What I turned a couple of months ago.

Hello my friends.
I say i'm sorry in advance for the crappy quality of the photo, but i had to take it with my Iphone.
A couple of months ago, my employers asked me to turn a pen for them, so, since i had a couple of streamline kit laying arround in my shop, i decided to turn this 2 little girls:

I'm proud to say, that i never bought a wooden pen blank for my pens (though i'm happy to buy acrylic ones) , but instead i like to salvage woods and cut my own blanks, i used a piece of hard Mahogany salvaged from a broken boat keel, for the left one.
For the right one, I used..........I used....... sorry mates, i can't remember the wood I used and I'm not good to recognize wood just from a pen , but you can help me with that. I have a drawer full of blanks cut from this wood, but I can't really remember where i got the plank from wich I cut them...
For the mahogany one, I used carnauba wax softened with walnut oil. I cut it with oil, because the only carnauba I can find is hard as rock, but if I melt it in a pot and add alittle of raw walnut oil, it become soft enough to rub it on wood without scratching it. On the unknown wood I used shellac polished with "Olio paglierino" (I dont know how is called in english but is very similiar to mineral oil but yellow).
The clip on the left one is a gift from the store where I buy my kits.

Hope you like it
Francesco

Looking good Francesco. I tried mixing walnut oil with beeswax but didn't use enough walnut oil so still rock hard.. have learned for next time go use s little more and I will pop back in oven with more oil to soften a little more.. did it for making a bowl that needed a food safe finish..

They look great Francesco.

Nice looking pens

Vic

Francesco one of the bosses have a love of weapons mate I am a great believer in Carnauba Wax sticks. Try Sreamline centre bands mate a whole new world of design opportunities. Nice to have a yarn the other day.

Peter.

Nice looking pens Francesco.

Baldy said:

Looking good Francesco. I tried mixing walnut oil with beeswax but didn't use enough walnut oil so still rock hard.. have learned for next time go use s little more and I will pop back in oven with more oil to soften a little more.. did it for making a bowl that needed a food safe finish..

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Graeme, I use beeswax/oil as well, but not for pens, only on bowls an other turned pottery. I mix wax (either carnauba or beeswax) using a simple method:
For carnauba i grind the raw wax in a coffee grinder and put the powder in a glass jar, then i put the jar in boiling water until it melt, then I add a little bit of walnut oil, give a good stirring and then, with a little spoon, i take some of the liquid and let it cool to test the consistency. I use the same method for beeswax, but I dice it with a very sharpened knife blade, because if you put it in the coffee grinder, it will become a nasty mess. (ask me how I know it ).

Cheers
Francesco

I like the thought that you've never bought a wooden pen blank Francesco, there is so much wood out there to be reclaimed. The wood on the right in my opinion is Oak. Two very nice pens there.

Very nice pens Francesco! the right wood looks like Oak to me as well mate well turned both of them..

Mmmm, oak you say... Now I have to remember where i got it . I had cut this blanks, a couple of years ago and used only a couple of them so far.

Cheers
Francesco

It looks very similar to the oak I've got from whisky barrels Francesco... not that I'm suggesting there is a whisky barrel tree.. or that you drink a lot

Nicely done.

Les

Gunsmith Fiamma said:

Mmmm, oak you say... Now I have to remember where i got it . I had cut this blanks, a couple of years ago and used only a couple of them so far.

Cheers
Francesco

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This is the only Oak one I have done that is why I said Oak!...

Nice shape and finish Francesco

Good efforts there Francesco, I would guess the wood as oak also.
Olio paglierino translates as Straw oil probably due to the colour, when googling straw oil it brings up types of oil including WD40 and bio oils made from rice Straw etc.
I hazard a guess at something like linseed oil which lots of nutters like to throw at wood over here.

Two nicely turned Pens Francesco, i like the way you finish your pens .. I must try this and see how the finish looks for me ..

I will also go with Oak ..

paulm said:

It looks very similar to the oak I've got from whisky barrels Francesco... not that I'm suggesting there is a whisky barrel tree.. or that you drink a lot

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Paul, you almost got it right :
Today, when was working at my bench in the store, I reminded where I got the plank from wich I cut the blanks.....it was a very old Grappa barrel. (if you don't know what Grappa is, go look here Grappa). Im not very in to drinking, because i can't really hold my liquor, but when someone offer me a good Scotch whisky, I can make an ecception

Cheers mate
Francesco

Grump said:

Good efforts there Francesco, I would guess the wood as oak also.
Olio paglierino translates as Straw oil probably due to the colour, when googling straw oil it brings up types of oil including WD40 and bio oils made from rice Straw etc.
I hazard a guess at something like linseed oil which lots of nutters like to throw at wood over here.

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No mate, it's very different from linseed oil, it's what we use here in italy to lubricate the pad, when we do shellac finish (or French finish). Its not a drying oil like tung, walnut or linseed.
I don't know why, but here in italy, no one use mineral oil on wood, but I'm pretty sure that olio paglierino is indeed mineral oil, but lightly dyed in yellow. It have almost not smell and it looks like a very light ale.
Thanks for your reply
Francesco

2 Lovely pens Francesco

Gunsmith Fiamma said:

P.....it was a very old Grappa barrel. (if you don't know what Grappa is, go look here Grappa).

Cheers mate
Francesco

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I know Grappa well, used to work for a couple Italians, They used to put it in their coffee in the morning, had to watch them careful that they didn't put it in mine.