Adventures in Burlington

Yesterday was my biweekly visit to the regional company office, and as usual I brought my pen collection with me. There was quite a bit of interest in the pens - several people "discovered" them who I guess had not seen them before. I gave a pen to my ex-manager, who has moved on to another position within the company, and he seemed to really appreciate it. He even raised the question of whether we could put the company name/logo on pens to give away at the User Conference! Given that this year's User Conference is in about a month, I said that maybe NEXT year we could do something with that.

Several people mentioned that the pens would make good holiday presents. They asked if I would make some for them, and I said that as long as I had the request in enough time we could work something out.

I brought my co-worker the slimline pencil (bloodwood with a satin pearl kit - it came out really well) that I made for him, and he insisted on paying me $20 for it. So, I get to subtract from the totals for the first time!

Interesting thing about the mechanism for the pencil - the one I got with the kit did not work, so I went down to Woodcraft (I was going there anyway to see a demo on how to turn a pepper mill, which was interesting but involved tools and parts that I do not yet have) and tried a different mechanism from another kit. That one ALSO did not work. It took a couple of tries to find one that did, and then the pencil was complete. I wish I had taken a picture of it before selling it, though.

I have started to use a more thorough process of sanding and polishing, at a lower lathe speed. I got the idea (and most of the instructions) from www.woodturnerruss.com. It is a great site for learning how to get great finishes on woodturning projects.

Meanwhile, the broker pen project is moving along. I have two Lignum Vitae, one Bloodwood, one Cocobolo, one Bocote, one Orangeheart, one Pink Ivory, one Bubinga (that I made a while back), and one Holly (that will probably be sold/given away separately).

Sold: $20
Totals:
Out of pocket $149.93, Total: $229.93