just keep a “pen scraps” box somewhere for when you do use hardwood and even if you don’t use hardwood a lot, eventually you’ll have enough. i’m going to try doing an acrylic one, too. maybe a mixed wood/acrylic (but not sure how much those might bleed on each other).
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I think that would be really interesting if you can get them to bond well!
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yeah, that’ll be part of the challenge with the wood/acrylic mix. acrylic alone is fine.
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Love it! I’ve been wanting to try this, but I’m busy building a house, so hadn’t gotten around to it.
I did try, some time back, making a turning tool handle from stacked discs of Baltic birch, but inserted acrylic discs to make it “fancy” and the glue between them and the wood didn’t hold up to turning. sigh
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what did you use? i should start by avoiding what we know doesn’t work. i was thinking about starting w/E6000.
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I used the same Gorilla wood glue I used for the rest of it. It held up quite well on the swords I made for my grandkids so I didn’t really give it much thought. Apparently lathes put a lot more stress on things than grandchildren do!
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hrm. ok. i’ll have to think on this a bit. maybe do some research.
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Oh wow, nice job!
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The pen looks great. I was surprised to see how nice the edge grain of the wood looked. Beautiful pictures.
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I’m not sure that is mathematically possible ¯_(ツ)_/¯
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Sweet looking pen!
Nice mix of wood types. I tried to keep my grain aligned but what he’s done here with the grain alignment being mixed looks great. Also several layers of cool wood with grain that is both fine and contrasting to mix up the otherwise parallel lines. Mine were a bit boring in that respect as the woods in those cases were almost solid colors.
Yup. The thin stuff soaks into the end grain strengthening both the disc and the bonds between them. My first layer for segmented pens is always thin CA and always applied by hand to let it soak in well. He’s done an excellent job on the finish and it looks like he’s really good at this. Great collaboration!
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Nice work and nice to have a collaboration like that. Those are all ⅛ thick hardwood disks?
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I’d try 5 minute epoxy for the side of the acrylic. It should definitely stick
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Those “turned” out great.
I wouldn’t bother with the center hole. I would just drill it and put the tube in. and that also might give you a larger surface between the discs to make sure you have adequate glue adhesion.
I would use the “thick” CA glue for between the discs. you can use the spray activator to set the glue instantly if you want.
pen kits have specific diameters so you just drill with the correct bit, that should save you a lot of time on your GF. get one of the pen vises so you can get the hole down the center of your glue-ups.
i used to make pens in batches of 10 or so. and the vise makes drilling a dream.
acrylic pens will need fine sandpaper and you can get buffing wheels and compound that will make them amazingly smooth and shiny.
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well, i think it was worth doing a smaller hole in the middle to start for me. that helped align the discs. especially once you start using the clamps so they don’t “slide” on the glue. the hole i cut was a snug fit for the bamboo skewers i have, so it was pretty small, just .125". and then the bamboo skewer can stay in there if it won’t slide out and you just drill through it.
when i do one myself and cheat the lathe part (by using a 1" belt sander and my drill), i’ll use a buddy’s drill press to make the final hole. my FIL obviously is fully equipped (including the pen vice) to do all the pen work on the lathe with no cheating parts.
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I didn’t register that you weren’t using a lathe.
if you had a lathe you’d not even need make discs. most pen blanks are square, at least that I saw last. who knows what has been going on since I last bought supplies.
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yeah, my FIL uses (and used on this pen) a lathe. but when i try to do one on my own, i’ll be fudging it.
i did circles both to test for myself for the future but also because i could cram a few more in than squares.
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I bet you could do this with acrylic pieces as well. The ideas are flowing now. Beautiful pen!
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Wow! Beautiful finished product.
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Nice… now you can make a jig and engrave them…
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