Harlequin with accents production

Here are some images of the process of making a harlequin teak and maple pen with aluminum accents surrounding each piece of wood.

Teak and maple blanks have already been cut and inlaid with aluminum a few times. Here pairs of fused wood pieces get inlaid and fused again to make the pen sections. The black marker lines help me keep the grain aligned.

The blanks are sized for their brass tubes ...

... and then trimmed into rectangles.

I actually pour acrylic resin on the blanks for added strength. The upcoming drill process can be stressful and cause the blank to explode, ruining all the work and forcing me to start over. The resin shores up the weak joints to help it stay together.

Drilling on the lathe helps me find the true center of the blank.

Tubes inserted and blanks trimmed, they now go on the lathe for cutting, sanding, polishing and waxing.

Finished blanks lain out with their parts for assembly.

And here's the finished pen!

 

Brush handle, part 2

Kevin was good enough to mail his premium badger hair brush to me so I could cut the required hole to size.

Fresh from the pressure pot, the blank was screwed to a plate and mounted on the lathe.

Cutting away the paper mold.

Not pictured is cutting out the hole for the brush. Here the blank has been turned down to round.

After shaping, the blank is sanded up to 800 grit.

Polish and wax application.

Removing the blank from the turning plate.

Cutting away the base.

Shaping and polishing the cut end took place by hand. Here's the finished brush!

Brush handle Part 1

Kevin ordered a custom-made shaving soap brush in brown acrylic with acorn tops. 

 Here parts A and B warm up in hot water to make the viscous resin thinner, helping any air trapped within to rise. In the right cup, you can see the liquid colorant at the bottom and powdered colorant floating on top. It looks like a tiny amount, but both colorants are quite concentrated. 

The resin is a 1:1 ratio. After pouring A into B, they get thoroughly mixed.

The mixed resin in poured into its prepared mold. The mold is made from card stock paper rolled into a tube just larger than the desired width. In the mold, you can see the acorn tops, carefully placed upside down to help keep them from trapping air.

Finally, the mold with resin goes into a pressure pot for several hours. The high air pressure helps reduce any air trapped in the resin to shrink to invisibility.

Check, check, check 1-2,

 Been doing a lot of harlequin pens, too.