any of the details. This was more a test of the tool. It's not a project. The outline looks good, but you can see where the aper shifted. it shoved the sea horse's forehead into it's ears. The acetate should prevent that from happening next time.

Yes. There is going to be a next time...

Acrylic Acetate Pen

So, during one of my recent trips to Rockler, I picked up a blank labeled "acrylic acetate". The outside looked like white plastic with some black spray paint on it. Meh. I wasn't impressed, but I wanted to try turning this stuff.

It turned easily until the vibrations set in on my craptastic Harbor Freight lathe. I had a blowout. Hence the purpleheart patch. ;-)

I've got two pics trying to show the pearlescent effect. Neither does a great job. You have to see it in person to really appreciate the beauty.

After turning I sanded to 600 grit W/D paper (wet) and polished with Meguiar's PlastX plastic polish. No need for fancy polishing pads or any crap like that. 600 grit and the polish got it shiny and smooth.

I'm going to pick up some more of this stuff once my new mini lathe arrives. Hopefully it'll be more stable than the one I have now.

Update on the Craftsman 8" Drill Press

In this entry I talked about the Craftsman 8" Drill Press model 315.11970 that I had purchased off eBay.

Since I've been doing some turnings, I've needed to use a drill press to make accurate holes in the workpieces.

Too bad I don't have a press capable of drilling accurate holes!

I mentioned that it was "unstable as hell". I recently took it apart to determine why it was so unstable. After all, who would sell a drill press that's unstable when new?

Craftsman would. That's who.

I found that the red plastic housing is the entire framework. There is no metal to metal connection between the drill motor and the post.

Note to engineers: Cheap plastic does NOT provide rigid connectivity in a power tool!

I made a slight improvement by wedging a piece of wood scrap into the tool between the post bearings and the plastic housing. It helped, but not much.

As far as I'm concerned, this thing is completely useless. I get more accurate holes using a hand drill.

If anybody wants to donate something that ISN'T a complete piece of crap, I'd be more than happy to accept!

First Turned Screwdriver

Rockler currently has their 4-in-1 screwdriver kit on sale for $5.99 so I grabbed a couple. I needed some screwdrivers for work anyway, and thought this would be a great chance to try turning one myself.

The handle is cherry, and the black lines were done by wire burning, a technique where a stiff piece of steel wire is held in a groove cut into the spinning workpiece. Hold the wire in the groove until it starts to smoke.

The hole for the shaft is made with a 5/8 spade bit on my craptastic drill press. The hole isn't perfectly straight, unfortunately. I really need a new drill press! The head of the unit shifts when pressed down into the cut causing an angled hole.

The finish is a 3# cut of amber shellac applied over some BLO (boiled linseed oil). I rubbed the shellac into the spinning handle on the lathe. Gave it a wonderful hand rubbed look.

If you get a chance, give one of these screwdrivers a try. Lots of fun and useful too!

The Mini Pencil Project

I've begun creating "mini" pencils. 4 1/4" (including eraser) it is quite a bit smaller than the original PaperMate Write Bros pencil.

The mechanical pencil was disassembled and the barrel tossed. Using a very sharp bench chisel and just hand pressure I cut the mechanism down to 2 7/8". This also required shortening the leads by approx 1/4".

The barrel is made from purpleheart. I drilled a 1/4" hole through it and turned it on a standard pen turning mandrel. (1/4" hole fits the mandrels made to be used with 7mm brass tubes.) The barrel is 2 5/8" long.

The mechanism from most click-type mechanical pencils requires a small lip at the tip end of the barrel. I created that lip by gluing a tiny piece of 1/4" brass tubing into the tip. It is around 1/8" long, the longest I could make it and still have the threads of the mechanism protrude enough to catch the plastic tip from the original pencil.

The close up shows the piece of tubing used. Note that I used 1/4" tube NOT the standard 7mm tubing. 7mm tubing isn't narrow enough to stop the mechanism.

The finish on this one is just some CA glue slapped on with a small plastic baggie wrapped around my finger. No effort at properly finishing this pencil was made because I was in a hurry.

So no comments on the poor finish, OK?

The Write Bros pencils make perfect practice parts for experimentation because they are inexpensive and easily modified. They are not terribly durable since they're all plastic, but are still useful. And at approx 30c a piece, if one breaks, or I screw it up, I'm not going to cry.

The one pictured here was given to my 5 year old daughter. She loves it and has been using it heavily since I gave it to her. So far it's holding up well.

Better Pic of the Kingwood Pencil and the Shark photo studio!

Now that I got my lighting back and functional, here's a better pic of the pencil shown in the previous post.

I've been asked about how I photograph my projects. When I think of it/am not too lazy/have batteries I use this rig.

It's a portable small item studio purchased at WalMart for $50. It includes two color corrected incandescent "hot" lights, the tent, blue and gray backgrounds, a little tripod, and a carrying case.

I also have a handheld strobe attached to the PC socket in my Kodak Z7590 digicam. The camera is held by a really REALLY old Graflex tripod.

In the photo is a roll of shipping tape. I use that as a lint catcher because there's always dust and lint and crap that settles on the background cloth. Adhesive tape is the easiest way to remove it on the spot.