Some new pens

[BigguyZ]

Haven't posted any pens in a while. Note that I haven't done any, but I figured you all are probably getting sick of 'em. But here's my latest batch. The top two are my first Sierra's. I don't quite have the line down yet. But anyways, one if the quilted Pink Ivory I got from Rocker- a 3"x3"x12" piece for under $3. Can't wait to do more pens from that stock. The other is one of the new WC acrylics.

Then I have a new Aluminum cigar pen. Polished to a nice high gloss (looks better in person). The next one will be a brushed look, however.

And lastly, an Olive wood pen for a batmitsfah that a coworker ordered from me.

Comments and criticism both welcome.

[DonHo]

I'd love to see the pens but I can't. Don't know if you failed to post them or I have some problem.
DonHo

[Russianwolf]

nice work Bigguy. How did you do the Alum.?

[Whaler]

Great work Bigguy. I like them all.

[lrogers]

OOHHHHH, that polished aluminum is nice!

[final_t]

Yea, the metal one is intersting, would like to hear how that one was for you to make.

[BigguyZ]

Well I saw a tutorial on doing aluminum at penturners.org. The tutorial used round stock milled on a metal lathe to start. Then the guy uses a really think HF scraper. But, I'm lazy and just bought some 1x1" square stock from my local steel and aluminum wholesaler. I got about 2' worth of the square stock, and a couple of other small pieces for about $15 or so. I cut the bars very carefully on my TS. It cuts OK, but you really have to be slow. Then I drilled a hole in the stock the size of the inner diameter of the cigar brass tube. That way I can you the stock only, and not have to bother gluing tubes. I squared the aluminum like I would with wood- using my barrel trimmer. Then I turned in my my lathe as I normally do. But instead of using the highest speed on my 1014, I lowered the speed 2 or 3 times and again went very slowly. The aluminum will turn with you HSS tools, but prepare to sharpen them more often. I used a gauge to get it to round, and the scraper to do the final shaping. Again, this is what I typically do with wood. Then I just sanded, MM to 12000, and finally polish with 3M rubbing compound. Since the Aluminum isn't too hard, the high polish isn't as durable as some of the other materials we use. That's just one of the reasons my next pen will just be sanded to 320 grit or so to have a "brushed" look.

[hermit]

Yep, I agree, that aluminum one is a peach! Of course all are beautiful. Nice work.

Todd

[mater]

Very nice work. They look good.

[leehljp]

Is your aluminum softer than mine? I turned some aluminum recently but not for a pen. It was very slow work and constant sharpening.

GREAT LOOKING Pens!

[Crash2510]

they look great.

I especially like the aluminum one