4 more stoppers and 4 pens!!

[sachbvn]

Hey guys!

Take a look at the bottle stoppers, personally, I think the shapes have greatly improved - I took your words of advice and thought about what I was doing more - when I was doing it. When I'd get done, I'd go back and make that transition at the base a little sharper, or a little more drawn out, whatever the case may be.

The first is Osage Orange - it's a little larger than the Bloodwood "dished out" one I made before, but it also has much more of a dished out top.



The second one is Blister Maple - I really thought about doing a burn line or lines....but then I thought..... I think it has some appeal in it's plainness - and decided to leave it.



Next is another African Blackwood - I think this came out real nice....the picture kind of make the finish look iffy.... honestly - it's not as course feeling as the picture makes it look. (two pictures)





Last stopper is Cherry - I actually like the way this turned out.... I questioned if I should add any burn lines or not - then I questioned where.... I decided right in the thinnest part of the stopper - right between the ball and the base.... I'm happy with it.... I'm not a huge fan of burn lines over the circular "ball" a stopper so much.... maybe I could have added one or two on the base, but I think burl lines are easy to over due.




Next are four pens I made.

First is a Holly / African Blackwood pen/pen set that I made to go along with the TV show LOST....any LOST fan should get the significance (Season six..... good/evil) The Blackwood was a PITA to finish, not sure if it was because my micromesh pads were filthy and fully of BLO or what.... I washed them and it seemed to help. The kits are Black Chrome and Satin Pearl.



The next is an African Blackwood Cigar pen that I made and will be donating to a draw down benefit. Again, this was a huge PITA....this was the cigar pen that gave me so much trouble.... the finish is ok... I see some flaws that you might see too - but most non turners would probably not dwell on. I meant to use a Chrome kit but grabbed the Gun Metal by mistake off the bench.... one more thing went wrong on this pen.... I decided it looked ok so I kept it - though a little dark for me, I think Chrome would have been better.



Last is a Cherry Guardian Jr. pen that I am making for a lady at work, she wanted a lighter colored pen that you could really see the grain. I mentioned Cherry and she got real excited. I found a piece that had some dark red, almost black lines in it - I was glad that they didn't get all turned away. FYI - this was a kit that I screwed up one of the internal brass tube parts and was able to save - I was glad it went together ok.... I did about two dozen clicks and it seems to work just fine. I will clean up the rubber grips before I give it to her. The kit is chrome, CA finish.








Thanks for looking guys - again, please critique or comment.


Zac

[boodrow]

Zac I think u got the pens down pat. I do like what I see in the first and last stopper. Not just the burn lines , but they have more curves and such. My friend ur turnin skills are great , I would just say use a lil more imagination on the stoppers. Thats a positive thing. Remember women will be buyin 80% of these things and they like curves as well as men do in other departments. All in all ur doin great , when I first started turnin I made stoppers alot like urs , then I got agressive with um, They started sellin then.
Boodrow

[boodrow]

Zac one other thing , the pics u post take forever to download. Another positive bit of advise. How big of a file are u savin as.
Boodrow

[deepsplinter]

Out of everything I see there, that last stopper is my favorite.

I like the shape, and that one burn line is just enough.

I'm gonna save that picture (for future reference)

[boodrow]

Zac these are some I havent sold , but will sell , just givin u a lil hint on the more curves I was talkin bout.
Boodrow

[sachbvn]

Thanks Boodrow - that helps a lot actually....not to rip off your designs, but hell - they are all made individually, but to get an idea of what is more, but not too much - ya know? All four (of yours) are totally different, but looks awesome. Is that Purpleheart? Wow, that is sure purple, my pens haven't come out that purple!

That picture is being saved for reference!!

Thanks Dave - you let me know anytime about the stopper.

Sorry the pics are so big - I started taking them much larger because they are better quality and you can always shrink 'em down - I just haven't been shrinkin' em on acct of being lazy with it.... I know it's a real PITA for some people's (most people's) computers, I'll shrink 'em from now on!


Zac

[mapleman]

Zac,
great execution. i like the bois d'arc the best --- great shape again.

i like the pens too! but i have to admit i cannot stand the brushed nickel finish kits. i actually bought a few myself and have not used them b/c they look like plastic to me. i dunno.

but hey, that isnt you, that is just my dislike of that kit finish.

john

[maverick31]

zac I agree with the others, the pens and stoppers came out great. I like the last 2 blackwood/cherry the best. Boodrow all 4 of those are awesome. I like the one on the far right the best, what wood is that?

[Doug B]

Wow, you have been busy Zac.

First let me just say that I agree you made some changes that I'm really liking in the shapes of the stoppers - great job! I'm liking those a lot.

For specific comments:
Stoppers -
The OO is the one exception to the shape improvement comment above - that particular one I still like the Bloodwood one you did better. I was not sure why, so I went back and compared the two and the shape just seems to transition better on the Bloodwood one and I liked the dish out on it better - the OO leave a sharp edge on top that I did not care for as much. The burn lines did not grab me on the OO like they did on the Bloodwood - I'm not sure why.

All in all that is a very nice stopper that should do well for you, just not as well as that Bloodwood one. I have to say that the Bloodwood stopper is really hard to improve on - I really, really like it.

Blister Maple - I really like the shape on this one a lot! Great job on the shape, and I think you were right to not use any burn lines on this one.

African Blackwood - the shape is really great. I really like the shape, but I did not even notice it at first - the white spots in the pic just grabbed my attention. Sometimes a piece is just that way and you cannot get a decent pic of it and maybe that is the case on this one. But it looks like the African Blackwood is course grained wood and sanding dust is getting trapped in the grain "pores". That may not be the case, but, if it is, then you can solve that by cleaning the stopper after sanding using a paper towel with Accelerator or DNA or Mineral Spirits. You might also add a few extra coats of CA until the grain gets filled. A grain filler might work too, but I've never tried that.

Cherry - I really like the shape of this one and I think the single burn line is perfect for this stopper - very nice elegant stopper. If anything could be improved it would be to get the top a little rounder but I know how hard that can be to achieve. I especially like the sharp transition to the stopper hardware - that really is appealing to me.


Pens -
The Holly and African Blackwood combination in a set of pens is a very interesting idea - kind of a Ebony and Ivory thing going there. I think I'd like Chrome plating better on the Blackwood pen, but the Black Chrome is perfect on the Holly pen.

The African Blackwood Cigar pen is not showing up well in the picture. I think when you use a white background with a dark wood, the camera overcompensates for the white. I'd be interested in seeing how it would look with a neutral background like gray. I think you messed up by grabbing the wrong pen kit too - I think Chrome would probably look better on that pen

Cherry Guardian Jr. - I have never done any of the Guardian pens so I can't say much other than I really like the dark grain lines in that Cherry wood. And...clean the lint off of it before you take the picture! ;D

Great job Zac, I still cannot believe how far along you have come in such a short time - it took me a lot longer!

[boodrow]

Zac that is purpleheart , this paticular batch was really really purple. And man u are welcome to copy anything I make. I didnt copy these just some I came up with in my lil bitty brain.
And thanks Mav the one on the far rite is leopard wood.
Boodrow

[sachbvn]

Doug - thanks for taking the time to critique/comment on each.

I agree on the OO - I don't like it as much as the bloodwood.... it is "fatter" and just more of a beast all around..... my thought was that with a larger stopper I could have more of a pronounced dished out effect..... it didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. The African Blackwood stopper - well, I do clean everything I turn before applying finish. That stuff seems to literally, endlessly give off black dust.... maybe next time I need to turn the lathe off and squirt some DNA over the blank with some paper towels right under it - I have a ketchup-type squirt bottle (like $1.29 at Walmart or something) with the DNA in it and it's much handier than trying to use the can each time.

The reason for the satin pearl kit was because it mimicked white.... I know you can get white kits but I had a satin pearl and didn't really wanna go "white-white" because the Holly isn't "white-white". I honestly think complimenting slimline pens may work as a "set" - I will never make another slimline pencil to sell to someone lol. I may try that cigar twist you just made.

The Guardian Jr. is a nice kit - honestly Doug you should try it. Just one - I think you'd like writing with it. At first it was a little fat for me, but I like slimmer pens because I write hard, the Guardian Jr. grew on me (BTW that Chestnut with a nail hole you sent me made it's way into a Guardian Jr. - that is a personal pen of mine) and it become more natural to write with.

I know the African Blackwood Cigar pen picture totally sucked - I should have never posted it - I was in a hurry to get these up before I had to do something - sorry, I'll try and get another photo. Oh, and in regards to the lint on the Guardian Jr - YES, I do clean off the lint before I give it to someone, I just didn't before I took the picture. Oh man, I couldn't stand giving the pen to someone that way.

Thanks for the kind words - I will keep trying my hand at these!

Zac

[Doug B]

Zac, if you have not tried the aerosol CA accelerator I can highly recommend it. Much better control over how much gets applied - sometimes if you use too much accelerator it will crystalize the CA and the aerosol is easier to control. And, for cleaning off sanding dust on open grained wood it has the added benefit of being under pressure that helps dislodge the dust from those open pores. Woodturningz is the best place to order it from.

[sdb777]

I wanted to let you know those are some really far out shapes! Are you having any problems doing the 'dish out' on such a small piece?

Thos Guardian Jr. pen are about as 'fat' as the girls around here want to go on a pen, and even then....some are still saying too big.
Wife really like the 'gripper', but her mother doesn't.....go figure?




Scott (can't please everyone, why try) B

[sachbvn]

Scott - nah, dishing out the top went pretty easy. I used a round nose scraper - can't think of the size.... well - small enough to get into the end of the stopper!

I used nothing but the scraper - went slow, kept working at it - got it done. It'd take forever to make a bowl that way, but to dish out the top of a stopper.... it went just fine.

Thanks!
Zac