# Cube-its



## workinforwood (Feb 4, 2009)

I could be wrong, but I think I'm not the only person that thought the article contest was to write a new one :biggrin:.  For those that did not notice, we now have 5 new articles for 2009 in the library.  Far as I know, none are eligible until next bash.  Anyhow..some blatant self promotion...this is what my article is about...how to make  Cube-its!  It's spectacular, it's very busy and you want to look away and yet it's difficult to do so.


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## OKLAHOMAN (Feb 4, 2009)

Jeff, now that's ......................I'm trying to find the word .........................................................can't


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## davinci27 (Feb 4, 2009)

do you sleep?

How many times can I say WOW.


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## ldb2000 (Feb 4, 2009)

Totally Cubeular man eace::biggrin:


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## MuddyWater (Feb 4, 2009)

Really nice pen, but is it only me?  Where are these new articles for the library?  When I open the library I do not see anything for 2009.


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## jkeithrussell (Feb 4, 2009)

Good grief.


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## GoodTurns (Feb 4, 2009)

next time my wife complains about me saving scraps...she gets to see this picture!  excellent execution!


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## workinforwood (Feb 4, 2009)

These are the new articles.  I'm sure everyone here put a lot of hard work into each article for your reading and learning pleasure. http://www.penturners.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=109


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## mywoodshopca (Feb 4, 2009)

Dang! thats nice!


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## wdcav1952 (Feb 4, 2009)

Great work Mr. Rubik!!!!!


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## GaryMGg (Feb 4, 2009)

Sweet! Sweet! Sweet!


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## leehljp (Feb 4, 2009)

Great pen and design Jeff. I like Cav's comment of "Rubik". :biggrin:

It is great to see several articles being posted, as it shares information and promotes idea expansion. Mine (_Getting Started_) was written before I knew there would be a "best" article, but the purpose was the same. It was instigated by a person on a woodworking forum that had a basic woodworking shop and she wanted to know what to do to get started in pen turning. The article just came out of that.


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## gketell (Feb 4, 2009)

That is truly amazing!
GK


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## papaturner (Feb 4, 2009)

Outta sight! Excellent craftsmanship as usual.:biggrin:


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## Rmartin (Feb 4, 2009)

Very nice and disturbing at the same time.

Thanks for the PDF.

Sharing is nice.


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## Glass Scratcher (Feb 4, 2009)

Absolutely fantastic!

How many cubes does it take to make a pen?


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## Mather323 (Feb 4, 2009)

Wow


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## Jim15 (Feb 4, 2009)

Outstanding work.


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## JohnU (Feb 5, 2009)

Ive done some segmenting but talk about taking it to the next level. Or should I say the highest level.  The shape and blank really complement each other.   I LOVE IT!   thanks for sharing.


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## Ligget (Feb 5, 2009)

WOW! Now that is what you call segmenting. Great work on the recessed clip and shape at the closed end too!


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## nava1uni (Feb 5, 2009)

WOW! WOW! WOW!WOW! WOW! WOW!WOW! WOW! WOW!WOW! WOW! WOW!WOW! WOW! WOW!WOW! WOW! WOW!WOW! WOW! WOW!WOW! WOW! WOW!WOW! WOW! WOW!WOW! WOW! WOW!WOW! WOW! WOW!WOW! WOW! WOW!WOW! WOW! WOW!WOW! WOW! WOW!WOW! WOW! WOW!WOW! WOW! WOW!WOW! WOW! WOW!WOW! WOW! WOW!WOW! WOW! WOW!WOW! WOW! WOW! Nothing more to be said.


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## workinforwood (Feb 5, 2009)

Glass Scratcher said:


> Absolutely fantastic!
> 
> How many cubes does it take to make a pen?



I do not know how many cubes are in a pen, or  how to calcluate that.  There is a difference as to how many cubes in a pen blank as compared to how many are in a pen because cubes are spun off and drilled away.  What I do know is that I started with 15 different woods ripped in half giving me 30 boards. Some boards 4 foot long, some boards 18" long.  Bottom line is that it requires a lot of lumber to make a pen.  If you want a 6" x 1" pen blank, you would need to start with approximately 18" long and 5" wide worth of lumber because of how many times you cut the wood in half and lose the saw kerf.  My final block of wood was enough to make 1 full box, 2 strips to use as a stripe in a lid of a box, and about 5 pen blanks.  The final block of wood contained just over 1000 1/8" cubes.


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## talbot (Feb 5, 2009)

Great set Jeff and thanks for the detailed tutorial. 
I suspect lots of us will be giving that one a try.
regards, Bill


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## Maximil (Feb 5, 2009)

A little big for my hand I guess but this wood is beautiful !


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## jackrichington (Feb 5, 2009)

WOW


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## furini (Feb 5, 2009)

That's a lovely pen - off to read the article!

Stewart


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## tim self (Feb 5, 2009)

Awesome work.  Hats off for such a fine job!


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## cinder_ladylocket (Feb 5, 2009)

That pen is spectacular for sure!!! So do you have to wear glasses to glue all those little pieces together?? Arrrrgggggg    Glad someone has the time and the knowledge for its just perfect.................congrats!!!!!


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## toolcrazy (Feb 5, 2009)

OMG!!!!


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## george (Feb 6, 2009)

Oh, wow.
What a GREAT job you have done. Totaly amazed.


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## VisExp (Feb 6, 2009)

Very nice work Jeff.  Are the upper and lower barrels of the pen an octagon?


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## SherryD (Feb 6, 2009)

This really proves that some you you have entirely to much free time on your hands.  
Very nice work.  Only question I have is this CA glue or yellow glue or something else yet.  Again very nice work on both the box and the pen.


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## workinforwood (Feb 6, 2009)

VisExp said:


> Very nice work Jeff.  Are the upper and lower barrels of the pen an octagon?



Yes, both barrels are octagons milled with a router and then spun to match the kit parts.  But..that's not in the article..the article is just how to make a blank that is different and a good conversation piece.  It's an endgrain cutting board like in wood magazine, but several times smaller and stacked over and over onto itself.


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## workinforwood (Feb 6, 2009)

jdwhip96 said:


> This really proves that some you you have entirely to much free time on your hands.
> Very nice work.  Only question I have is this CA glue or yellow glue or something else yet.  Again very nice work on both the box and the pen.



All strips are regular wood glue.  Then once all your mini cuttingboards are cut, I used gorilla type glue because of the end grain glue ups.  It is difficult to perfectly slice every single cutting board piece and have every single one turn out perfect. Generally it is blade deflection that is a problem..even though you have a jig built, if the blade decides to go right while cutting, then it goes right.  Tough gluing all those "cutting boards" together too and having them line up perfect.  It's easy to keep the strips all perfect, it the final couple steps that are the toughest.  I had a few pieces go astray, but if you can keep most squares really close and have a couple that are off...normal people don't notice it.  We often forget about the general public's view compared to our own. They can go forever and never notice, but as the creator, you notice if there's a pin hole in the finish under the clip and it drives you mad.


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## BKind2Anmls (Feb 7, 2009)

Wonderful work.  I can't wait to give it a try.  I'm thinking about adding a slice of veneer between each "cutting board."  I think this might have an added advantage of disguising lines that do not exactly line up.

---Susan


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