Group Collaboration

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It ended up not happening today. Jay was wiped after a tough day trying to herd "cattle" on and off United planes in the rain and Dave and I took WAYYY longer than planned teaching him how to make celtic cross pen blanks.

If anyone is available, Jay and I will be getting together sometime Tuesday day to work on it. He has the day off and I'm unemployed so have that day (as well as all others) off too. :tongue:

GK
 
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I'll be free on Saturday to help out. just let me know. Since SWMBO is gone don't have to worry about the valentine stuff.. ;-)
 
Hey Daniel, any word on the little turner yet? And start practicing my signature line, "We have to get that _________, the baby would just love it."
 
rb765 said:
Hey Daniel, any word on the little turner yet? And start practicing my signature line, "We have to get that _________, the baby would just love it."
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No news. :frown: She's been in 'early labor' for 9 days and I'm not sure we're any closer today than we were last week! His official due date is this Saturday, though, so no worrying yet. She's convinced he'll be late, since everyone she knows that has had a baby has told her the first is always late. I'm hoping for on time (14th) or even slightly early - a birthday on Friday the 13th would be cool, no?

Oh, and I'll practice the line, but somehow I doubt she's going to believe the baby needs some Jr. Statesmen kits. :tongue:



daniel
 
I just heard the Northern California pen collaboration is canceled. Apparently, Mark got his jeep stuck in the canal, the unemployed members all got their wives pregnant and can't leave the house, And Greg's pants blew away in the Sana Anna winds! We are very sorry about this bad news and hope to see you guys try again next year!
 
Pen blanks

OK, Jay convinced me we should keep it simple. We would do two blanks, one the fruits and nuts theme and one the california woods theme using just the columns design and eliminating the diamond inlay because we couldn't figure out how to do it.

Here we are trying to select the woods to use. Jay, Kim and I fiddled and compared for about an hour:
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Then Jay and I worked on the first blank which is the Fruits and Nuts pen. It is made out of Orange and Walnut in a simple "Picture Window" design. Jay took lots of pictures as he was drilling the blank but they got mangled in email. Here is a shot of it after I got it back and glued in the tubes:
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OK, time for blank two. This one is going to be the "California Native" pen made out of California Olive with Manzanita segments. But Jay made a tactical error and left early leaving the second "simple" blank to me to make on my own. MUAHAHAHAHAHA Little did he know.....

Here I'm drilling the lower blank:
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Notice already that it is columns, not picture window. Hehehehe.

Then I went back to the saw. Here are the ooooopses from that:
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Hmmmm why would I need little square segments? HAAAHAHahaaaaa

Here is the final blank ready for Dave to try to turn:
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Picture window top with the California "Big Brother Eye" looking down upon you with a brick work lower barrel.

So I always try to expand my skill sets when doing pens for swaps, competitions, etc. My best pens to-date have all been the pens I've given away in trades. This one is no exception. The most complex segmenting I've ever done before is a celtic knot which is really pretty easy compared to this near fiasco.

Lessons learned:

  • CA doesn't hold well. Both blanks attempted to blow apart while drilling but were saved by their respective drillers.
  • Keeping the blanks truly square when cutting in the columns is a real PITA.
  • Having unsquare blanks makes it impossible to keep things lined up.
  • Even 5 minute epoxy sets too fast for building your brick blank.
I'm hoping that Dave can turn the brick blank without it blowing up, but I doubt it. It has been trying to blow up at every step so far (and one of the brick segments blew into 3 pieces already). But I used a ton of epoxy so keep your fingers crossed.

Anyone else want to turn the Fruits and Nuts blank?

GK
 

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Diamond inlay....hum, I have about small stones in a ring that was canabalized for a necklace that I had made for SWMBO (that I have just been informed that is MIA- the necklace...not SWMBO ). If there is someone that can set one in the clip, I'll kick one or two down to the cause.
 
Not that kind of diamond. Diamond shaped piece of wood. Y'know, a square standing on its point?

I was thinking of using the table saw set at 45 degrees but couldn't figure out how to get the required nice, sharp point. Thought about using a mortising bit, but they aren't the proper size for the pen kit.

Oh well, maybe in the next pen.

GK
 
I have never turned Olive or Manzanita so this should be interesting. The preasure is on not to ruin all the hard work that has gone in to this blank.

Dave
 
workinforwood said:
I just heard the Northern California pen collaboration is canceled. Apparently, Mark got his jeep stuck in the canal, the unemployed members all got their wives pregnant and can't leave the house, And Greg's pants blew away in the Sana Anna winds! We are very sorry about this bad news and hope to see you guys try again next year!
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Well,,,,, jeeps don't get stuck in canals.... :cool:
California can't make payroll for those of us on the unemployed list so there is nothing else for us to do... :mad:
As for Greg's Pants... well,,, I'm not sure about those.. :confused:

I don't think the ice and snow of michigan will make a good finish..
 
Yah, it has been kinda windy around here. You should see the squirrel tails... They are all pointing North East. Almost like they are pointing to the land of the living popsicles in Eaton Rapids. :clown:

G:biggrin:K
 
Best way I find to make diamonds is with a router. It gives a clean edge with a sharp point. Use a 45 degree V bit. You don't make one blank either, you make about 10 or more at a time, because it is more efficient and safer. You use a fence. You will rout a V groove in 2 boards and then move the fence back and rout another one in each board and repeat until you have all your channels in both boards. You cut square strips to fit in the groove and sandwich the two boards together. After that is assembled and glued, re-saw the sandwich to claim your diamond inlay blanks.
Your brickwork looks good. I like that orange tree wood. I would have used gorilla glue on that and a clamp. I would also glue the tubes in with gorilla glue because I believe it helps reduce blowout. Actually...the Rhino glue is a bit better I find...it sets faster and can be used in about 4 hrs.
Good luck guys!
 
workinforwood said:
Best way I find to make diamonds is with a router. It gives a clean edge with a sharp point. Use a 45 degree V bit. You don't make one blank either, you make about 10 or more at a time, because it is more efficient and safer. You use a fence. You will rout a V groove in 2 boards and then move the fence back and rout another one in each board and repeat until you have all your channels in both boards. You cut square strips to fit in the groove and sandwich the two boards together. After that is assembled and glued, re-saw the sandwich to claim your diamond inlay blanks.
Click to expand...

I thought about the router bit but there were two problems for this project: 1) I don't own one and didn't want to go spend more money on tools this week (I just received my new Airshield Pro); 2) I wanted that center veneer to hold the point and I couldn't figure out how to do that safely on the one blank. But doing a board for many blanks would solve that problem in the future. Thank you!!

workinforwood said:
Your brickwork looks good.
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One of the joys of the camera is that you can usually find a "good side" to shoot. I could get one side nicely lined up but never both sides since they kept moving each other and the glue was setting. Next time I'll use something like Titebond2 for its long open time and strong wood2wood adhesion.

workinforwood said:
I like that orange tree wood. I would have used gorilla glue on that and a clamp. I would also glue the tubes in with gorilla glue because I believe it helps reduce blowout. Actually...the Rhino glue is a bit better I find...it sets faster and can be used in about 4 hrs.
Click to expand...

I've never had problems with CA not holding before. But then, I've never done anything quite this complicated either. But, yes, next time I'll use a better glue. What is the open time for Rhino and Gorilla?

workinforwood said:
Good luck guys!
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Thanks!!
GK
 
For the gorrilla type glues, I find you have about 6-10 minutes to play with your assembly and alignment. You got it right by drilling and assembling on the tube. this project is not unlike a swirl pen. I roughly line up all the pieces, and then I put a pistol grip clamp over the ends and pull it just so it hold, not squeezing the dickens out of it. With the clamp in place, I twist on the pieces to get them to final position and then tighten the clamp the rest of the way.
 
Wow! Those look great. I really like the bricks and had no idea it was glued and assembled on the tube. Are you going to use a belt sander to start the rounding? The only manzanita I have done was so hard, I could see the stress of rounding breaking the glue joints.

Great ideas and work. I think I hear whispers of worry coming from Michigan.

Ken
 
Ok Here are some of the Pictures that I took
 

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Yes, I knocked off the corners with my belt sander just after taking the photo. Today I used a roughing gouge to cut through the melted glue so I could see the blank. For a first try, I'm really happy. For my perfectionist self, I got a long way to go. :wink:

But I left it kinda as a "rounded square" for Dave to have the final fun.

GK
 
We might. Dave has had some pretty serious family issues so the pen is not his top priority. I'll check with him today.

Anyone who is interested in timely updates about the pen can email me your contact info using [ my IAP username AT gmail DOT com ].

GK
 
OK one of the pens blew up. The other one is done and most of the pictures are taken but I have to go get a bigger piece of acrylic to finish the photos. I don't want to post the pictures here since it might spoil the surprise for the judges which would disqualify us.

If you are part of the Nor/Central California chapter and not a judge and would like to see the pictures before the judging send me an email and I'll send you a link.

GK
 
Greg, et al. -

Thanks for all of your efforts on this. I regret not being more help, but I have a pretty good excuse! Looking forward to seeing photos of the pen, and at least to being able to say, "Yeah, that pen that won? The guys in my local did that!"


daniel
 
You have an Awesome excuse! Just remember that as that excuse grows both you and your spouse need to take time for yourselves, both together and apart. Find multiple good babysitters!!

GK
dad of a 10 year old and a 13 year old.
 
Well, once again, you guys did an amazing job. I saw some photos, and I have to say, I aspire to be producing stuff that looks that good sometime in the next year!

Also, can I just say - Man, this daddy thing is awesome! Today was my first day back at work after a 4-day weekend helping mom get into a schedule (MIL left Sat.), and I couldn't wait to get back and hold my son for a while. The crying is no fun, and the lack of sleep is no fun, but every time he makes eye contact with me, all the not-fun-stuff just melts away. Thanks for the advice, I've heard similar things from others, so apparently it's something we really should look into. We're talking about some future plans, so we don't let ourselves get completely submerged. ;)


daniel
 
Thanks Dario!! And be sure to pass our thanks on to the judges!

For those following this thread here are the pictures of our pen in "final form" (I added a e-frame and cleaned up some dust specks).

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I want to thank Jay, Dave and Ken for their participation in this project and I want to thank Cindy and Ryan for getting us going!! We really couldn't have done it without all of us doing our part!
 

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Congratulations. I would like to thank those who did the work on this pen. It is very beautiful, but then I would expect nothing less from you as I have seen your work at our get togethers. Pretty cool that we won first place. I hope it raises a lot of money for the charity.
 
I saw Greg's post in a recent "brick wall pen" thread - what ever happened with the pen? As I recall, it was going to be auctioned for charity - if that's not happened yet, don't forget to let us know when so we can bid on it!


daniel
 
This just came out in the June JDRF Newsletter

International Association of Penturners' First Place Pen to Benefit JDRF at Auction

In February 2009, the International Association of Penturners had its big birthday celebration. Part of that celebration was a Sub-Chapter Collaboration Pen Making Contest. The pen you see below was the 1st place winning entry in that contest and was submitted by the Northern/Central California Chapter. It was selected out of seven entries submitted by teams all over the country. It is made of Californian Olive wood with segments of Californian Manzanita. The retail value of this pen is in excess of $300. The four co-creators have decided to auction the pen off with 100% of the proceeds of the sale going to JDRF to help find a cure for type-1 diabetes. If you would like to bid on this beautiful pen you can find the auction at

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&&item=290317643410.

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The auction begins at 12:01am June 2nd PST
 
Thanks Greg,
I'll send the link out to people I think might be interested. Currently the eBay link says "Item has been removed or is no longer available". Is this because the auction isn't live yet?

Thanks,
Dave
 
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