Turnings for Saturday, August 7, 2010
Apart from the Nouveau Sceptre pen I made for Jen's birthday, I found time to work on a few other projects. First is a couple of copper plated slimline ballpoint pens. A friend of mine had taken down a tree recently and I thought it would be nice to make a couple of pens for her daughters who were quite attached to that tree (a tree named George). I'm not even certain what kind of tree this is, but it is rather soft and wooly. It does polish nicely, although somewhat lacking in character and grain distinction. I turned a bowl from it recently which is still aging nicely on my coffee table, so I expect these to hold together nicely. The second image is another Honduran Rosewood Yo Yo with Gold plated hardware. I am really liking the Honduran rosewood, it turns very easily and polishes effortlessly. It';s a very solid and dense wood, making this a weapons grade yo-yo at 99 grams. The third and fourth images are a case I created to keep and show yo-yos I have made and are available for purchase. I had some spare poplar and birch lying around, and this gave me an opportunity to try making a finger joint with the table saw. I finished the box with a light cherry stain and several coats of satin polyurethane. All accent pieces are brass. I still have some work to do on this. I would like to line the compartments with velvet or some other soft material, and cut a foam insert for the lid to hold everything in place. All and all, a good woodworking weekend.