nightmare majestic jr

[maverick31]

I call this one the "nightmare". It started out life as a red maple burl majestic jr. As I was drilling out the blank it broke the lower half off. Then I decided it will be a blue maple burl pen. Well as I was taking it off the mandrel the blank broke. I figured at this point 3rd times a charm right, well I was going ok till I went to press the parts together and pressed the couplers in backwards.

Well after banging around for 30 minutes I got the couplers out and repressed in right direction. I think I may need the pen dissasembly tool ;D . I then noticed a small crack in one of the barrels so I took it apart again and back to the lathe to fill it with ca.

Finally all done, It is 34 degrees out so I did have to heat it up a bit to get the ca to cure. I am worried it may crack more in a few days. time will tell I guess. If it does crack I will take it apart and fix it once I get a pen disassy tool.

Well, here it is.........

[Joe Lyddon]

It's pretty...

It's really unique...

COOL!

[Doug B]

Nice pen Clay! That is one fancy schmancy roller ball pen kit. Which one is it?

I'm guessing the wood is Bocote, which someone here has had problems with cracking on a bottle stopper I believe. I have some Bocote blanks but have not tried any yet...looks like I'll have to be careful with it. Do you think the dis-assembly might have caused the crack? Is this one of those pen kits with a ridiculously big tube that only leaves a small amount of wood on the tubes?

Beautiful pen.

[maverick31]

thanks for the nice comments, I have had problems with bocote cracking on bottle stoppers. Whenever heat is applied it is prone to cracking. It may have cracked durring assembly since I was trying to press in parts too big to press in. I did heat it up a little bit to get the ca to cure. I was pretty carefull but this wood is crazy. pretty big tube blanks but wood is fairly thick, kind of like the classic pen kits but on a much bigger tube. It is definatly not thin like the slimlines. I got this kit from psi, it is the majestic jr starter kit. came with bushings, drill bits, sleves for barrel trimmer for free with purchase of pen kit. 29.95 for the kit. normally it is another 28 bucks for all the crap you need to make it.

[sachbvn]

Maverick - I bought the same kit!! Just waiting for PSI to ship - they took like a week or ten days off from shipping orders to do end of year inventory. I took advantage of the same deal - it's actually a really good deal. The crap to make the pen is almost as much as the pen itself. I bought the jr. as well - the big kit, IMO was going to be too fat, and I didn't really want to have to use a huge blank to safely make it.

Dude - get a pen disassembly tool - you will be glad you did the first time you use it!! Punches will work too - but the dis. tool is a breeze!

That is a NICE looking pen! I understand it isn't quite how you wanted it to turn out, but it did come out looking really nice!

I'm not sure if I'll keep the kit when I make it, or sell it. Hmmm...??


Zac

[maverick31]

thanks zac, yep the next order I place will include a disassy tool. Man what a pita. I think it came out pretty good, considering it was destined for the trash can on multiple occasions.

When I ordered it, I thought the pen would be smaller than it is. the jr is a pretty hefty pen. I would imagine the big brother is a monster. I am going to attend a few craft shows this year so this pen will be in my arsenal. I need to get out there and make a few bowls to go with my stoppers/pens.