Couple of Apollo's

[sdb777]

As reported earlier, I received the Apollo 'kit' that PSI was offering(the $29.95 deal). And the Burls&Swirls blanks came in on Thursday! Some excellent looking blanks, and very much worth the $$ paid!

I was wanting to get a 'feel' for the lathe after letting it sit for a few days, so the first pen I made using this kit was with a piece of cross-cut Spalted Pecan.

With cap on:


With cap off:


I did notice that the extreme sunlight hitting the finished pen, it seems to have some swirl marks on it...Now I can't see these in the sun for some reason....but the camera picks them up?
Finish was 9 coats BLO/CA, MM to 12k, plastic polish and then a coat of wax. Lots of thin CA was used to make sure the blank didn't come apart during the 'turn'.

With the 'easy' blank out of the way. I got right into the Cherry-Bronze/Burl blank. Took it really slow....after all, $12 blanks don't just grow on trees!!

With cap on:


With cap off:


Once again, the sunlight/camera is showing swirl marks. But I'll be danged if I can see them with my eyeball(yes, I got my glasses on). Not knowing exactly how to put the finish on. I tried the MM to 12k, but it just didn't look right... The swirls part of the blank was great, but the burls part just looked plain. So I did 3 coats BLO/CA, MM to 12k(again), plastic polish and a coat of wax.

The kit makes a really big pen! Not sure if I like the size, but I'll not really the one that matters...it's someone elses pen to buy. Hopefully it'll show someone, that I can make an extreme pen at a craft show or where ever!

Question:
#1: What do you think the price tag should be on these pens?
#2: Do these pens actually fit the 'description' of what a high-end pen should be?


Comments and critique is always welcome! Fire away, as I can only learn from hearing the bad(but the good always makes ya feel fluffy inside too)!!!



Scott (not as hard as it sounded.....really) B

[RiverWalker]

certainly look high end to me! not my PERSONAL style on the overall shape, but they look really nice IMO.

[Doug B]

Nice pens Scott! Not my style, but like you said, someone will like them. You will have to keep us updated on how you do with them. It will be interesting to see what kind of reaction you get to them.

My only thought, and it is just a thought because I have never made one of those pens, but because of the size, I wonder if a straight line bushing to bushing turning of the blanks might look better.

Oh I forgot to mention, EEE is what I use to make sure there are no swirls in the CA finish. Even then I sometimes miss them until the picture shows them.

[mcbryde]

They look good Scott, they ae just FRIGIN HUGEEEEEEEEEEE!

E

[maverick31]

they look pretty good to me. I really like the 2nd blank best.

[Knotty_Pine]

I love the red in that bottom pic, just makes it look so dressy. I'd say you'll have your work cut out taking some of those to a sale and not selling all of 'em.

For my eye, those pens might could go individually for $100 in comparison to other pens I've seen. At a show, it'd depend a little on what the tables nearby were selling and how much they asked. I'd say for sure it'd go on the high side of $75 easily. If you were to 'bundle' the two, you'd be able to go for maybe $175 depending on the quality of your boxes, etc. I don't know of you've thought of it, but you could rip one of the pecan blanks and bookmatch the pieces together to make a stunning box that would probably double the sale price overall. It'd likely be tough to work up a finish with the flat pieces and the spalting, but it may be worth the trouble.

The spalted pecan, that's gonna look good on basically anything you use it on. Of the two, it comes closer to being something that would be found on my desk. I've looked at most of the pics of the pecan, I'm telling you, that's some excellent spalting, and you've put it to good use.

High end? Oh yeah!

[sdb777]

After posting the photo's on this thread I was thinking that I should have put a ruler in the photo as a reference. Emerson is very correct about them being "They ae just FRIGIN HUGEEEEEEEEEEE!"

The cap uses a 9/16th drill to hog out a hole for the tube!
The body of the pen only uses a 12.5mm(only?)


Was going to try the B2B thing, but the bushings are all different sizes. Figured that would end up making the instrument triangular....or a better word----ugly?





Scott (thanks everyone) B

[boodrow]

Beautiful pens Scott , I like the kits , the colors and the finish , job well done , and that spalted pecan is beautiful.
Boodrow

[gomer]

May 26, 2010 14:00:10 GMT -6 boodrow said:

Beautiful pens Scott , I like the kits , the colors and the finish , job well done , and that spalted pecan is beautiful.
Boodrow

Ditto. My fave is the cherry/ bronze though. That is a beautiful piece of wood.