Scrap Pen
Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 2:47 pm
As part of my hobby, I make pens for young men earning their eagle scout.
The troop I have worked with off and on has a large oak tree as their symbol, so I make the pens out of oak. I had a stock of Oak that came from a blow down, but it finally ran out. I was made aware of an upcoming eagle scout at last minute notice. (I haven't been as active in the troop as I once was.) I realized, that not only is my stock of live oak depleted, but my selection of kits is pretty much depleted as well. By depleted, I mean nothing left but scraps, and left overs from previous kits. Tubes from on kit, clip from another etc. etc. Also, being short of time, between short notice, and other projects, I really didn't have time to work up a componentless pen.
What to do
I start scrounging around my shop looking for something that should work. I have a couple of piles that I can search through "shorts, and off cuts" and true scrap, you never know when you need a decent piece of true scrap for making a lig, or shims or whatever. Any way in the scrap pile I find some oak that came off a piece of mid grade furniture Particle board with oak trim that was disposed of. I kept the oak and thew it in my scrap pile knowing I could use that in the future. (I never thought I'd use it on a pen.)
Anyways, here's is the finished product. Fat line made from Scrap Oak with a piece of walnut scrap for the center band.
Scrap board was cut on a 50 degree bias to give the grain more character (This really made the rays pop out, I was pleasantly surprised at the results). Finish is CA, Walnut center band was burned with wire to add some detail. Hardware is all left overs from a variety of slimline kits. I did this in less than hour while the finish on a cabinet I was also working on was drying.
I finished this up, applied a second coat of finish to my cabinet, cleaned up and off to his eagle court with 5 minutes to spare.
[ATTACH]17277[/ATTACH]
The troop I have worked with off and on has a large oak tree as their symbol, so I make the pens out of oak. I had a stock of Oak that came from a blow down, but it finally ran out. I was made aware of an upcoming eagle scout at last minute notice. (I haven't been as active in the troop as I once was.) I realized, that not only is my stock of live oak depleted, but my selection of kits is pretty much depleted as well. By depleted, I mean nothing left but scraps, and left overs from previous kits. Tubes from on kit, clip from another etc. etc. Also, being short of time, between short notice, and other projects, I really didn't have time to work up a componentless pen.
What to do
I start scrounging around my shop looking for something that should work. I have a couple of piles that I can search through "shorts, and off cuts" and true scrap, you never know when you need a decent piece of true scrap for making a lig, or shims or whatever. Any way in the scrap pile I find some oak that came off a piece of mid grade furniture Particle board with oak trim that was disposed of. I kept the oak and thew it in my scrap pile knowing I could use that in the future. (I never thought I'd use it on a pen.)
Anyways, here's is the finished product. Fat line made from Scrap Oak with a piece of walnut scrap for the center band.
Scrap board was cut on a 50 degree bias to give the grain more character (This really made the rays pop out, I was pleasantly surprised at the results). Finish is CA, Walnut center band was burned with wire to add some detail. Hardware is all left overs from a variety of slimline kits. I did this in less than hour while the finish on a cabinet I was also working on was drying.
I finished this up, applied a second coat of finish to my cabinet, cleaned up and off to his eagle court with 5 minutes to spare.
[ATTACH]17277[/ATTACH]
