# First Stone Ones



## Craftdiggity (Apr 15, 2010)

Hey folks.  These are my first attempts at working with stone.  I used cheaper kits so as not to waste expensive ones if I screwed em all up.  I stuck with slimline and cigar styles for these.

From left to right:

Translucent Orange Alabaster Slimline
White Translucent Alabaster Slimline
Italian Green Soapstone Slimline
African Wonderstone Soapstone Slimline
Translucent Orange Alabaster Cigar
African Wonderstone Soapstone Cigar
Italian Green Soapstone Cigar
White Translucent Alabaster Cigar
Translucent Orange Alabaster Cigar









Comments/Critiques always welcome.  Thanks for looking.

Chris


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## thewishman (Apr 16, 2010)

WOW!!! Love the green soapstone! The orange alabaster is great, too.

Very nice work!


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## scotian12 (Apr 16, 2010)

You are to be congratulated on your workmanship. These are not easy materials to work with or assemble. Beautiful looking pens.    Darrell Eisner


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## CaptG (Apr 16, 2010)

Great looking pens.  Very nice work.  I say it is time to move to the higher end kits.


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## workinforwood (Apr 16, 2010)

Nice looking set of pens Chris.


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## witz1976 (Apr 16, 2010)

Wow those are stunning!!!


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## jbostian (Apr 16, 2010)

Great group of pens!  I really like the translucent orange alabaster.  Where did you get the blanks?

Jamie


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## CSue (Apr 16, 2010)

All look great!  Wonderful work.  You must have a great sharpening system!


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## bgibb42 (Apr 16, 2010)

Those are awesome!  Can't decide which I like better--the orange alabaster or the white alabaster.


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## bitshird (Apr 16, 2010)

That is a very fine group of pens, I would have a hard time choosing any one of them, you did an excellent job with a difficult material.


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## seamus7227 (Apr 16, 2010)

sweet! Is that real stone or the true stone? did you use any special tools?


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## Craftdiggity (Apr 17, 2010)

Wow.  Thanks for all the kind responses.  I put this up last night and got busy today and forgot all about it until now.  To answer some questions:

They are all real stone, not truestone.  I have access to a great deal of stone materials as my brother has a marble and granite business and I can track down most anything.  The cool thing about that is I get to sample a range of different colors as they become available.

Believe it or not, the soapstone turns quite easily, somewhat like a harder wood, but very smoothly.  The alabaster is far more brittle and requires much more sharpening.  Also, you have to plan on the translucence of the alabaster.  Near the ends of the blanks where the material is at its thinnest, you can sometimes see the tubes, so I painted all of the tubes white.

I used my regular turning tools for all of the pens.

If anyone is interested in working with this stuff, let me know.  I buy it by the pound, or if I have enough interest, by the slab.


Chris


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## ROOKIETURNER (Apr 17, 2010)

Nice looking pens. I have yet to try any stone. Sounds like a challenge to me...


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## gvanweerd (Apr 17, 2010)

You Need around of appluse for those:bananen_smilies046:


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## workinforwood (Apr 19, 2010)

So how did you drill the 10 mm hole...regular drill bit?


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## Rfturner (Apr 19, 2010)

I know that soapstone is fairly soft, you can mark it with your fingernail, those pens look great


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## Craftdiggity (Apr 19, 2010)

workinforwood said:


> So how did you drill the 10 mm hole...regular drill bit?



Standard 10mm Brad tip.  I bought a couple just for drilling stone.  I keep a small squirt bottle filled with water to keep things cool.  The Soapstone doesn't even get all that hot and works just like a hard wood.  The Alabaster is a bit more brittle and will crack if you breathe on it, especially the white.  If I take my time with the Orange, I can drill with little or no cracking.  It is stone though, so if you work with it, learn to love the cracks or you'll go crazy.

Ryan, the Italian Green is pretty soft, but the African Wonderstone is much harder and you'd have to press pretty hard to mark that stuff with your fingernail.

Chris


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## RMB (Apr 21, 2010)

You should definitely start doing those with some high end kits.

Is there a finish on those? Soak them in CA or something and polish?


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## Craftdiggity (Apr 21, 2010)

RMB said:


> You should definitely start doing those with some high end kits.
> 
> Is there a finish on those? Soak them in CA or something and polish?



No, I hate CA finishes.  The high gloss is great, but it feels like plastic to me.

On stone, what I do is use mineral oil to enhance the color and then just a simple paste wax which I apply on the lathe.  


Chris


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