Monday, January 6, 2014

New Islanders - exotic Afzelia Burl wood and hand polishing

As I continue to explore new ways and materials for my pens, I am also experimenting with various techniques. The Islander pen design goes through this journey along with me. For the next set of pens, I made a few changes to the original process:

  1. The pens were hand polished at the end while maintaining their shiny quote of CA glue. This was different from the early Islanders there the CA was completely stripped off and then a coat of walnut oil was applied. This new technique is better suited for highly figured wood where the grain can enhance the beauty of the pen dramatically.
  2. There is a chrome band between the barrel and the the cap. This enables smoother transition from the section onto the barrel threads and then onto the barrel itself.
  3. The end cap is slightly larger than the original. This again is useful where more wood needs to show.

Here are a few pictures of the Islanders using this new process: