Assembly Line Pen turning

The kits for the large group of broker pens came on Monday. Last night, I cut the blanks for all of the pens. Four of Lignum Vitae (green on the outside, but a strange yellowish colour on the inside), four of Orangeheart, three of bloodwood, two of cocobolo, and one of bocote. I do not know if I will use all of the Lignum Vitae or the Orangeheart, but the blocks I had cut easily into four blanks each.

Tonight I drilled the blanks, and a couple of them I will probably not use. Orangeheart is very difficult to drill. It seems like a very soft wood, and it kept getting stuck to the drill bit.

This is my first attempt at this kind of "assembly-line" pen turning. Usually, I will take a pen or two up to the point where the tubes are glued in, then turn them the next time. With this group, I am cutting all of the blanks one night, then drilling them the next, then tomorrow (or soon) I will glue all of the tubes in. I may even turn them all before assembling any of them. I guess, if I am to do many pens on a regular basis, I will have to do it this way, as it is too time-consuming otherwise.

I am very interested to see how the orangeheart and the lignum vitae look after they have been turned.