# You will fall off your chair, I promise.



## CharlesH (Mar 2, 2011)

Hey guys,

So I have little time these days and I decided to make a nice gift to my mother.

As some of you probably know afzelia burl is my favorite wood. Nothing come close to what you see under, colors are just insane along with the figure.

That being said, I had countless fights with that wood. For those of you think I tend to always succeed, it is not the case. I went through many blanks without success.

That afzelia is not stabilized, soft as pine, it's got voids everywhere, in fact, this pen took me nearly 7 hours to turn and finish but I won.

I am satisfied, finally.

Clicky the thumbnails and watch out not fall off your chair, that wood is INSANELY GORGEOUS.

Thanks for looking,

Charles


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## MarkD (Mar 2, 2011)

Wow! That's awesome. Great job!


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## OKLAHOMAN (Mar 2, 2011)

Didn't fall off my chair but my jaw hurts like hell after hitting the floor!


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## mbroberg (Mar 2, 2011)

WOW!  That indeed is some beautiful wood, beautifully finished and an absolutly fantastic looking pen.


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## markgum (Mar 2, 2011)

WOW!!  Gorgeous is an understatement.


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## areaman (Mar 2, 2011)

beautiful wood and as always your finishes are awsome!


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## Edward Cypher (Mar 2, 2011)

Finish is gorgeous.  The wood is so highly figured it is perfect.  Nice job.


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## RichF (Mar 3, 2011)

Absolutely beautiful.  You mother is very lucky.


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## Buzzzz4 (Mar 3, 2011)

I can't believe that's wood! Beautiful!


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## dl351 (Mar 3, 2011)

Wow!  That wood looks amazing!  So where do we order the blanks?!


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## drgoretex (Mar 3, 2011)

Hm.  It's OK.

Hah!  Can't keep a straight face:biggrin:  That is amazing!  That wood is so ultra figured, you could spend a day just looking at it's intricacies!

Very, very nice!

Looks like CA finish....?

Ken


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## Mac (Mar 3, 2011)

Very Very good job. I am glad I can't take that good of a picture of mine.


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## Phunky_2003 (Mar 3, 2011)

Absooootively stunning!!


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## garrettdave (Mar 3, 2011)

Very nice!  You did not disappoint us!

Dave


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## ctubbs (Mar 3, 2011)

That wonderful timber is worth every second you had to use to reach that close to perfection.  Congratulations on a fabulous pen. Your Mother will be so proud.
Charles


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## mrburls (Mar 3, 2011)

That kind of burl should be illegal for pens. Unless we all can get burl like that  

Great job Charles, looks super :good::good: 

Keith "mrburls"


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## workinforwood (Mar 3, 2011)

Awesome pen Charles!


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## LarryDNJR (Mar 3, 2011)

There is this smooth bright shiny spot on your finish. 

Hehe looks great!  Nice job on the pen!

Anyone see the "face" in the 3rd picture on the cap?   Near the bottom of the picture, turn your head to the right.


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## minus459 (Mar 3, 2011)

Yeah not bad, but I've got this really nice bic biro...........

BS

That is quite simply awesome, I'll show you one of mine in a hundred years.:wink:


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## PenPal (Mar 3, 2011)

Mothers are worth every minute or in this case several hours spent on her pen.

Let us know her reception of it in her words.

Top pen cannot get any higher praise than that.

Kind regards Peter.


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## MartinPens (Mar 3, 2011)

A-MA-ZING!

With wood like that I would definitely stabilize it so there was less chance of loss.  I think we are all wanting to know where that wood came from.

Martin

Sent from my iPad using Forum Runner


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## jttheclockman (Mar 3, 2011)

You did very well with that timber. It was well worth the effort you put forth. Thanks for showing.


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## jaywood1207 (Mar 3, 2011)

Amazing colour and grain.  That was well worth the 7 hours with a result like that.


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## rkimery (Mar 3, 2011)

Yes, you've won!  *NOW* your Mom has won!


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## lazylathe (Mar 3, 2011)

Sucking up to your mom with a pen like that!!!
Shameful!!!!
:biggrin: :worship::bananen_smilies046:

Another beauty with an amazing bit of timber and glass finish!!

Andrew


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## snyiper (Mar 3, 2011)

That wood turned out awesome!! Your Mom will be proud to sport that pen around!!!!


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## Glenn McCullough (Mar 3, 2011)

Awesome wood and pen.


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## G1Pens (Mar 3, 2011)

It's hard to type from the floor.....but that is beautiful !!


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## RichB (Mar 3, 2011)

That is OUTSTANDING.  I like it when a project works.


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## cnirenberg (Mar 3, 2011)

Charles,
Beautiful looking pen.


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## wood128 (Mar 3, 2011)

Charles, very beautiful pen and it took your best effort to produce it . Congratulations !! Well done. Can't wait to see what you do with the segmented blank I am about to send to you. Take care.
Joe


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## thewishman (Mar 3, 2011)

That *was* worth the time and trouble. 

:clown: Do you have a bigger picture? :clown:

For a pen to look so good at that high magnification - that *is* amazing.


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## crabcreekind (Mar 3, 2011)

i fell off


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## Whaler (Mar 3, 2011)

Awesome, outstanding, beautiful and I just ran out of words.


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## greggas (Mar 3, 2011)

Charles, gorgeous as always.

My question is how do you get suck large, high res photos to fit the size  constraints of this site?


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## creativewriting (Mar 3, 2011)

Unbelievable!  The natural colors and patterns in that wood are amazing.

Great Job!!!


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## Larry in Harrow (Mar 3, 2011)

*YUP!*

Beautiful chunk of wood you got there Charles.  Well done!


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## airrat (Mar 3, 2011)

Great pen and pictures.


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## Russell Eaton (Mar 3, 2011)

Nice PEN PORNO!!!


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## CharlesH (Mar 3, 2011)

Wow!!! Thanks for the comments... I might post another one soon! :biggrin:

Charles


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## Rick_G (Mar 3, 2011)

Didn't fall off my chair either but that is one gorgeous pen.


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## OLDMAN5050 (Mar 3, 2011)

super good job, blank is awsome


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## Spats139 (Mar 3, 2011)

Just to add to what others have already said... awsome! I don't think anyone else on this site posts pen photos where the finishes consistently show as much depth and brilliance as yours. Always a pleasure to view.


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## Curly (Mar 3, 2011)

Beautiful pen. You need to attach a lanyard to it so your mother in law won't forget it some place.

Pete


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## Katsin (Mar 3, 2011)

Amazing pen!


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## YORKGUM (Mar 3, 2011)

Nice job. Totally beautiful and a keeper.


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## 1dweeb (Mar 3, 2011)

7 hours for your mother is a great effort. I am sure she will love it. I think it is fantastic!


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## kinggabby (Mar 3, 2011)

Glad I was strapped in bed or I might have fallen to the floor . Really nice wood and nice kit to pair up with it. it is truly awescome. Thank you for sharing. Mommy is lucky.


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## CharlesH (Mar 3, 2011)

Greg,

They are hosted on my site. 

Charles



greggas said:


> Charles, gorgeous as always.
> 
> My question is how do you get suck large, high res photos to fit the size  constraints of this site?


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## CharlesH (Mar 3, 2011)

Looking forward to it!

Charles



wood128 said:


> Charles, very beautiful pen and it took your best effort to produce it . Congratulations !! Well done. Can't wait to see what you do with the segmented blank I am about to send to you. Take care.
> Joe


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## keithkarl2007 (Mar 3, 2011)

Wow that is a killer piece of wood. Your mother will be the envy of many.


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## Laurenr (Mar 5, 2011)

I love everything about it! Great wood, excellent finish, ...way to go!


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## MartinPens (Mar 5, 2011)

I have a serious case of wood envy.

It really makes the pen pop when you mask the photo and make everything else blury and grey - are you using photoshop?  Very interesting. 
I looked through the thread - I didn't see any story about how you came about this wood. Did I miss it or are you just holding out. If I missed it I'm going to feel like an idiot.
Thanks for the pics.
Martin


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## wizard (Mar 5, 2011)

It would be an understatement to say that is a gorgeous piece of wood. Truly out of this world! And you made a stunning pen from it with a finish and photos to match. Thanks for showing! Regards, Doc


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## RHossack (Mar 5, 2011)

Outstanding!

I've never turned that type of wood nor have I ever seen any ... *BUT* I've been using google for a while trying to locate some that looks half as good as that.


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## Jgrden (Mar 5, 2011)

Add $175.00 to the cost of developing the instrument just to cover the labor.


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## CharlesH (Mar 5, 2011)

Hey Martin,

I use Photoshop, basically I select the pen, refine the edge, do a inverse selection and remove the saturation of the background then I go with a gaussian blur, best way to make a nice photo when you have a 200$ bucks camera without a tripod. 

Regarding the afzelia burl... not many blanks have the awesome coloring, the black and yellow coloring occurs on the edge of the burl. I also believe it is related with mineral staining but don't quote me on this. 

Afzelia is by far my favorite wood and during my short wood working experience I seen a few passing by. Lately I have been lucky and I bought some afzelia from this guy on eBay: http://myworld.ebay.com/exotic-wood-n-burls. He has some nice afzelia.

The secret in finding awesome wood pieces is to ask, ask sellers. Many have awesome stock they don't list but if you ask and you share the passion regarding woodworking they will most likely pull out the private stash pieces. 

I currently have one slab which I am not cutting for any mean, look if you dare:









And I do have another one coming which I won't state where it's from!!! 

Hope that helps and if I have some blanks I will surely contact you,

Charles



MartinPens said:


> I have a serious case of wood envy.
> 
> It really makes the pen pop when you mask the photo and make everything else blury and grey - are you using photoshop?  Very interesting.
> I looked through the thread - I didn't see any story about how you came about this wood. Did I miss it or are you just holding out. If I missed it I'm going to feel like an idiot.
> ...


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## MartinPens (Mar 5, 2011)

CharlesH said:
			
		

> Hey Martin,
> 
> I use Photoshop, basically I select the pen, refine the edge, do a inverse selection and remove the saturation of the background then I go with a gaussian blur, best way to make a nice photo when you have a 200$ bucks camera without a tripod.



I have two degrees which currently do not earn me any money - music & graphic design technology. They both cost a lot of money, but they definitely enrich my life. I've also worked as a photographer. So I enjoyed your photo technique and was pretty on the dot in thinking how you went about it.  I came in second place in the 7th Anniversary logo runoff. It was almost my design plastered on the mugs!  But I sure do love the mugs and the design that won. Anyhow, enough of my narcissistic babbling.  I'll be keeping my eye out for some of that Afzelia.

Martin

Sent from my iPad using Forum Runner


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## CharlesH (Mar 5, 2011)

Creativity solves problems and create value.

From a business point of view I cannot find anything more important! So that money was well invested my friend. 

From your trained eye, you probably saw I just make simple photography and my perspective is to concentrate on what is important, the beauty of the wood.

This is why I usually concentrate on single tube pens. Going simple but doing it well. It is really easy to make a beautiful pen when you have such rare wood.

On the other end if you take a more common wood and your able to make it look like an expansive cigar by using clever modification and showing your work with nice photography, this has more value to me! 

Good luck with the afzelia hunting and if I see some I'll PM you. 

Charles



			
				MartinPens said:
			
		

> I have two degrees which currently do not earn me any money - music & graphic design technology. They both cost a lot of money, but they definitely enrich my life. I've also worked as a photographer. So I enjoyed your photo technique and was pretty on the dot in thinking how you went about it.  I came in second place in the 7th Anniversary logo runoff. It was almost my design plastered on the mugs!  But I sure do love the mugs and the design that won. Anyhow, enough of my narcissistic babbling.  I'll be keeping my eye out for some of that Afzelia.
> 
> Martin
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Forum Runner



Sent from my iTouch.


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## Kaspar (Mar 6, 2011)

That is an amazing piece of wood.  At first, I thought it must be dyed.  Just incredible.  Afzelia is a favorite of mine too.

Stunning job on finish, and the choice of kit makes it complete.  When nothing else will do, the Statesman Jr. will never let you down.


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## nava1uni (Mar 6, 2011)

Stunning pen.


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