I really like to work with Leopardwood. It turns easily and has a very unique grain pattern.  It is a wood that grows in the South American countries of Chile and Brazil.  The trees can grow as high as 150′ and have trunks as much as 4′ in diameter.  A medium to dark brown when finished the grain can put one in mind of the scales on a snake, or the spots on a leopard.

Leopardwood Sierra Pen

This particular pen took considerably longer to complete than it should have thanks to several interruptions.  First and foremost, I just got a new job and that is taking a lot of my time (I’m not complaining, mind you) especially considering that I have been unemployed for the last month since the company I was working for finally decided to call it quits in this economy.

Second, and probably more pertinent was the yard sale that had my shop in a flux over the past week or so.  Boxes piled up and bags o’ stuff laying about kept me from getting in and working on anything.  I think all of that is in the past now and I can start getting my shop back to normal.

Additionally, and I don’t see how this could possibly affect my time in the shop, (add whatever degree of sarcasm you desire here) but I just started using Twitter as well.  That can be a time vacuum that will suck the day right out from under you if you aren’t careful.

All that said, I have this one completed and a couple more in the pipeline, so there should be some more stuff coming out soon.

Jake

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Checkerboard Sierra Pen

This is really a neat pen.  The checkerboard body was made by cutting a black walnut and poplar blank lengthwise making 6 1/4″ slices. These were then glued up to make a 3/4″ thick blank of alternating colors. After allowing the glue to cure, this blank was then sliced into 1/4″ slices and each slice was turned 90″ to create a checkerboard pattern on all 4 sides then stacked, glued, and clamped. Once cured, the blank was ready to drill and turn as normal, and the result is what you see here.

I always feel like I am walking on eggshells when I turn a pen like this.  While glue is an amazing substance, if it isn’t applied right or allowed to cure (see previous post on the Red Tide pen) you can blow it out and ruin a lot of work.  Should the blade catch on a piece that isn’t glued up right, the whole thing hangs in the balance.  At any rate, I spent a lot of time and a lot of care making sure this blank was built right before starting this pen.

Jake

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Here is the last item listed on Etsy, a Sierra pen in Desert Ironwood and Copper. It’s really nice!

Sierra in Desert Ironwood

Jake

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Normally, I don’t make many pencils. Most people want pens and few are willing to pay for a pencil, even though the same work goes into one, and generally the parts for a pencil are more expensive than for a pen.  It is a more complex device overall, so there are normally more small parts and mechanisms that go into it.

Red Tide Pen with Flaw in Body

This one was actually going to be half of a Pen and Pencil set as I had matching pieces of Red Tide turning blanks.  I still find myself getting in a hurry sometimes and that is always a bad idea.  It is okay to go fast but never hurry, that is when mistakes happen.  And so it was for the Pen half of this Pen and Pencil set.

I was just in a hurry to see how the Tide would turn, so to speak and I didn’t let the glue set long enough before starting to turn the pen.  I was actually within a hundredth of an inch or so  of being through turning it and starting on the sanding when disaster struck.   I could feel it before it happened, yet it happened so fast that there was nothing I could do about it by the time I felt it.

The actual thickness of the blank over the tube varies with the type of pen, but it can range from barely a 64th of an inch to nearly an 8th.  It doesn’t really matter since it is the glue that keeps the blank from shattering off the tube as it is turned down that thin.   I broke the cardinal rule of not letting the glue cure before starting to turn the pen and paid the price, I lost an incredibly beautiful pen.

I say I lost it, I really didn’t as I was able to finish the pen out and assemble it, but there is a small chip out of the body revealing the tube and I won’t sell a pen that way.  I am posting a picture of the pen and the pencil as well.

With the glue not being cured, the torques and heat of the turning combined to loosen the

Red Tide Pencil Completed

blank on the tube and that loosening allowed it to chip out as I neared completion.  This really does  not damage anything except the blank, and normally, I would have just gone ahead and turned the pen all the way down to the tube, removing all of the blank so that I could start over with  a new blank.  This time, I just took the blank and finished it out as though it were completed properly and assembled it for my own use.

Needless to say, I waited for the glue to cure on the pencil before starting it, and the completed pencil has been listed on Etsy.  I do have mechanisms to make another matched pair, but this was the only blank I had of the Red Tide variety, so I am thinking about a really nice pair in Mango.  But first, I have a click with a checkerboard blank.  I’ll try to get it listed tomorrow and get some pictures posted.  It is one I am really proud of as I made this one myself from scratch and it really looks good IMHO.

Jake

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