Spalted sycamore pen blanks - question & proposal...

[PC-Urban-Sawyer]

When Woodbowl finished milling my cypress and sycamore and drove off into the noon sun, one of the things he left behind was a small pile of slabs from both types of logs. I got rid of most of the cypress slabs. I started picking up the sycamore and kept seeing the nice spalting that was present in many of the slabs. I couldn't bring myself to just throw out all that beauty without trying to salvage a bit of it from the dumpster...

So I saved the slabs that weren't completely falling apart and stacked them up off the ground and with a bit of space for air flow around them. In the last week I've played around a bit seeing what I can get out of these chunks and irregular "board"...

One of the things I've done is rip a little bit of it into pen blanks. I've made them 3/4" square by 6" long.

Now I've got a question for all you pen turners: Should I "dry" these blanks before they can be used? Some are very dry and some are in the 15 - 20 Percent moisture range.

Here's photos of a couple of batches of these blanks:





Now here's the proposal. If you'd like a few of these blanks, I'll send you a baker's dozen (13) at no monetary charge. You can have the twelve if you'll make me a pen from the 13th.

If you're interested, send me a PM with a mailing address.

Herb

ps I want one pen to use as a gift for someone. If I get more than one then the second one will be donated to the Forum as an auction item.

[WDH]

I am looking forward to bidding on a pen  ;D.

[Radar67]

You do not have to dry the blanks any further, the turning process will generate enough heat to finish drying.

[PC-Urban-Sawyer]

Radar,

Good, that's what I hoped.

Thanks.

Herb

[metalspinner]

Plus, by the time you packege those up and they are recieved then turned, the would have dried pretty good.   Those are beautiful pen blanks and a nice offer you are making.  You will make someone very happy.

[PC-Urban-Sawyer]

Metalspinner,

That's what I hoped.

Thanks, all I did was cut them. The real artist shows His hand in the beauty He creates and it's there for us to find if we will just look.

I've already got one volunteer, still looking for more.

Herb

[low_48]

I would say that they definitely need to be dried. Some of the pen kits will only leave about 1/16" of wood around a brass tube. If the wood is wet, it will crack when they shrink around the tube. They'll dry really fast in the attic, or microwave a few if you are in a hurry. One minute shots in the microwave, let the blanks cool, then repeat till the blanks stop loosing weight. Heck, I've dried some by leaving them on the dash of the van when I'm at work. It makes a great solar kiln. I used to laugh about having a school bus loaded with wood and leave it out in the parking lot at the mall all day in the summer. If I would park it at work, I could move it at noon for better solar gain!!!! Sorry, I've got way too many blanks in the shop now.

[Don K]

Those are some good looking blanks Herb. Makes a person groan to think of all the useful wood that is thrown away into a burn pile. :'( You did good on that salvage job.

Don

[PC-Urban-Sawyer]

Thanks Don. Of couirse not every slab off every log couild be used this way, but much could. They wont make any good sized boards or the sawyer would have already cut them. And it can be labor intensive and might not pay off if you were trying to sell them. But I've still got a lot of slabs and after that there'll be scrap cutoff from the other lumber as I use it to build things, so I think there'll be pen blanks available for quite a while.

Herb

[metalspinner]

PC,
The coolest thing about what you are doing is that every bit of potential is being used for the beautiful stock.  Not only that, but if you decide to sell some of it, you can recoup some of the sawing costs. ;)

Don't pigeon hole yourself to just pen blanks, though.  If you have a few thicker pieces in the 1 1/4" - 1 1/2" range, those are useful to turners and knife makers, too.

[zopi]

PEG 'em...

[PC-Urban-Sawyer]

PEG 'em...

Zopi,

I'll leave that decision up to the turners...

Herb

[zopi]

I'd love to have some, but I won't have time to turn them in the foreseeable future...besides, I've got a couple dozen bdft of spalted holly to play with..

[PC-Urban-Sawyer]

I'd love to have some, but I won't have time to turn them in the foreseeable future...besides, I've got a couple dozen bdft of spalted holly to play with..

Zopi,

Send me your mail address in a PM. I'm in no rush to get a pen from you but would be glad to send you the blanks and when it gets done will be soon enough.

After all, us members of the Chief's community got to stick together...

Herb

[D Hagens]

Nice looking blanks, looks like some of the maple we have up here. Be interesting to see how these turn out.
I make a lot of pens out of jade and deer antlers, even made a few out of animal hoofs.
Been making a few out of a wood called Zebra wood, a guy in Africa sends it to me.
I woud be interested in your offer if it doesn't break the bank to ship them across the line.

[PC-Urban-Sawyer]

Nice looking blanks, looks like some of the maple we have up here. Be interesting to see how these turn out.
I make a lot of pens out of jade and deer antlers, even made a few out of animal hoofs.
Been making a few out of a wood called Zebra wood, a guy in Africa sends it to me.
I woud be interested in your offer if it doesn't break the bank to ship them across the line.

D Hagen,

Send me your mail address in a PM and I'll check out the maililng costs and if it's not too bad will send you a batch.

Herb

[D Hagens]

Mail is on your way

[CHARLIE]

Herb, received the pen blanks in good shape today. You sure did a fine job wrapping them.  Now, I'll pick out the best looking blank and make a pen for you. 8) That is some pretty spalted Sycamore.

[PC-Urban-Sawyer]

Charlie,

Glad to hear you got them ok. I think it's pretty good looking stuff myself.

Any of them will do, you don't have send me back the "pick of the litter" so to speak. More like "mill run" will suffice. I look forward to seeing what you do with them.

Herb

[shinnlinger]

My high school woodshop kids just started making pens and I have them give me completed pens (they make 2, give me 1) instead of paying for the pen kits.  I haven't sold any yet, but I have a decent and growing collection which I will need to advertise soon.

ANywho, I could have the kids make you up some pens if you want to send some up here, I think the kids would get a kick out of someone random sending in wood.  I won't let on that I know and you would get some interesting pens

Mascoma High School Woodshop
27 Royal Road
Canaan NH 03741

[PC-Urban-Sawyer]

Shinnslinger,

How many kids in your classes?

I think that's a neat idea.

Herb

[woodbowl]

That sycamore sure did turn out nice. Looks like your going to make every scrap piece count.  ;)

[shinnlinger]

Hi,

it varies semester to smeaster, but right now I have 36 students.  Thanks for your interest.

Dave

[PC-Urban-Sawyer]

Dave,

I've just mailed a package to the class. Details to you in a PM momentarily.

Hope your students enjoy.

Perhaps they might want to donate some of the pens to the Freedom Pen Project (http://www.freedompens.org/).

Herb

[shinnlinger]

THat is just awesome.  THe kids will go bananas!!!!