Having some fun with replacing the store-bought centre band with wood centre bands of contrasting material that I turn along with the pen.
The first one we saw in an earlier post, purpleheart with maple bits. The second is curly maple, the third is from a very nice piece of cherry burl, of which I have enough to make one more pen, I think.
The cherry wood was given to me by Larry Cluchey, a local turner from whom I recently had some instruction in turning. Thanks Larry!
This is (hopefully) the last of at least 7 design iterations in Sketchup for the TV stand I’ve been mulling over for several months now… Version 6 was actually marked final and the cutting had begun, when I realized that the shelves it included would not be necessary and would in fact unacceptably reduce the available space for components.
The main pieces were already cut based on version 6 of the plan, which had a full-thickness back, stopping short of the top and bottom (for ventilation). This would have involved a ridiculous amount of wood trim to cover exposed particle board, more than anywhere else on the project… It didn’t make sense to put all that effort into trimming out the least-visible part of the thing.
So here I went with 1/4-inch hardboard for the back, full-coverage, with ventilation holes and wire-access holes, top and bottom.
Exposed edges will all be trimmed out with solid walnut, with the top and bottom receiving a full inch-wide treatment, giving them the illusion of being thicker, and differentiating them from the upright pieces (sides and divider). The base will be mitered, all going well…
We’ll see if this plan holds through the whole build…
A very productive day at the office today! My Best Pen Ever (if I do say so) made of purpleheart with a maple finger-grip area and a maple centre band (replacing the “comes with” band). Including some nice little groove details on the maple bits… not sure I can bear to part with this one…
And then the scary bit – the oil lamp… my first turning of any real size, first time using the 4-jaw chuck… I slowed the lathe WAY down to slowest speed, so it wouldn’t all explode on me… even so, when those CORNERS come whipping across the gouge tool, you hold on and hope for the best, taking tiny tiny bits of wood off at a time… worked out okay though…
The design is based on either a very fat bud vase or a nuclear cooling tower…
My haul from a trip to the exotic wood store, which is actually called “Exotic Woods” ( www.exotic-woods.com )
I have no idea what many of these are like to work with, but this is how you find out. I was strangely drawn, disturbingly even, to the “She Oak”. But I think that transgendered trees could use our support and understanding…
Just finished these two pens: One is a standard slimline in zebrawood (with a very cool “eye” feature in the grain). The other is a first try at a so called European-style pen, made from paduak (pah-DOOK).
The European-style pen is a little trickier to make. It involves cutting a tenon under where the centre band is. Consequently, the centre band is actually on the lathe during the process, and as a result of THAT, I ended up first scratching the centre band, then finally sanding away the gold plating trying to “buff it out”.
So the paduak pen won’t be leaving the house, but live and learn, next one should be perfect!
This is a comfort grip pen I made from Zebrawood… I think I like these better than the standard slim line pens, but then I have big fat hands…
Had some trouble with my lathe, had to exchange it finally as it was out-of-true, but finally got a couple of pens done… They ain’t so much pretty, or in focus, but at least I kind of know more or less what I’m doing now…
Why are they looking at me like that? And how is this even possible?
Today was, in some ways, an important day in my development as a woodworker: it was the first time I fired up my lathe. And while momentous, it was not entirely successful…
The plan was to prepare a few pen blanks out of some lightly-figured curly maple I had on hand (done), build a jig to drill the blanks at the drill press (done), glue in the brass tubes (done – still got the CA glue on my thumb to prove it), and commence the turning!
Turning done too, technically, but here’s where I get confused. When I drilled the holes for the tubes, I just “eyeballed” the centre point, figuring that the turning process would centre everything up, by definition. And the turning did go reasonably well once I got the hang of the roughing gouge.
But by the time I got to the point we see in the photo, it was clear that something was amiss. Sorry, askew. The holes are well off-centre: on one side the wood is down almost to the barrel, while on the other side there is still a good one-eighth of an inch of material left…
I though that the basic premise of woodturning would make this impossible. How could it be so eccentric? Not that I’m one to talk about being eccentric. But sheesh, what’s the deal here? It’s not like it was wobbling around, it seemed to be going well… I’m using all brand new stuff, and had some instruction (in conversation, and in video and books) in exactly this setup, so I was fairly confident in my process.
And yet it all went horribly wrong… well, not horribly, but still… I’d like to figure out what the deal is here before I waste another blank. That curly maple don’t grow on trees you know…
One of my favourite stories from the proverbial progressive rock storybook is the story of how in the summer of 1970, drummer and not-yet pop star Phil Collins came to join soon-to-be PROG mainstays Genesis.
At this stage, Genesis have enjoyed some success with their debut From Genesis to Revelation, but more importantly have recently finished recording their more ambitious sophomore effort, Trespass, considered by some to be the first “real” Genesis album.
Tragically, however, guitarist Anthony Phillips would have to leave the band before Trespass saw the light of day, due to “ill health and recurring stage fright“. Drummer John Mayhew was also to be replaced. The literature is a bit thin on the reasons in Mayhew’s case, although “sucking” has been suggested as a possible factor. (No I don’t have a source; I may have made that up, probably unfairly).
So either as a result of a conversation with Genesis producer John Anthony at the Marquee Club, where the early Genesis had been playing, or in response to an ad running in Melody Maker at the same time, Phil Collins arrives at the home of Peter Gabriel’s parents, of a summer’s day in late July, 1970.
Collins, along with Flaming Lips bandmate Ronnie Carly, arrive early at the audition. While Carly, hoping for the guitarist spot (which would eventually go to Steve Hackett), auditions with Genesis bassist Mike Rutherford, Phil Collins is asked if he would like to pass the time before his turn by going for a swim in the family pool. He accepts.
So while Collins floats lazily in the pool, the band can be heard auditioning the other drummers. Songs from Trespass (not yet released, and unknown to the hopefuls) are used as the audition pieces. By the time it’s Collins’ turn at the drum kit, he’s already heard all the material, several times, and has it down cold.
It also didn’t hurt that Phil Collins is an amazing drummer. And then there’s that puckish charm and cockiness that would later become so annoying, but which at this point was still endearing. Gabriel would later recall:
“Just the way he sat down on the stool, I knew that he was going to be good”.
I know exactly what he means… never, in my experience, has a drummer looked so comfortable behind the kit as 1970’s era Phil Collins. There’s a cliché about the how, in skilled hands, an instrument can seem like an extension of the body… in Collins’ hands (and feet) this was never more true. His slouched posture on him just looked relaxed, especially alongside the almost-rigidly upright posture of contemporary (and later, for one tour, Genesis co-drummer) Bill Bruford. That said, an upright, limited-motion upper body stance IS considered healthier by today’s RSI-conscious drummer.
And so on this day in PROG, i.e. August 4, 1970, Phil Collins would be informed that he was now a member of Genesis. And the rest is music-nerd history.
