Pen Day Saturday

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat. And the bank balance is getting thin. One of my most popular products is pens. I have a good stock of interesting timbers, so should be able to make some very attractive pens.
The pens I produced yesterday were beech. Flame beech, and nicely spalted beech. I will be cutting some very attractive elm blanks later to add to the collection. Hopefully I will be able to keep up with demand.

This is the flame beech. Not a good photo, but the best my iPhone will allow. This one has been taken already. Close up, the wood looks very like marble. The figuring is stunning.

This one is spalted beech. The spalting is created by mould crowing between the growth rings in the timber. Very attractive, in my view.
The finish on these, as always, is thin CA glue. (super-glue to thee & me)
The blanks are turned to round using a spindle gouge, then all the shaping is done with the skew chisel. I have been trying out a new abrasive, Rhino-Grip, purchased from Richard Findley at Turners Workshop. So far I am mighty impressed. I cut 1″ strips of each of the grits, and used these strips all day yesterday. There is still plenty of life left in them, so don’t envisage replacing them any time soon.
Bang for bucks is what I am always looking for, and this abrasive definitely fits the bill.