What's WRONG with this?

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sorcerertd

sorcerertd

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Many of you have seen this before when I originally posted it, but I'm looking for honest critique on it. I usually am much more critical of my work than others and certainly more so than the average consumer. Of course, the average consumer wouldn't spend over $100 on a pen, either. That being said, there are a couple things that bother me and both are evident in these pictures (glaringly so to me). The satin finish and the pores not being filled level with CA is intentional, but what else do you see that would bother you about this one?

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A good satin or even matt finish on most woods will fill the pores with the finish. Satin and matt will still leave the feel of wood without the pores being exposed as dimples. I will never forget my first oak finish that I spent time and filled the pores with oil based satin poly clear and the compliments I got from friends and family. CA doesn't have to be used to have a great finish. But a good finish does require some patience, several applications of finish and fine sanding, especially where pores are a concern.
 
The pictures may deceive, but it looks like it may be overturned a slight bit and in the second picture it looks like there was bleed from the Padang into the burl. That said, it remains a beautiful pen and I doubt those issues (if indeed those are what you are seeing) would prevent me from selling it for a good price.
 
I certainly don`t see anything that would prevent me from putting a good 3 figure price tag on it . The two things that would bother me the most are the positioning of the burl pieces in both barrel and cap - I wouldn`t have centered them - and the barrel one being irregular and the cap one apparently cylindrical .

Otherwise , miniscule things . Padouk bleed as mentioned by Steve . Possibly a few radial sanding scratches on the barrel (may just be rays in the padouk that I`m seeing) , one angled scratch on cap in shine area just below the clip contact point . Some might see the slight diameter increases in the center of both pieces as a flaw , but to me they are done perfectly . As is the finish , it would have minimal appeal to me if it were high gloss .
 
"The satin finish and the pores not being filled level with CA is intentional, but what else do you see that would bother you about this one?"

I don't see anything else . . . nothing "that would bother" me at all !!! . . . I have looked several times since you posted . . . NOTHING !!!

And . . . I JUST GOT NEW GLASSES !!! . . :D :D :D

Great looking pen !!! . :D . :D

BTW . . . Can't find your previous posting of this pen, altho' I did look quite carefully . . . . could you post the link, please.
 
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Mal I do not think he posted a stand alone thread on it. The only time I see he posted was an example in someone elses thread here.

I would like to know his process. I am guessing he is wrapping with wood veneer to get the uneveness in the rings. Just do not see any edges. So a little tutorial on this pen would be nice. Thanks.

https://www.penturners.org/threads/first-opal-inlay-blank.171923/#post-2136795
 
@Fred Bruche, yes you win bragging rights for one of them. I could swear I posted this a while back in SOYP. Now I'll have to go look for it.

Thanks for your observations! I do really appreciate them all. We all have our own preferences as far as aesthetics of style and finish, and I love to see the variations here on IAP. It's art, right, and as individual as the painter or sculptor? I'll share my thoughts on the whys of the design below and then my complaints about my own work. I wonder what Da Vinci didn't like about the Mona Lisa? Surely there must have been something. Not that my pen is that artistic, but anyway...

First off, this really is a beautiful pen, if I do say so myself. And there, I did. I'm pretty happy with it. It was a very interesting piece of Padauk. I love the color variance and open pores in it. From one angle, it is a vibrant orange and from the opposite angle a rich dark orangish brown, shadowy. Overall, it has a warm look about it with the comforting colors of autumn.

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  • The "burl" you guys are seeing is an inlay of crushed septarian dragon stone, mostly calcite, with the darker specks of aragonite tying it in with the wood nicely. There is also gray limestone in it, but not enough to be noticeable here. I think the CA partially melted the softer calcite, but that part doesn't bother me. Maybe the "bleed" you see is the aragonite? The channels, though pretty much centered (I didn't measure anything with that part) were cut with random curves from different angles on a bandsaw after drilling so they would not have a machined look.

  • As for finish, there are some fine (ish?) radial scratches, but that's not one of the glaring defects to me as these pictures are larger than life and they really aren't that noticeable unless you put them under a magnifying glass. I'm even OK with calling that a "feature". It's been pre-heirloomed! (Yeah, that's it. 🤔 ) The CA did get down into the pores, but I didn't want to fill them completely. The intent was to maintain a more natural look and feel of wood.

  • As for the shape, That's exactly what I wanted. I'm a fan of smooth flowing curves so the barrel shape was intended to sort of flow into the curve of the nib/section. The widest part is closer to the nib end. I definitely don't like generic bulges in pen barrels (they make me think of pregnant guppies). It is pretty amazing how the slightest curve on the lathe translates into a "deformity" after assembly (in my opinion, of course)
    On the cap, the raised rings on the center band and finial kind of invited me to make the body slightly wider than where they meet the metal, yet still keeping it cylindrical. The radius at the ends are to cinch it in to meet the diameter of the kit parts.
    I think that underturn you see is mostly me rounding off the end of the blank during the finishing process, definitely something I need to be very mindful of without the bushings.
I spun this on the mandrel just to rough it out and left it there for the ease of holding while filling the inlay channels. Everything after that was TBC. The tubes were painted with a cream color acrylic after the glue up and roughing. This is where problem number 1 came onto the scene.

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My gripes are
  1. The paint that got onto the edge of the channels shows through blatantly on the primary barrel, shown by the arrow, though it's not that noticeable on the cap. It makes the seam more of a hard line than a smooth transition. I guess it is a hard line no matter how you look at it, but the paint line adds a visual separation that bothers me. (note to self: don't get paint on the wood)
  2. There is a rough spot in the edge of the wood, fortunately only in this one spot, circled in the picture below. It just takes away from the smooth flow I was aiming for on the overall design. It will henceforth be known as the "squiggle" 🤣
defects.jpg


As a side note, have you noticed how Padauk looks pixelated under magnification? It's not just in the pictures, either. Weird. There are a couple woods I've seen like this, but for some reason it just stands out more to me with Padauk.
 
magpens said:
"The satin finish and the pores not being filled level with CA is intentional, but what else do you see that would bother you about this one?"

I don't see anything else . . . nothing "that would bother" me at all !!! . . . I have looked several times since you posted . . . NOTHING !!!

And . . . I JUST GOT NEW GLASSES !!! . . :D :D :D

Great looking pen !!! . :D . :D

BTW . . . Can't find your previous posting of this pen, altho' I did look quite carefully . . . . could you post the link, please.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Mal. Shoot, I can't find that other post. Maybe I was thinking of this post of a similar pen.

jttheclockman said:
I would like to know his process. I am guessing he is wrapping with wood veneer to get the uneveness in the rings. Just do not see any edges. So a little tutorial on this pen would be nice. Thanks.
Click to expand...

JT, hopefully my last post shows the process well enough. I'll have to put something more comprehensive together. I do still want to do this with the opal, maybe in some bog oak or holly. One of these days.... (that goes for the project and the tutorial)
 
I guess it's safe to say that these flaws are not a deterrent to selling this since the pros here weren't put off by them. Thanks again for scrutinizing this for me.
 
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