Snakewood Pen/Pencil Set

[TimD]

Here's a pic of a set made from the most aggravating wood to work with that I've found. This stuff is beautiful but extremely brittle as any of you guys who have worked with it can attest to.
The 2nd picture is an assortment that I turned, the top one is a Masonic pen made with a laurel wreath center band, olive wood lower barrel and acacia wood upper barrel. The next 1 down is the same thing except for an Order of the Eastern Star Clip. The next 2 is a set of bloodwood pen/pencil. The bottom one is a pencil in canarywood.

[Gunny]

Very nice work Tim... One of my first attempts at pen turning was with zebrawood... Talk about brittle... It was like trying to turn glass. I went through 6 blanks before I gave up and switched to Bacote...

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Tim

Very nice work indeed. Can you tell us the finish you use on the pens. One of these days I my get into making pens. What amazes me is people will pay $25 $30 for a pen. Mind boggling. I imagine just about all companies get their pen inserts from one place but have any one found one place better than another for both quality and cost factor??? How about service??

[Gunny]

John,
I've used Penn State Industries, POC Woodworking, Woodcraft, Steebar and a couple of others. They all have their pros and cons and they all run specials from time to time. Penn State has the best selection of tools and supplies and their prices are realistic but there are a couple of others on line who sell Penn State kits for significantly less. POCwoodworking.com is particularly good - fast service and she always throws in a thankyou gift. I ordered about $50 worth of tools one day and she threw in a nice cocobolo blank and a pack of fine grit abrasive that listed for $7.95.

Being new to turning (I just started around mid November) and already having spent more than I probably should have outfitting my new shop, I've looked around for the best bargains and I've been fortunate on Ebay.

I have a page on my personal website with some of my pens and bowls if you want to see what can be done with bargain materials. Go to http://themeadow.us/wood/woodturning ... (I tried to post them in the gallery but couldn't figure it all out...)

I'm still deciding on the best finish but I really like HUT waxes... I've also had great results on Bubinga with the house standard friction polish from The Woodturners Catalog. It seems different products work well on different woods.

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Gunny

Thanks for the info and I will have to look around when I do start with the pen thing. I did check you web site and must say for someone that just started you have done well. I am still learning the basic shapes and what the tools can do.I know there is many discussions on what is the best finish for pens because they get handled so much. You get alot of people are passionate about their finish as with their tools so I guess it comes down to trial and error thing.

[TimD]

I mainly use a carnuba based wax after a thorough sanding down to at least 1500 grit sandpaper and usually go even finer, then most I use a non-dyed piece of leather to really bring it on down then I apply some was to a cotton rag and put it on in at least 4 different coats with some pressure in between coats. I include with every pen or pencil a sheet telling the owner how to take care of it.
I'm toying with the idea of a rod turner that I have for applying and drying the epoxy coatings to fishing rods when I make them. Here in a day or so I hope to try that method out and will then post the result. Just on a personal opinion I prefer the feel of a very fine sanding job then a layer of wax, but we all know about opnions, lol.