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Thread: A Little Humor and Why I Trashed a Great Turning

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Bellaire, TX
    Posts
    246

    Talking A Little Humor and Why I Trashed a Great Turning

    I know, unless there is a photo it didn't happen. However, after reading this I think you'll understand why there isn't a photo! I see the humor in this, and hopefully someone else will need a laugh - has this ever happened to you?

    I had previously bought some curly maple pen blanks a guy had here on the Creek as scrap wood for basically the cost of postage to get it here. I turned a really good looking pen from it over the weekend, and this CA glue / boiled linseed oil finish I’ve been failing on more than I have been succeeding worked out with a great shine. I went to a meeting at a vendor's office yesterday, and I had the pen clipped to the inside of my button-down shirt, right next to the button, as it didn’t have a pocket. There I stood, right in front of the urinal, and watched it plop clip-first right into the pool of, well, liquid.

    After cursing, I figured it was a lost cause, washed my hands, and left the pen where it was soaking.

    About an hour and a half later, I came back to the same bathroom, and there was the pen but now sitting right next to the sink. I don’t know how someone fished it out of there. I thought about saving it, or leaving it there for someone to claim as it used to be a nice pen, but I thought better of it – what if someone is like me, and absent-mindedly puts the clip portion in their mouth while contemplating life? And not knowing where that end had last taken a bath?

    I grabbed a paper towel, and threw it in the garbage.

    I just hope I can resurrect the same finishing technique on the other 8 or so curly maple blanks. I'm going to miss that pen.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Harvey, Michigan
    Posts
    20,804
    Michael - very sorry to hear of your loss! I suppose there is a lesson there somewhere - but I am not sure what it would be....

    As for me, well there was this one time, at band camp........

    Wish you the very best getting the same finishes on the rest of your pens! Hope to see photos of those!
    Steve

    “You never know what you got til it's gone!”
    Please don’t let that happen!
    Become a financial Contributor today!

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    St. Louis
    Posts
    3,349
    Sorry to hear that, Michael. I haven't done that. Yet.
    Where did I put that tape measure...

  4. #4
    That's a good and funny story! And I for one am glad you didn't have your camera in the men's room!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
    Posts
    65,888
    D'oh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Rio Rancho, NM
    Posts
    2,568
    What a loss! Sort of reminds me of dropping my cell phone into the john one morning - it quit working right away!!
    Nancy Laird
    Owner - D&N Specialties, Rio Rancho, New Mexico
    Woodworker, turner, laser engraver; RETIRED!
    Lasers - ULS M-20 (20W) & M-360 (40W), Corel X4 and X3
    SMC is user supported. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/donate.php
    ___________________________
    It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Goodland, Kansas
    Posts
    22,605
    Sorry about the loss but ya just gotta laugh.
    Bernie

    Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.

    To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funnybone.



  8. #8
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    HARVEY, MI. NEXT TO STEVE SCHLUMPF
    Posts
    1,735

    Michael!

    I have found that often my CA finish has a rough texture to it. It will smooth out and polish nicely on the tripoli wheel when it is held to the wheel longitudinly before the white diamond wheel is used for the super shine. I believe the true problem is the kind of paper towel I use for applying.
    Bob

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    Grove City, Ohio
    Posts
    226
    Quote Originally Posted by Nancy Laird View Post
    it quit working right away!!
    So, how did you know this?

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Paradise PA
    Posts
    3,098
    couldnt you just soak it in denatured alcohol or rubbing alcohol or some other cleaner/killer, as long as it didnt take off the finish?

    this is why you have pockets in pants
    14x48 custom 2hp 9gear lathe
    9 inch pre 1940 craftsman lathe
    36 inch 1914 Sydney bandsaw (BEAST)
    Wood in every shelf and nook and cranny,,, seriously too much wood!

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