egnald
Member
Greetings from Nebraska.
Just for grins, I decided to make a FOG wood pen. I used a Gold (Straight Clip) Magnetic kit that I got from Crooked Mill. It is essentially an economy version of the Zen. Based on the yellow color when I was drilling it, I think the FOG wood is likely Mulberry, although the location I found it in would suggest Bradford Pear. It has some hairline cracks on both ends that were there when I glued in the tube, otherwise I would have blamed them on cracks from pressing the parts together. The yellow wood looks pretty good with the gold plating -- it actually turned out to be nicer than I had expected. If we had a BASH I would have probably entered it into a FOG contest. Regardless, it will make a personal carry or desk pen in my shop.
Obviously a dead and dry branch, the FOG came from our front yard after an unusually windy day this month. I cut out a blank sized piece and roughed it round between centers before drilling and gluing in the tube. Then I cut the bulk of the wood off using my blank rounding jig before turning. I finished it with 3 or 4 coats of medium GluBoost followed by 4 or 5 coats of Thin, and wet sanded with all 9 MicroMesh grits.
Dave
Just for grins, I decided to make a FOG wood pen. I used a Gold (Straight Clip) Magnetic kit that I got from Crooked Mill. It is essentially an economy version of the Zen. Based on the yellow color when I was drilling it, I think the FOG wood is likely Mulberry, although the location I found it in would suggest Bradford Pear. It has some hairline cracks on both ends that were there when I glued in the tube, otherwise I would have blamed them on cracks from pressing the parts together. The yellow wood looks pretty good with the gold plating -- it actually turned out to be nicer than I had expected. If we had a BASH I would have probably entered it into a FOG contest. Regardless, it will make a personal carry or desk pen in my shop.
Obviously a dead and dry branch, the FOG came from our front yard after an unusually windy day this month. I cut out a blank sized piece and roughed it round between centers before drilling and gluing in the tube. Then I cut the bulk of the wood off using my blank rounding jig before turning. I finished it with 3 or 4 coats of medium GluBoost followed by 4 or 5 coats of Thin, and wet sanded with all 9 MicroMesh grits.
Dave
