Twelfth Pen

     This pen is made from Cherry and Maple.  This pen, although it seems pretty simple can actually be a bit of a pain.  The level of creativeness is a little low for this one, but it was one I wanted to do.  Similar to my second pen, where I took two blanks, cut them in half down the length, switched the colors and glued them back together, for this pen I wanted to divide it into quarters.  My first step was to create a blank of Cherry and Maple.  On the band saw I cut those blanks in half, and glued a Cherry half to a Maple half and vise versa.  After the glue had dried I cut them in half again, and repeat the last step.  I then had two blanks that each had two strips of Cherry and two strips of Maple. I had considered cutting four small strips of Cherry and four small strips of Maple and gluing them together to make the quartered blank, but the seemed more difficult that way.
     Next came drilling the holes for the tubes.  I had remember my lesson from my second pen, where if the hole is even a little off center, the wood on one side of the pen will appear wider.  Or if you start out in the center of the blank when come out the other side off center, after you turn your pen down you will have one side on one end off the pen that looks wider.  Keeping this in mind I was extra cautious when drilling the holes.  I don't have a proper fixture to hold the blanks during drilling.  I had cut a piece of scrap wood so that it square on all sides.  I cut two 2 inch pieces off the scrap piece, glued them together in an L shape so I could hold the blank on the inside of the angle with my hand while drilling. This is not safe or a good way to keep the blank steady.  I should make a fixture or order one from Rockler but I haven't taken the time.  But anyway, the holes in the blanks were very close to being dead center and you don't notice any of the strips being wider than the others.  When I assembled the pen I did so that when the tip is retracted the Cherry strips on one side line up with the Maple strips on the other side.  And then when the pen tip is exposed the Cherry strips would all line up, same with the Maple ones..  But the pen twists open just slightly past where they would line up perfectly.  This isn't something I can control, but still a bummer.