Tomorrow is my birthday and today is Labor Day. So spent the day turning with my daughter. We used some of the sets I referred to in the previous post.

Jessica turned a Keychain for a gift for her grandpa, whose birthday is the same day as mine (but don't tell him what he is getting). Click picture for larger image.


She did a great job. She did the whole thing herself; from drilling, to turning the barrel, to turning the blank, to pressing it together. I think she learned a lot today too.

While she was turning her keychain, I was preparing some blanks to make a pen a pencil set. I made this set from Canary wood. These were different than my other pens because these have a soft grip and that means you prepare the blank a little different. Here are the completed set. Click the picture for a larger image.


These accents are obviously black and I think it looks much better than gold would look. It also looks a little better in person than in the picture. However, let me know what you think. Do you like the color scheme?

Also, this was the first time I turned a pencil. This blank was a little different because the bottom of the pencil is a half of a blank with the whole brass tube exposed. I forgot to take a picture and it is a little hard to explain. Nevertheless, I think it came out OK.

Fun day of turning. I may do some more tomorrow. After all, it will be my birthday.