In the shop.

Ok, I did what most people do, start a blog and not post anything. I've been carving and turning pens. The carving pictures were fuzzy so I'll take new ones later. I have a picture of my new lathe in my shop. On it is mounted a pen turning that was attempted with a molted wood. A little more brittle than I like. I took a close up of the turning so you can see where it fell apart. I may try again with this wood later, as there is a trick for turning brittle wood, but I need to do 10 pens fairly quickly (Christmas gifts for work staff.)

I've already grabbed some other wood and started a new set. The wood for this pen on the lathe was questionable so I only prepared one to see what would happen. I already have made a pen/pencil set made from Myrtle wood this week, but that picture was fuzzy too. I've got to work on my technique. I'll try posting that one later, too.

Been pushing for a separate shop, so I can get more space than I have in the garage. Keep looking and I'll post how it's going.

I currently have 3 pen blanks drilled and drying tonight. I use epoxy to hold the wood and brass center tube together, then turn the wood to 1/16 of an inch or less, larger then the brass tube. The wood itself is not strong enough to hold together, it is there because wood is good.

Enjoy, and be careful of the splinters.