# Closed end, segmented,scalloped, mosaiced Rhodium Gent.



## Ruby pen turning (Dec 16, 2011)

Started this one last night late and worked on it most of the day. Great fun making these pens. It is very hard to get these pens to come together perfectly (at least for me) but I think it turned out pretty good. the pen body is Paduk with maple burl, aluminum veneer and the scallops and final are Cocobolo 15 coats CA.
ANY comments welcome good or bad.


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## WoodWorkinthe530 (Dec 16, 2011)

Wow, that looks great! The wood colors work really well together.

Chris


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## Jim15 (Dec 16, 2011)

Awesome pen. If that's just pretty good I'd love to see one that great.


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## boxerman (Dec 16, 2011)

Wow one really nice pen.


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## Scott (Dec 16, 2011)

That is beautiful!

Scott.


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## firewhatfire (Dec 16, 2011)

If you could have made the pin inserted in the middle round All three it would have looked like Mickey Mouse.  Thats the critique you will get from me.  

Other than that thanks for raising the bar.

Phil


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## SDB777 (Dec 16, 2011)

Just ordered some 'pins' yesterday, wished I had seen the big pin you used before the order.


Do you drill through the pin, or drill the hole in the blank, drill the blank for the tube and then press the pin in?






Very nice segmenting lines....I like this:good:









Scott (to get it centered....) B


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## wiset1 (Dec 16, 2011)

Brian,

You've taken these pens well beyond anything I could have done! I think you've done an amazing job with both the concept and completion of these pens. Then again, you've been doing amazing work with segmenting and scalloping for quite a long time now. I love that you've taken ownership of the concept and ran with it in your own direction. Again...well beyond my initial concept!!! Awesome

Just one question regarding materials...I know brass and aluminum are soft enough to spin off with our tools, but how about the mosaic rods with stainless steel rods...?  Also wondering how hard this is on our tools?  Time will tell


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## Ruby pen turning (Dec 16, 2011)

SDB777 said:


> Just ordered some 'pins' yesterday, wished I had seen the big pin you used before the order.
> 
> 
> Do you drill through the pin, or drill the hole in the blank, drill the blank for the tube and then press the pin in?
> ...


I drill the holes through the blank while it is still square. I only  drill half way through the blank for each pin. Then I round the blank  and put it in my collet chuck drill for the tubes, then insert the  tubes, then insert the pins.
I made these pins. Just go to the hobby store and get a few different sizes and some 30 minute epoxy.


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## Ruby pen turning (Dec 16, 2011)

wiset1 said:


> Brian,
> 
> You've taken these pens well beyond anything I could have done! I think you've done an amazing job with both the concept and completion of these pens. Then again, you've been doing amazing work with segmenting and scalloping for quite a long time now. I love that you've taken ownership of the concept and ran with it in your own direction. Again...well beyond my initial concept!!! Awesome
> 
> Just one question regarding materials...I know brass and aluminum are soft enough to spin off with our tools, but how about the mosaic rods with stainless steel rods...?  Also wondering how hard this is on our tools?  Time will tell


Tim I have seen your work and I know you could do this with a far cleaner look then what I get. 
I personally dont think we can do this with stainless. I think it is to hard and would be difficult to cut with soft wood or resin around it. I think it would be like trying to cut through a little stone embedded in there.  The aluminum bands I have on this one seamed to resist being cut.


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## maxman400 (Dec 16, 2011)

Amazing work, and a great looking Pen. Nice Photos also.


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## Robert111 (Dec 16, 2011)

Wow, that's a lot of skills in one pen--a tour de force!! I've tried just about all of those techniques, so I appreciate the craftsmanship. 

All that being said, it's a beautiful result.


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## wiset1 (Dec 16, 2011)

Ruby pen turning said:


> wiset1 said:
> 
> 
> > Brian,
> ...


 
Brian,

I think the only thing that makes my segmenting/scalloping clean is the thicker stock of aluminum.  This pretty much keeps the form unlike the thin aluminum I used in the past that would catch on the tools and tend to bend between the wood.  So..not really me, just the materials:biggrin:

I thought the same thing about the Stainless steel rods.  I see a lot of these mosaic rods on knife sites, but they have the copper, aluminum, and steel in them for the different look.  I knew Brass and aluminum would be fine, just wasn't sure if you tried the stainless.  It's what I figured so I'll stick to the brass/aluminum mix.

Love your work!!!!


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## scotian12 (Dec 16, 2011)

Beautiful craftsmanship. Wonderful use of colour. One of a kind.


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## BlackPearl (Dec 16, 2011)

wiset1 said:


> I knew Brass and aluminum would be fine, just wasn't sure if you tried the stainless.  It's what I figured so I'll stick to the brass/aluminum mix.



Has anyone tried "German Silver" rather than aluminum? It should be about as soft and look good too.

As soon as I can get a pen to come off the Lathe in only one piece I will start trying to segment and scallop I have a couple of ideas that I think would be great.....if I could only get them not to explode.


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## islandturner (Dec 16, 2011)

Hey Brian,  That's just crazy gorgous.  Man, I've gotta  try to learn to do that.  Inspriational...   Tks, Steve


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## glen r (Dec 16, 2011)

Very nice work.


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## pctechmgr (Dec 16, 2011)

Brian,   

You've inspired me to try some of my own.   After trying it myself,  I can certainly appreciate your results much more now.   What kind of aluminum, how thick was it?   I'm using the aluminum from Home Depot that is used for roof flashing.   Seems soft enough to cut.  I hesitate to use thicker stronger aluminum for fear that it won't cut with my tools.   Or catch and break into pieces.   The angle on the scallops seem to matter as well.  It's my experience that 60 degrees is more difficult to turn then 45 degrees.  Thoughts?

Did you cut the blank down to almost the final size?   Or was most of the final shaping done by sanding?   

Regards, 

Joel


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## Ruby pen turning (Dec 16, 2011)

pctechmgr said:


> Brian,
> 
> You've inspired me to try some of my own.   After trying it myself,  I can certainly appreciate your results much more now.   What kind of aluminum, how thick was it?   I'm using the aluminum from Home Depot that is used for roof flashing.   Seems soft enough to cut.  I hesitate to use thicker stronger aluminum for fear that it won't cut with my tools.   Or catch and break into pieces.   The angle on the scallops seem to matter as well.  It's my experience that 60 degrees is more difficult to turn then 45 degrees.  Thoughts?
> 
> ...



Joel. Glad you gave it a try. Didi it fall apart on you at all? 
I used on this pen aluminum that is probable thinner then flashing but not by much. As time said, he uses a thicker aluminum and does not get the tearing and warping that I have. 
I turn mine to finished and sand. Also on the ends that have the scallops on them and to keep the tools from catching and getting ripping the scallops off, I glue on a scrap piece of wood. It makes it look like it is going to be a closed end cap but it gets cut off when the barrel is to size. I use a calipers to get the size where the scrap wood is glued on.


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## Dalecamino (Dec 16, 2011)

It is a really neat design, well crafted. Thanks for sharing with us.


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## wiset1 (Dec 16, 2011)

Ruby pen turning said:


> pctechmgr said:
> 
> 
> > Brian,
> ...


 
When I wrote the Scalloping tutorial I didn't note the thickness of the aluminum I used because I figured people would use whatever they had.  When I was in Germany I bought a sheet that said 0,5mm on it, but this looks to be the same as the .025 that I bought at Lowes.  I've used as thick as 1/8th inch in my most recent pen, but that's a different story and design.  The .025 thick sheets should be more than enough and if you use a heavy wood, acrylic, or Tru-Stone the aluminum will keep shape.  Use a spalted or soft wood/material and you run the risk of a bend in the accent material.  Hope that helps:biggrin:


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## workinforwood (Dec 16, 2011)

Looks awesome, good job!!


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## Florida Marine (Dec 17, 2011)

Wow, that's just too ugly for anyone to use, I would be amenable to take it and keep it out of the public eye for you...


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## bluwolf (Dec 17, 2011)

Very nice work and I really like the color combination.

Mike


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## MartinPens (Dec 17, 2011)

Great job on the pen. That's definitely one to be proud of! I think anyone who works with paduak deserves a metal. I hate that wood.
Thaks for sharing it. I hope to get to do a scallop one of these days.


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## moke (Dec 17, 2011)

Brian, 
That pen is awesome.  Would you be willing to share where you got your inserts?
Thanks....great work


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## Ruby pen turning (Dec 17, 2011)

I make my own mosaic pins but you can buy them on ebay or many knife making sites sell them.


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## Toni (Dec 17, 2011)

Great Looking pen love it!!


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