Used Ideas On New Pens

I went into the shop today just to fiddle around a bit. I decided to try some things I'd done before, but now on the one piece pens that I done from yesterday.

The first pen I done today was zebra wood. The one I done a few days ago with the grain run across the pen looked so nice that I wanted to try out the one blank I had with the grain running the length of the blank.

While it is a nice enough pen, I think it pales in comparison to the one I done before.

Next, although I haven't exactly gotten it down to a science or anything, I enjoy working with the process for celtic crosses. I have yet to have one turn out exactly like I want it too, but they always seem to be nice enough to be keepers anyway.

This one I tried to make special because it is for the wife of a friend of mine. This one has five layers of very thin strips sandwiched together to make the material to glue in the blank.

I ripped very thin layers of mahogany and maple on my band saw and glued them up into one continuous strip and allowed to to dry while I was working on the zebra wood pen. Then, every change I got, I would stop on the first pen and make a cut in the blood wood blank to insert and glue the material into this pen.

The idea here was to have four circles glued in at a forty five degree angle, one on each side of the blank. I have been having trouble with getting things working right past two inserts while cutting almost all the way through the blanks. So on this one I cut completely through and glued three pieces, the two parts of the blank and the insert, allowed to dry, then moved to the next.

This did not work right either. By the time I got two insert layers in, the lines were off. I thought about scrapping the whole idea on this one. I instead though decided to use the third layer of insert material to break up the misaligned lines and glue it in straight across.

I have yet to get the look I'm after with the celtic cross, but I'll keep trying. I know the process and how it is supposed to come together. Sometimes though things are easier said than done.