Carbara Pen Kit using a Rattlesnake Blank

Rattlesnake Pen
I used a rattlesnake pen blank and a Black Titanium Carbara Pen kit to build this rattlesnake pen. These blanks are more difficult to turn compared to wood or regular acrylic. Care must be taken because the acrylic can be easily lifted off the surface of the snakeskin because of the chemicals used to tan the snake hides. Sharp tools must be used.
The blanks come with the brass tube already inside the skin and acrylic. Therefore you do not need to drill and glue the brass tube.
You will however have to size the blank and square the ends. The sides of the blanks are also removed during the sanding process. See the drawing that came with the blank for this detail.

The edges were sanded and the blank was placed on the lathe. I used a spindlemaster lathe tool to turn the blank down to size. The lathe tools must be extremely sharp. I stopped 4 times to hone the tool while cutting the blank to size. I stopped cutting short of the bushing size. Sandpaper was used to complete the projects. I used micro mesh and an acrylic finish to complete the blank. The blank was assembled using a pen press. More ideas can be seen at my web site:
http://nokeswoodworks.com/

The rattlesnake blank and pen kit came from: Arizona Silhouette at http://ArizonaSilhouette.com .

Pen Making The Wall Street II Pen kit

Wall Street II Pen kit from Woodcraft.

The following pictures may be helpful in understanding the steps needed to build the Wall Street pen kit that I purchased from Woodcraft. The finished pen is illustrated here to the right. These are easy pens for the beginner and fun for the experienced turner as well. I used my Jet mini lathe and Robert Sorby turning tools.

The picture to the left shows the pen kit parts, drill bit 27/64 , the wood blank and the epoxy used to make the pen kits. The first Step is to cut the blank to length. Use the brass tube to measure and mark the blank for cutting. Cut the blank a little longer than the brass tube. It will be made to length later. Mark the center of the blank on the end before drilling. Drill slowly and clean out drill bit often. If you get the blank too hot or do not clean out the bit you will get a blow out on the blank. As you can see in the picture I have a home made pen vise that I have used successfully for years.

After the pen blank is drilled. I sand the brass tube lightly before mixing epoxy to glue the tube inside the blank. I like epoxy more than CA glue, but CA glue will work fine also. After the pen blank has dried I then go to the sander to square up the ends. A picture of this process can be seen on my web site: http://nokeswoodworks.com/

Once the ends are square, It is ready to be mounted on the lathe using a bushing and a pen mandrel. The picture to the right shows the pen blank mounted to the lathe .

Once the blank is mounted to the lathe, and everything is tightened up. The blank is then ready to be turned. Refer to my blog on lathe speeds for correct turning speed for pens or other projects. There are pictures of the actual turning process on my web site. A gouge is used to reduce the pen blank to a rough round size. A skew is then use to take the blank to proper size. I use the spindle master instead of a skew. This smooths the blank and gets it to the right size ready for sanding. I use a range of sand paper from 120 to 600 and then use micro mesh to 6000 for the sanding process. Once this is complete I use a finish of my choice. In this case I used Hut crystal coat to finish this pen. This is a friction polish and is applied with a cotton cloth and rubbed into the wood while the lathe is running. Once the finish is complete the pen blank is removed from
the lathe. It is assembled using a pen vise. Please visit my web site for more pictures and more information on pen making. http://nokeswoodworks.com/

This kit can be purchased from Woodcraft. See link to the right.

Building a Woodcraft 68 point skinner knife kit

Woodcraft Skinner knife kit

This past week I bought and assembled the Woodcraft 68 point skinner knife kit, using Bocote wooden knife scales.

The kit did not come with instructions, but I found a set I could down load at the Woodcraft web site. I used the knife as a template and marked the handles for cutting.. I drilled one hole and placed a brass pin thru the hole before drilling the next hole.

After the holes were drilled, I checked alignment and cut the handles out on the bandsaw. I cut on the out sides of the lines. So the handles were a bit over size. I then shaped and sanded the part of the handle near the knife which was not mounted to the blade. This was done so the finish on the knife blade will not be damaged. After this I used one hour epoxy to glue the handles to the knife blade. I then inserted the brass pins with epoxy also. The brass pins had to be cut shorter to fit the handle and knife. I clamped handles and blade together with several clamps and wiped away the excess glue. I let it dry over night. Once it was dry, I removed the clamps and finished shaping the handle to match the knife outline. Once I had this shaped and sanded ending with 600 grit sand paper. I applied a wax finish. Buffed and finished the project. Please visit my we site http://nokeswoodworking.com/ For more on knives or other woodworking information.

The project turned out great. Now I will have to build another since I have two sons. This will make a great keepsake gift for them. You can visit Woodcraft by clicking on the link at the right column. The knife scales (wood for handles) are purchased separate from the kit.

Tung Oil an oil based wood finish

Tung Oil or china wood oil as it is sometimes called is an oil based wood finish. Tung Oil is made from the pressed seed of the nut from a tung tree.
Most tung oil products sold at retail are not pure tung oil. They may have tung oil as the major ingredient but have other additives such as varnish.
Pure tung oil can be bought at places like Woodcraft or Rockler.
Pure tung oil is non toxic and has been approved by the FDA for food contact. Pure tung oil is water resistant, will not darken with age. It penetrates well. The down side it is it dries slowly and takes 3-6 coats to give good protection.
The the surface should be dust free. Any filling, sealing or staining should be done prior to oil application. Apply a liberal amount of oil, wait 20 minutes for it to soak in and then wipe off exceed. Check back in an hour to make sure there is no draining and if there is wipe again. Allow to dry for 24-48 hours. Use fine steel wool between coat and apply 3-6 coats.
http://nokeswoodworks.com