I began one more project today. Since the LSU pens turned out pretty good, I thought I would try another multi-wood project. I had ordered some small blanks (called half-blanks) and they were too small to turn pen with. However, I thought maybe I could glue some together to make a blank of different woods. So I found some light wood and some red-colored wood (not sure what either are). Twice, I glued one red blank to one white blank. This resulted in two red-white blanks.



I took these two blanks and glued them together so that the red and white would be alternating.



Once this big blank was dry, I cut this blank into ¾ inch slices. Please note that I labeled the slices before I cut them so I would know how to line them up.



I then glued the slices alternating red and white, using Elmer's carpenter glue, of course. Before I glued the slices together, I sanded the surfaces which would be glued so that I knew there would be a tight fit.





This will give me the blanks I need for this latest project.

Lessons learned:

1. When doing this, you want blanks closer to the same size than I used in this picture. It makes for an uneven finish (you will see in the next few posts). I just used what I had on hand but if you want it look good, use blanks close to the same size.

2. Smaller slices would have looked better. Mine were ¾ inch slices but if I made them smaller I would have sliced my hand instead of the blank. If you can make the slices thinner.

3. A grinder or sander would be of great benefit in a project like this as it would make the preparing of surfaces much easier and much more accurate.

Next post: Preparing the blanks for turning