More things to solve, and using a different polish

Well, after a week away, I finally returned to the pen blanks that I had cut and drilled before my trip. I keep forgetting how long it takes to trim the barrels of several pen blanks before getting them to the lathe. As an added wrinkle, today I had some tearout in one of the olivewood blanks when I was trimming it. I am not sure if it was because the blank itself was small (little room for error) or the barrel trimmer was dull (I probably do need to sharpen it) or the wood itself was weak. Following a tip from one of my books, I took the piece that came off, pressed it into place (a wood with grain helps with this, as you can see how the wood aligns), and applied thin CA glue to the whole area. Hopefully, the piece will stay put now, and when the glue dries, the wood will be stronger and I can finish the trimming and make the pen. I like it when I can salvage pens even when something goes wrong. The pencil I made for my wife, which came out REALLY well, was initially an instance where the tube got stuck on its way into the blank. Doubly satisfying.

My brother and his girlfriend are coming to visit tomorrow, so I finally get to show him the present I made. His girlfriend is EXTREMELY chemically sensitive, so when I was at the grocery store today, I picked up some organic citrus wood/furniture polish. I thought that I could make a slimline pen for her, and use that polish in case the other polish would cause problems.

I made the pen without too much of a problem, but one thing I did NOT realize is that the organic polish takes a VERY long time to dry. I am used to the Myland's polish, which dries very quickly. As a result, I was putting the pen together while it was still wet. I think it still came out okay, though. I just need to watch that if I polish other stuff with that same polish.



Speaking of pens and such made for specific people, I finally got to give the magnifying glass to my father-in-law last weekend. That was cool - he really appreciated it. I also gave my mother-in-law a cocobolo pen that I had made a while back, which had come out really well.

The tears that come from tearout...and some sharpening tips

Though I had heard quite a bit about the dangers of tearout when using a skew chisel (tearout happens when you do not get a clean cut when turning, and a chunk of the wood comes out instead of shavings), I had not personally experienced it in a way that was detrimental to my craft...until today. I made a Bullet Tip Pen (which, aside from the tearout, actually came out quite well) and a Classic American Pencil (ditto) out of bloodwood. In both cases, the item was nice and smooth and had a great finish...except for small tears in the wood that were too deep to sand out. So, I have a pen and pencil that I can use, but cannot really give away or sell.

My next step is to sharpen my tools again. In order to do this, I need to set up the other side of the jig that is on my sharpening system. The sharpening system has two wheels - one rough, one fine. The rough one is for setting the edge on a tool, but it removes a lot of steel if you use it all the time for sharpening (which I have, up to now). The fine one is to keep tools sharp. I need to set up the jig on the fine side, so that I can sharpen the skew chisel and the roughing gouge, and avoid tearout in the future.

I also need to buy another Classic American kit (or 10), as I promised my wife that I would make her friend a letter opener (already made) with a matching CA style pen or pencil. The pencil today would have been perfect...except for the tearout. I will try to get a good picture of the tearout, but it may be tough to get on camera. Unfortunately, that does not mean that the tearout cannot be noticed with the naked eye.

Luckily, I have a lot more bloodwood to work with, once my tools are sharp again.