One of those nights....

[lottathought]

Looks like your night went far better than mine.

Excellent job saving that pen. :icon_thum
It does have a very nice, worn, antique look.

I tried 2 pens tonight.
I tried leapardwood.
I then tried Bloodwood.

BOTH split and shattered on the lathe.

I figure one of 2 things happened.
Either my freehand attempt to sharpen the chisel on the grinder went bust....

Or..these woods just shatter easier.

Wanted to wait a little while to get a jig ..but that might not be in the cards if I want to keep this up right now.

 

[MikeH]

Looks like your night went far better than mine.

Excellent job saving that pen. :icon_thum
It does have a very nice, worn, antique look.

I tried 2 pens tonight.
I tried leapardwood.
I then tried Bloodwood.

BOTH split and shattered on the lathe.

I figure one of 2 things happened.
Either my freehand attempt to sharpen the chisel on the grinder went bust....

Or..these woods just shatter easier.

Wanted to wait a little while to get a jig ..but that might not be in the cards if I want to keep this up right now.

Thanks Michael. Sorry to hear about the wood splitting. I've made several Bloodwood pens and the wood turned well. I also freehand sharpen my chisels roght now. I would suggest getting a white aluminum oxide wheel instead of the grey wheels that typically come on a grinder. They can get the metal too hot. Another trick I use when sharpening on my regular grinders is turning the grinder on to full speed and then shut if off. Let it spin down a little and the sharpen your chisels at the slower speed. Also make several light passes instead of one heavy one. By the way, how aggressive are you going into the wood? I usually take pretty light passes especially while the stock is still square.

HTH,

 

[lottathought]

I actually bought the slow speed grinder at Woodcraft this month due to the sale.
It has the white wheels.

In hindsight, I went more aggressive into the bloodwood..
I think that I was letting myself get a little into a hurry due to a later start on it tonight...I tried the leopardwood first and that got me behind.

With the leopardwood, it seemed like it was either....take nothing off at all or start gouging it. I was having a real hard time with a happy medium.

I figure this is just a required stage in the pen turning process.

Here is a little side story though.
I was checking out perturners tonight and ran across a DaveO post from Dec.
He had gotten pen stuck on the mandel.
It made me chuckle..and it really brought home that everybody starts this way.

I guess part of the learning process is also learning the personalities of the different woods.

 

[MikeH]

I actually bought the slow speed grinder at Woodcraft this month due to the sale.
It has the white wheels.

In hindsight, I went more aggressive into the bloodwood..
I think that I was letting myself get a little into a hurry due to a later start on it tonight...I tried the leopardwood first and that got me behind.

With the leopardwood, it seemed like it was either....take nothing off at all or start gouging it. I was having a real hard time with a happy medium.

I figure this is just a required stage in the pen turning process.

Here is a little side story though.
I was checking out perturners tonight and ran across a DaveO post from Dec.
He had gotten pen stuck on the mandel.
It made me chuckle..and it really brought home that everybody starts this way.

I guess part of the learning process is also learning the personalities of the different woods.

Live and learn. It's all about experience. Congrats on the grinder. Did you post a gloat?

The pen in this thread was started late. I went out after 10:00 and wanted to get it done. The results speak volumes.

Note to self :eusa_thin : Don't go in the shop in a rush or tired. :slap:

 

[DaveO]

Here is a little side story though.
I was checking out perturners tonight and ran across a DaveO post from Dec.
He had gotten pen stuck on the mandel.
It made me chuckle..and it really brought home that everybody starts this way.

I told ya I BTDT and have the T-shirt :lol: :lol: :lol:
If there is a mistake to be made I've probably done it...twice

Dave