# Palm Root Resifill



## mark james (Jan 1, 2016)

I finally have started something I have been wanting to do for a long, long time.  Make a few pens from blanks from "friends"...  for myself!

I have had some blanks from George (Robutacion) for several years, and wanted to wait until my skills got better, and my time available got better.

So, drilled.  Flooded the tube with thin CA to stabilize the inside.  Painted the tube dark green.  Waited 24 hrs, redrilled, and glued in the tube.  Waited 24 hrs.  Sanded the ends on the lathe with R Herrell's jig.  Put some CA on the cleaned ends.  Waited 24 hrs.  Turned and was applying CA every 7-8 passes "just because".  

I rarely use a CA finish for any of my pens, but based on what I had read, it seemed appropriate here.  So, 8 coats of thin, waited 24 hrs.  Then final sanding, 320-600 dry, 800-12000 wet.  Polished and waxed.  For me...  I am happy!  Now I have a nice carry pen to think of all things Aussie!!!

Cheers Mate!

Thanks George.  

The code on the blank was #31, so I believe a Palm Root Resifill

NOTE:  White specks...  my camera lens LOL!


View in Gallery


View in Gallery


----------



## Terredax (Jan 1, 2016)

I have some blanks coming from George.
I hope I can do as well as you did with them.


----------



## Dalecamino (Jan 1, 2016)

That's a cool looking blank. Nice work making a pen with it.:wink:


----------



## Cwalker935 (Jan 1, 2016)

Great job Mark.


----------



## robutacion (Jan 1, 2016)

I haven't seen of of those finished for some time and yours is a beauty...!

You certainly took no risks with the material, those extra couple of steps and a few extra minutes of work, make all the difference.

Some time ago, blanks made with that material were a great seller and talk in here but, as anything else, I started to sell those blanks priced with a much more realistic price to represent the amount of work these blanks are to make, since then, they have rarely sold or sold more spreadly that did please me because, I was using the rare material to find and work with, fast and I wanted it to last.

I endup using the last piece I had untouched to make some e-cig mod blanks to someone in Turkey that saw the pen blanks and was willing to pay a good price so, I accept the offer and made 48 blanks with that block I had left however, I had plenty of pen blanks made and still had a box of stabilised pieces that I didn't cast the last time I cast the pen blanks.  Some off-cuts of the e-cig blanks did also allow me to stabilise and size to pen blanks to cast at later time.

I haven't been able to find any other Palm tree of the requested species that I could cut and dig for the root ball, most Palm trees don't produce an usable root system so, while I have had no more of it, the Turkish blanks were processed and finished and all of a certain, everyone from all over the world saw them and what to buy some, something they don't like to hear when I say, I used the last piece...!

They ask, can't you buy more of it...??? this is not something you can buy, nor quality and very mature Palm trees are removed often, and most are cut near the ground to prevent digging a big hole to remove the root, most of these trees are planted very close to buildings, swimming pools, etc. therefore, the difficulty to source the material.

I may, or may not get another root, I have a few requests with some of the tree working companies around the area where, I requested if they would save the root for me at a set price i offered but, I never got a call yet and even if I find a Palm tree that it has to go and the root has to be removed, I won't the able to do it anymore so, I would have to pay for someone else to do it for me and is not easier to find a silly bugger that is willing to put their chainsaws on the dirt, to cut what is needed, and I don't really blame them, any money made on the job would probably not cover the costs of replace chains and other stuff, required.

I may get lucky but, I have great reservations, will see...!

I'm glad to know, you have now a personal pen made with one of the blanks from my stables, congrats...!

Cheers
George


----------



## Edgar (Jan 1, 2016)

Really looks nice, Mark.
I have some nice, special blanks from George also that I've been holding off on until my skills improved enough to do them justice. I plan to try a couple of them soon.


----------



## mark james (Jan 1, 2016)

robutacion said:


> I haven't seen of of those finished for some time and yours is a beauty...!
> 
> You certainly took no risks with the material, those extra couple of steps and a few extra minutes of work, make all the difference.
> 
> ...



Cheers George.  Thank you for filling in the holes in the story!  This pen will not be sold...  so having the rest of the story is very nice!

I have quite a few more from you, so hopefully they will appear on IAP!  Be well my friend, say Hi to Merissa...

Mark


----------



## mark james (Jan 1, 2016)

edohmann said:


> Really looks nice, Mark.
> I have some nice, special blanks from George also that I've been holding off on until my skills improved enough to do them justice. I plan to try a couple of them soon.



Hi Edgar!  I was very hesitant to turn this as it is a "one-off."  But, with the steps I took and some care, it went well.  

The most challenging issue was the CA finish (which I did feel was needed) but it is one that I do very rarely, and have not spent the time to learn adequately.  What I did was very simple and basic, but worked OK.  I had no issues with getting the blank off of the bushings, etc...  and the wet finish/polish went fine.

I am proud to have this pen in my personal collection!  George... Thank You!


----------



## Edgar (Jan 1, 2016)

mark james said:


> edohmann said:
> 
> 
> > Really looks nice, Mark.
> ...



I know what you mean - a couple of mine are "one-offs" also & I really don't want to mess them up. The misery that darn George puts us through. :wink:


----------



## Sprung (Jan 2, 2016)

Mark, that turned out great - and was definitely worth the extra work. If I had made that pen, it would be going in my personal collection too.


----------



## thewishman (Jan 2, 2016)

The result is worthy of the work you did. That is a real beauty!


----------



## jeff (Jan 4, 2016)

Mark - that's a good looker for the front page! :biggrin:


----------



## Charlie_W (Jan 4, 2016)

Mark, Congrats on the front page!  It is well deserved!


----------



## Indiana_Parrothead (Jan 4, 2016)

Very nice pen Mark, congrats on the front page!!

Mike


----------



## mark james (Jan 4, 2016)

Thanks Jeff and others for the kudos...

I'll give George (Robutacion) all the credit!  All I did was turn it round.  It is an interesting blank.  Dark, to normal light, but very vibrant under bright light.  As I stated, I typically do not use a CA finish, but here it was appropriate and worked well.  Thanks for the appeal!


----------



## Dalecamino (Jan 4, 2016)

Congratulations! Well deserved by both of you!


----------



## ladycop322 (Jan 4, 2016)

It's beautiful Mark!


----------



## robutacion (Jan 4, 2016)

Hi Mark,

Congrats on the first page, well done mate...!

As for credits, I reckon, a good blank can only look good if done right so, I may have done the first 50%, you done the other 50%...!

Cheers
George


----------



## Sandsini (Jan 5, 2016)

robutacion said:


> I haven't seen of of those finished for some time and yours is a beauty...!
> 
> You certainly took no risks with the material, those extra couple of steps and a few extra minutes of work, make all the difference.
> 
> ...



George,
Here's one of three pens I made from your beautiful palm root resifill. They created quite a stir at my Christmas open house/ pen show. Thank you for the back story on the material. I'm going to pass the info along to the purchasers.

Cheers,
Eric


----------



## robutacion (Jan 5, 2016)

Sandsini said:


> robutacion said:
> 
> 
> > I haven't seen of of those finished for some time and yours is a beauty...!
> ...



Eric and James,

There has been a back story about the Palm root material/blanks written years ago, in fact, I have a few threads about the Palm root, it all was most interesting and once again, and after much work and frustration, I found a way to "tame" this beast, and made it possible to create blanks from it, have a look in here, 

http://www.penturners.org/forum/f43/palm-tree-root-casted-google-page-ranking-resin-92526/

Thanks for the kind words.

Cheers
George


----------



## Cwalker935 (Jan 5, 2016)

Well done! Certainly deserving of the front page.  Now get busy on one for the IAP collection.


----------



## SteveG (Jan 5, 2016)

Great way to show a beautiful blank...on Zen! Nice to get the treasured Front Page too! Congrats!


----------



## Turned Around (Jan 5, 2016)

wow, I like that


----------



## Hawkdave (Jan 6, 2016)

Mark, that is one incredible looking pen. You have certainly done Georges blank a credit, well done!!

Congratulations also on getting your pen on the front page.

For all of you that hold George in high regard, it is well founded. I have had the good fortune of spending a few hours with George and came away full of information and some beautiful blanks to turn.
Good onya George.

Dave.


----------



## mark james (Jan 6, 2016)

Thank you to everyone for all the kind comments.  Every now and then the sun and moon and skew get aligned!

Cody:  I've seen those pens every now and then :wink:.  Some amazing artistry represented.  But for me the honor is to display them and get the collection in a nice slow growth pattern.


----------



## doctordan (Jan 6, 2016)

Sweet!!  That is a beauty!!!!!


----------



## wob50 (Jan 8, 2016)

She is a beauty.......


----------



## Krash (Jan 8, 2016)

Great Job Mark!

I love George's blanks and the palm root is near the top! The colors are amazing!!

Here is my palm root pen.


----------



## mark james (Jan 8, 2016)

Krash said:


> Great Job Mark!
> 
> I love George's blanks and the palm root is near the top! The colors are amazing!!
> 
> Here is my palm root pen.



Hi Kelly:

Beautiful pen and you segmented it also!  Nice!!!  I've looked at that segmenting, and will get to it someday.  I remember seeing the pics of it.

And I can tell from your pic that your blank is very similar to mine - AND, that the pics simply cannot do it justice unless under bright light.  My Zen looks very muted inside in the AM's, but under bright sunlight it's like a bulb went off.  Very interesting blank.  I enjoyed rereading George's thread of the tree and the background; makes the pen even more personal with the story.

I'm just happy I got it turned in acceptable fashion.  Now onto a few other special blanks.

Hey Kelly...  Need to see some new stuff from you!


----------

