# Antler CB



## soligen (May 17, 2010)

Not sure if this should be in "Advanced" or not, but figure everyone will see it either way.

I'm thinking about doing a center band from deer antler.  I've never turned antler, but I expect it will be harder that the surrounding wood, and I dont knwo if/what issues that may cause me.

Any tips for success?  

I plan a CA finish, which I saw from a search is the way to go for antler.   I have some black palm that I picked up on a whim becasue it looked so cool.  Dont know how it will look with antler, but I think I gotta give it a go!


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## jskeen (May 17, 2010)

I don't think the combination of the two materials will give you any more problems than the two do on their own. The palm has a tendency to yank the black fibers out of the lighter matrix if you try to turn it with a dull tool or take too big a bite.  And the antler will pick up black dust when sanding if it is not well sealed with thin ca beforehand.  I would turn as close as possible to finished with a sharp skew, then soak with ca and turn a little more, then coat one more time, and sand.  Should be a sharp looking combination.


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## ldb2000 (May 17, 2010)

1+ What James said .


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## jaeger (May 18, 2010)

soligen said:


> Not sure if this should be in "Advanced" or not, but figure everyone will see it either way.
> 
> I'm thinking about doing a center band from deer antler.  I've never turned antler, but I expect it will be harder that the surrounding wood, and I dont knwo if/what issues that may cause me.
> 
> ...



I think it would look cool especially with a rhodium plating.


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## soligen (May 18, 2010)

Wow, no kidding that stuff is hard to turn.  I went real slow, so didnt finish last night before I had to shut down when everyone went to bed.  I used CA like it was going out of style lol.

I did stumble on a technique that seems to work better.  I created a shoulder , then used the parting tool to nibble away a small amount of the shoulder ( < 1/16" at a time).  Seems to hold together better becasue the fibers being cut at the bottom of the shoulders are better supported - still will take much sanding.

I got far enough to hold the in-progress work up to the gold kit I have targeted for it - just to realize gold probably isnt the way to go.  Thanks for the Rhodium suggestion.  I'm going to stop by woodcraft tonight to see what they have. I havn't had a Rhodium kit yet.  It would look similar to a Chrome or Platinum wouldn't it?


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## jskeen (May 18, 2010)

Rhodium and platinum are actually different metals, but I believe they are used interchangeably when referring to pen kits.  But yes, it is a little whiter and less blue than chrome, but the difference is rather minimal.


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## soligen (May 19, 2010)

This pen was a real trial.

The wood was hard to turn, but the real problem is my sanding took me too small. I spent a lot of time trying to build back up with CA, but finally gave up.

First plan was a Platinum Eruo. Gave up and turned it some more for a nickle Deco. Still got a little too small, but this time I was close enough to build it back up with CA.

Got done - buffed it with white compund - and wow - my first time buffing a pen. Amazing glass like shine.  I was just tickled pink.

Only problem is that I notice defects under the finish on the lower tube - looks like cloudy areas - not sure what it is.

So I punt and save the more expensive kit - trim the barrels a bit to match the hardware size for a slimline, and put it in a chrome slimline.

So now here is the kicker - now I dont see the defects (well, if I look real hard). I could have used the nicer kit.  Is it possible that light entering the finish from the edges before assembly made them much worse?  Anyone notice something like this before?

I really like the look - its just not the pen I envisioned when I started.


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## soligen (May 19, 2010)

I was just re-examining the pen.  Looks like the "defects" may just be low spots in the finish that ended up not getting the full benefit of buffing.  I also have a small crack that looks like resulted when I pressed in the finial.

I'll try to get a pic up tomarrow.

Any feedback welcome


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## soligen (May 20, 2010)

I decided to disassemble the pen and re-finish it.  Sanded and used 2 applications of thin CA to (hopefully) fill in the crack.  Sanded again and did several coats of medium CA/BLO, sanded and buffed.

Quite the trial, but I think I learned a lot.

Result is in this thread:

http://www.penturners.org/forum/showthread.php?t=62382


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## jaeger (May 21, 2010)

Nice pen! I haven't tried palm yet but it looks nice!


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