Today I finished a project I started yesterday. I have been making a pen and pencil set for my pastor for Pastor Appreciation Month (October - if you have a pastor and you turn, make something nice for him or do something nice for him). He is a big Louisiana State University fan so I wanted to make a pen and pencil set which would reflect his fondness for his team. I had some purpleheart wood and some wood of a very yellow color (I am not what it was - it may have been dyed wood). I glued a small piece of the yellow and purple wood for the lower barrel on both the pen and pencil. Here are the pictures (click the image for a larger picture)


This was my first time to glue blocks together and then turn them like one blank. I think they turned out very good. I am not particularly fond of the purple and yellow together but if you are an LSU fan, I think you would like them.

These are the slimline pen and pencil kit and they always make a nice small pen and pencil set. Don't tell my pastor he is getting these.

Since I was out in the garage turning, I decided to try some new projects. First, I was out on Instructables.com looking how to make a whistle. I made my first whistle from those instructions. Here are the pictures of my first little whistle (click image for larger picture)





This was a fun little project (my daughter REALLY like it). I had some blanks with the hole drilled through them and so I just turned it. Then, I made a cut about a half to three-quarter of an inch from the end. The cut was about halfway through the blank. Then I made a diagonal cut (about 30 degrees) which ended at the bottom of the first cut. Then I cut a dowel rod which fit in the hole of the blank. I cut the dowel almost halfway but not quite. This made not a complete round dowel rod. I put this in the side which has the cuts described above. Then I inserted a dowel in the back of the whistle (you can kind of see this in the second picture). TA-DA... a whistle. If you want better instructions, check out the instructable found at the link above.

I also began another project but want to keep all that project on one post. So today I ended up with a gift for a football fan and whistle which my dog hates and my daughter loves. Overall, not a bad afternoon.