Caryn's Rollerball - Aqua Acrylic

Caryn put in a request for a rollerball pen. Can't deny the woman who allows me shop time any request. Below is a photo of the pen. I used an aqua swirl acrylic. So far, I love the rollerball pens. Write very smooth and less stop and go than the fountain pens.

Caryn's rollerball pen.

Fountain Pen - Acrylic

On Monday, I turned my first fountain pen. I was experimenting with the shape a bit and wanted to create a thicker body with more heft. I used an acrylic body called "tie dye" which has a bright orange translucence with thin swirls of black and white mixed in. The finish on the acrylic is amazing. Lots of wet sanding with micro mesh and top coated with high-gloss polish.

The fountain pen body is plated in Sterling silver and the iridium nib plated in 24 carat gold. A fun conversation piece if nothing else.

Fountain pen turned from "tie-dye" acrylic.

Photo showing the overall shape with the pen cap screwed on.

Mach III Razor

I got to spend my Monday working in the shop on a few small projects. I turned a few pens, a wine bottle stop for a friend out of olive wood, and this cherry burl Mach III razor for me. I love it. Shaves like any other Mach III does, but just looks really cool.

Photo quality suffers a bit, but you can see the basic shape and fitness of the razor.

Had such a great response to the above cherry burl razor, that I decided to make another one on Tuesday night after work. Finished it just before bed time. I had some Bolivian rosewood in stock and just loved the contrasting grain patterns of it. I took it over to the table saw and cut some blanks at a 15 degree angle so that – when turned – would show off the colors. Deep chocolate with blonde streaks.

Mach III razor made form diagonal cut Bolivian rosewood.

Refurb - Antique Mahogany Dresser

Last Spring, Jacob and Taryn made a trip down from Michigan with a special package. An antique mahogany dresser from Paige and Adam's house. Caryn's mother had purchased this particular piece at an antique dealer a few decades ago and it was showing its age to say the least.

I decided that it was worth taking a stab at a refinish job. At first glance it appeared to be structurally sound. One of the feet was broken off, one of the drawers stuck a bit, the finish was blotchy, the bottom was banged up pretty bad, a few of the drawer pulls were broken, and it suffered from a botched refinish job (or two) at some point in it's over-century-long use.

The project took over year to complete, but it was mostly due to competing priorities in the shop. Christmas presents, cutting boards, wooden boxes, a few pistol grips, and odds and ends.

I won't bore you with the intricate details, but will state that I tried my best to keep the original look of this piece. I wanted it to still feel like an antique and kept the original lines and design.

The only new pieces were a new base made of matching mahogany, new custom turned mahogany bun feet, and a new set of (antique) Victorian drawer pulls that matched the originals.

Here are some of the photos of the process. In retrospect, I wish I had taken more.

Original condition of the dresser propped up on an old 2x4. Notice the broken foot, with part of the busted base stuck to it. Also the finish was a bit too orange for my liking. Mahogany is usually a rich red.

Another photo of the main pieces showing an old banged up finish of most likely varnish.

The broken foot. Original design used wooden dowels, but someone in recent decades had banged in some nails to "help" sure it up. Sometimes nails just won't cut it when it comes to structural integrity.

Starting the job. Sand sand sand. Months (not-cumulative) of sanding from 80 up to 320 grit paper. Very slow and messy process. I did, however start to see the beautiful wood beneath. If you look real close, you can see where someone had filled some cracks with wood putty and spackle. I used a dental pick to painstakingly pick it all out scratch by scratch.

Took a break from sanding to build a new base. Bought some mahogany and created a 3 faced base. After the sizing was correct, I mitered the corners off and hit it with a cove bit on the router to give it a nice profile.

Here is the dresser after all pieces had been sanded, including the drawer interiors. Still a bit dusty, but ready to install the base and feet.

Here is a photo taken a few nights later, after I installed the new base, new mahogany bun feet, and the decorative back board. Starting to come to life. You will also notice the second to the last drawer that still needed one of its runners repaired.

Here is a close-up photo of the new profiled base I made, along with the new bun feet. Pretty cool bun foot design from Matthew Burak of tablelegs.com.

This is during the finishing process. Finished with 3 coats of Danish Oil. Sanding in between all coats. 3 coats of Arm-r-seal clear coat. Sanding in between. Then finished with 2 coats of paste wax to provide a smooth and durable finish.

And here is the finished product, with the new (antique) pulls that matched the originals. I'm really happy with how it turned out. Looks beautiful in the sun light.

Pen Turning

I decided to take the BIG plunge and try my hand at wood turning. I have admired turning projects for years and fell in love with the creation of pens and bowls made by fellows in the woodworking community. It's kind of a big financial leap given the amount of "stuff" one needs to purchase to get started. But, I did some research, asked some opinions, and decided on a set up.

It took awhile (still in progress) to get used to working with pieces of wood that are spinning at 2000 RPMs and not being too fearful of the process. Can be a dangerous situation if you don't plan properly and double check everything for safety.

Below are a couple of the first projects to come off the lathe. Wine bottle stoppers and a few European ball point pens. It's a really fun process and my goal is to work my confidence and skills up to turning wooden bowls. Still a few shop hours, projects and tools away from starting my first bowl, but it's already a daydream in my head.

Chrome wine bottle stoppers made out of ebony and striped ebony.

European style ball point pens made out of zebra wood.

European style ball point pens made out of curly maple.

European stye ball point pen made out of cherry burl from Michigan. Beautiful abstract grain patterns.

European style ball point pen made out of 'purple haze' acrylic.

European style ball point pen made out of 'venetian' acrylic.

Thanks for looking, and let me know when you're in the market for a custom pen.