A Quick Pen

I had some work to be getting on with indoors this weekend, and had to do a bit of clearing up in the shed. Once all that was done, and the grass had been cut, there wasn’t much time left to dedicate to turning.
I had a request for a pen though, so got on with that.
The oak bowl I turned recently came from a slab of oak I bought at Scottish Wood in Fife. Part of it had some lovely spalting, so I kept it back and cut it into pen blanks.

It has lovely marking, even if it is a bit on the soft side.
Once mounted up and turned with the skew it took shape quickly enough. Sanding was a bit worrying, because of the softness, but light passes kept it intact. Seven coats of CA glue as finish should help stabilise it.

I used some accelerator on the glue to speed up curing on the last 2 coats to stop it wicking into the wood, otherwise I could’ve been there all day.
Worth it for the finished article though, I think.

This one also triggered a request for 2 more pens, so that’s next weekend sorted.

It would be nice to have permanent power to the shed, but as it is not on land I own, digging a track is out of the question. One day maybe.
My stock of free timber is running low, so I need to start collecting again. Unfortunately the geo-political situation at work has shifted, so that source has pretty much dried up. Some of the trees in the garden could be doing with a haircut though, so that’s a source. I need to start combing my old haunts again looking for fallen trees.
It’s never easy finding wood for nothing. Well, it’s easy finding wood, but it’s not easy finding wood that’s good for turning.