Friday, March 13, 2009

Here is my second attempt at an Oak Euro Pen.



Live and learn how to turn pens with me. I am slowly learning all the trick to making a really nice pen the hard way. I started with some simple wood, White Oak and a European style kit. I like the look of the Euro which provide for a thick pen body and a fancy dressed up band in the middle of the pen on the end of the cap. For this pen we have a light wood with a bright chrome kit. I am very pleased with the color selection and the over all look of the finished pen. As I said this is my second pen and my helpers first pen so we are learning and I am not afraid to point out my learning flaws. The tip of the pen has a nice bulge but in my opinion we cut it down a bit too much and created a small scooped in spot on the pen right where the wood meets the tip. You can see it better if you click on this second picture. The other issue I had with the Euro Kit is the center band. The bushing I was using provide a two piece center band bushing. One size is for the outer cap then you turn down the spot on the pen for the band and slide the bushing over it to get the right size for the center cap to slide on to. Well It didnt' work so well. Once I turned the cap down small enough to slide the bushing over it I had gone too far. This caused my center cap to be loose when I test fit it before gluing. It was only a tiny bit small but small enough I had to use extra CA glue to get the cap to fit. This was a mistake, too much glue and it gets all of everything including the center cap. So in one of the pictures you can see what looks like a clear stain on the center band that is CA glue. It will eventually come off but it was a let down to see a very nice pen and finish get messed up at the last step.

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