What I'm learning

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Brian G

Brian G

Member
Joined
Jul 2, 2013
Messages
1,591
Location
Bloomington, MN
Not necessarily in the order I learned them:

I'm glad I'm making three versions from which to select the best option.

One of the options is a definite third, which means it will be the only one that survives to the end.

One of the wood species I'm using has a distinct aroma, and I smell pretty, oh so pretty, I smell so pretty and witty and bright. . . .

Mr. Fairfield was a pen making genius.

I'm not.

I don't care if I don't place in the final five; I'm having fun.

This is not supposed to be serious business.

Roger Miller was wrong. You can roller-skate in a buffalo herd. (Nothing to do with pen turning, just a bit of verifiable knowledge)

Won't be doing any learning tonight; it's time to drop the puck. . . LET'S PLAY HOCKEY. . . (not me, but the guys on TV)
 
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It's -7 °F outside. Even the wildlife has grown weary of this long cold stretch. Two squirrels were rubbing sticks together, trying to start a bonfire near the woodpile.

I'll stay in today and focus on the final profile. Hooray for a basement workshop!

I'm at the point where you know you have to keep going, but you don't want to mess it up, so you think of a few other things to do while it sits there and mocks you.

Do I dare try an unfamilar finishing method? Does it all come together the way I want it to look? Will Robins survive Mr. Freeze's icy winter grip?

Tune in later, same pen time, same pen channel.
 
Hi Brian - 7 below!!!! Now I feel a little (but just a little :wink:) guilty about complaining to my wife about our hot summer-like winter this year. It's back into the 80s here again today. Just like yesterday...and the day before that...and......you get the picture.

But, it's not all peaches and cream here. The pool temperature has plummeted to 76. Brrrr. Way too cold for us.

Don't let that pen win the staring contest and prevent you from going for the finish. Better to try and take it over the finish line today. If you finish it today you can still get a good position in the voting poll. If something happens and you need to start over, you still have plenty of time. Next weekend, not so much.

I have some relatives visiting from North Carolina. They said the robins had passed through heading north a couple of weeks ago. As they were leaving earlier this week to head to Florida the robins were passing through heading back South. The robins followed them all the way south until Disney World where they disappeared. Maybe they heard Snow White calling or something.

I'll keep an eye on the entry inbox. I'm looking forward to seeing your creation.

Ed
 
Thanks, Ed. Wife and I were in New Smyrna Beach the second week of January, right when the Polar Vortex decided to drop in for a visit. We did have a few days of nice sun, but sure would have liked more. We walked on the beach one day, wife spotted a nice piece of driftwood, and said, "you could probably make a pen out of that." So I have this nice piece of unknown driftwood drying in the shop. That's not what I'm using for this one.

Three of them are down the homestretch. One is out because it chipped and left me with a too-skinny nib end.

Not sayin' a thing about the other two. . . .no jinxing!

On schedule!
 
Tonight I learned that I need more work on the pictures. I'm happy with the pen I'm submitting. The pictures, not so much. :mad:

Might be fussing too much. Still time to take more. Digital film is cheap. :wink:
 
My entry is in. Not overly happy with the photographs, but they'll have to do.

Good luck everybody.

Now we wait. I'm not good at waiting. :redface:
 
You might want to try and sneak over to Woorcraft on Lyndale........I remember one of the guys doing a demo of a 'picture box' during the pen-a-alooza. Something about taking better pictures......lol

Why kid ourselves Brian? You know we don't know how to take winning pictures.

Best of luck.
 
Fortunately this is a pen turning contest and not a pen photo contest. Hopefully the majority of the members voting will vote for the best pen and not be swayed by whether that pen appears in the best picture or not.

Ed
 
My car knows the way to Woodcraft without me having to steer; it's only about 3 miles from where I live.

I bought a new DSLR a few months ago and I just need to practice. My light booth might need a re-do. And better lights. And a smarter operator. :biggrin:

Should I post photos of the two that didn't make the cut?
 
I learned that the one I made (and didn't submit!) with lignum vitae has changed color from a, um, certain brownish look to a color I've only seen shortly after the cows started munching fresh pasture grass.

The pen smells better than that, though.
 
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Alrighty then:

LVSlim.jpg

Nauseating color aside, a few other problems happened. The finial, center, and nib banding is made from stabilized (supposedly), dyed buckeye burl remnant (1" cube). The finial end had a major chip-out, and I ended up having to turn to less than the bushing. I had a similar problem with the center band, so I tried to fancy it up a bit to fix the chip.

Makes it look more like a regular slimline than a Fairfield modification.

No finish; I just sanded to 1200 and then burnished with a handful of turnings.

Smells kind of peppery now that the guaiac has faded a bit.

I just learned that I could have taken better pictures of the pen I entered if I would have skipped the light box, trusted how I manually adjusted the camera, and let the vibration reduction handle my history of camera shake. :frown:
 
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