Eric’s Blog

I’ve been in the workshop the past few nights making pens. It had been a while since I turned a pen and I wanted to try a few different things. The first night, I turned a few blanks of Wenge which was a type of wood that gave me some difficulty the last time I tried to turn it.

My carbide-tipped tools cut through the Wenge better than my high-speed steel tools ever did. I always felt like I was pushing too hard with the HSS and I always broke the blanks.

I sanded the blanks and put a few thin coats of C. A. glue (cyanoacrylate, a. k. a. superglue) on them, but they didn’t turn out the way I wanted. I went into supper and watched a few YouTube videos, then I went back out to the workshop, took the blanks down to bare wood, and tried again. This time, the technique I tried worked. I got about six coats of thin CA glue on the blanks, then I put some plastic polish on them and they shined up like the top of the Chrystler building. The wood had a lot of pitting in it which translated to the CA finish. When I put the liquid polish on, it went into the pitting. You can see some of the polish stuck in the pitting in the picture below. The two pieces of Wenge weren’t brothers; one was darker than the other so the pen looks mismatched.

Last night, I tried to make another pen with a CA finish. This time, I chose a few blanks that were made from Padauk wood. This wood is denser and has a red finish. I didn’t have to make two attempts to put the CA finish on these blanks; I got it right on the first try. I saw the same problem where the liquid polish went into the pitting again, but I took it off with a soft bristle brush. I tried several different kinds of metal hardware on the pen, then, decided on a 24k gold with black accents. This pen turned out beautifully and is one of my favorite creations.

I’m looking forward to getting home tonight and making more pens. I’m going to start building up my inventory in an attempt to sell them. If you’re interested in purchasing one of my pens, take a look at my Etsy page.