978 Piece 360 Heringbone

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TribalRR

TribalRR

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Joined
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Louisville, Kentucky
This is my entry in a contest on the Eagle forum. I have been working on it for almost 2 months. It is made from 978 pieces of ebony veneer and aluminum. Please let me know what you think about the pen and/or the picture.

Thanks
 

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Wow! 978 pieces in that short of space. Very nice looking pen. A bit dark on the photo to see all the detail but WOW great looking pen.
 
As I've told you before, my head hurts every time you post one of those and I sit here trying to figure out how you did it :biggrin:

Stunning pen Chip! The ebony and aluminum work so well together in that kit and your craftsmanship is outstanding. Very inspiring!
 
Congratulations, that is simply one of the best pens I've ever seen. I'm amazed. I'm going to have to figure out how to do that. You deserve every bit of credit you get for that pen.

Marc

TribalRR said:
This is my entry in a contest on the Eagle forum. I have been working on it for almost 2 months. It is made from 978 pieces of ebony veneer and aluminum. Please let me know what you think about the pen and/or the picture.

Thanks
Click to expand...
 
Chip, that's outstanding. That picture is the first I've seen of your recent work in months, and I'm speechless. Well...mostly...I don't get speechless much.

Without a doubt, that's the best symmetrically segmented pen I've ever seen, and that's setting the bar way up there..

You've taken it to the next level, man. If Rain Man was to own a pen, I bet it'd be that one! Yeah...definite-definitely 978 pieces in my rollerball pen...yeah...nine hundred...nine hundred seventy-eight...it's very sparkly...very shiny... :D

I'm in awe. I revel in just piling crap into a mold and dumping resin on it...I'm pretty sure that's not what you did there. heh
 
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That might be the most astounding, most magnificent pen I've seen on here. Fantastic job.

Respectfully though, I tried to count the pieces that would be in each "row" and no matter how I try, I cannot see how there are 978 pieces involved.

Anyway, superb work. Congrats.
 
I love jig saw puzzles....as long as SOMEONE else puts them together.

Man, that's just nuts... and I mean that in the respectful way. I just spent the last 3 minutes trying to figure out how you made this..:confused: Now I'm just tired and depressed and I gotta go lay down.:mad::biggrin:

Seriously though. Amazing!
 
Wow! Thanks for the compliments, I really appreaciate them!

Karl- If you just pile crap in a mold and dump resin on it, I just stack crap up and soak it with glue... LOL I love your work.

Dan, there is a lot of waste because of the way each piece is arranged at the ends of the blank. This blank has 163 rows before cutting which made the blank about 5.5" long. There are two rows of 1/32" thick ebony to each row of .04" thick aluminum.
 
Drop dead gorgeous!!!!!!!! I saw the pen in the latest photos on top of the page when I first got on tonight and said wow to myself and was going to ask who did it but I see you have come forward and say great piece of work and worth every bit of time you put into it.
 
Thanks for the response, Chip.

Again.....a terrific display of penturning excellence (not to mention the patience it must have taken!) .

I just wish we could have seen the photos of it 'in progress' as it took form, was cut into a blank and turned.
 
978 pieces

Awesome Artwork!!! That's not just turning a pen, that's truely a craftsman at his best. Color is striking. Great job. Keith
 
Thanks again everyone for the compliments!

I'm sorry, but I didn't take a picture of the blank before puting it on the mandrel. I usually do too. Just in case it blows up, I have proof... Not that it would matter. :)

I'm not sure I can explain where all the pieces are with out explaining how to make the blank... Which I'm not going to do. ;) To actually look at the pen and count visible pieces there are probably around 600. But to make the blank solid and usuable, more pieces are needed. Obviously, this kit does not require a 5.5" blank (which took 978 pieces) but I didn't want to cut it and square things up to find out it was short.
 
I love that pen, it's a killer look. I am going to have to give it a try after I make another couple dozen of the other ones. Outstanding job!!!
 
Gorgeous work, the more I see of these the more I want to try it, but that many segments... I would loose what little sanity I have left.
 
chip you done well, I still have my pieces in a bag and done 3 rows so far no much time for puzzle right now, very nice pen I'm sure that your worries was the aluminium if it going to holder with the wood while turning the pen
 
TribalRR said:
Thanks again everyone for the compliments!

I'm sorry, but I didn't take a picture of the blank before puting it on the mandrel. I usually do too. Just in case it blows up, I have proof... Not that it would matter. :).
Click to expand...

Could I ask what type of glue you used for this pen blank?

I have had some trouble with gluing aluminum to acrylic and making the bond strong enough to survive drilling, even though I was VERY careful in approaching the job of drilling. I prepped the aluminum by scraping and sanding off all coatings, but still have had adhesion problems. Maybe it's the acrylic that's the issue, I don't know.

(Although I must say that I have found that I can get a better hold in gluing aluminum to wood than in gluing it to acrylic.)
 
I used thick CA glue during assembly then used thin CA while rounding. Prior to drilling, I wrap the blank with gauze and soaked it with thin CA (thanks Keith). Finally after I turned off the gauze, I resoaked the blank with thin CA after each 1/16" I removed. Believe it or not I didn't do anything to the aluminum pieces before gluing. I heard that I should after the fact... I haven't tried acrylic yet, but I have seen quite a few of them blown up lately.
 
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