Suggestions for dressing up a basic maple blank

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alankulwicki7

alankulwicki7

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Jul 28, 2010
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Vadnais Heights, MN
Hey all,
I'm making a couple of pens for a couple of Chief's on my fire dept. The wood is part of the Maple floor that came from the elementary school they both attended. Since the building is being torn down, I was able to get a couple of pieces of the original Maple flooring.

Since the Maple is very plain, I was thinking about dressing it up by burning some lines in it (or something similar). I'm not sure what kit I will be using but I'll probably stick with a more basic kit and not one with a lot of 'bling' to it.

Does anyone have any other suggestions to accent the Maple?
 
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I'm at work so I can't send pics so I'll do my best to describe it to you. What I normally do is cut a small piece,1/2 or 3/4 inch, off the end of the blank. I'll turn the small piece 1/4 turn so the grain is at 90 degrees from the rest of the blank. Glue it in the center of thr tube or where ever you think it would look best and use it as an inlay for a segmented pen. It's all the same wood so the sentemental value is still all there. I also use pic guard material to seperate the joints for the inlay. The end grain will reflect the light differently to give the pen a little flash without "bling". Good Luck I'm sure they will like whatever you come up with.
 
You could use a gel food coloring to dye the blank. Use red and yellow blend them from each end while spinning on the lathe by blending they can be made to resemble flames. C
 
A plain light colored wood blank looks nice on something like a Euro with black furniture. I made one with a plain oa blank I had and everyone comments on how nice they think it is.
 
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