Amboyna Jr Gent pen and burl

[leehljp]

A friend from the Philippines recently came by for a visit and gave me an amboyna burl about 12" X 5" by 5". Below is a pen, a Jr. Gent from the burl. The burl is so red that it does not photograph well. I tried several background colors for the pen and several settings but the brilliant reflections (chatoyance) in the wood prevented great shots.

Burl:



Pen with "face" upside down on the clip end. I did not see the face until I was looking at the pictures. The chatoyance causes it to show up at certain angles to light but not at others.




Deep flame red chatoyance that prevents a good photo (by me):

[jcjrsmith]

That's gorgeous.

[Uncle Cracker]

That "face" figure is interesting, Hank. I love the look of Amboyna in pens. It gives a lot of depth and richness to the look that is hard to beat in such a small piece of wood.

[drillman88]

I like it very much.It's hard to tell from the pictures, but it almost appears to have a flame effect.Nice work.

[Whaler]

That's a great looking pen Lee.

[gerti]

Sounds like a good kind of friend! The pen looks beautiful.

[chopnhack]

Wow....makes me wanna turn even more now. Nice Lee!!

[drumpriest]

Looks great Lee, what's the finish?

[leehljp]

Looks great Lee, what's the finish?

The finish is CA (cyanoacrylate/Super Glue)

Thanks, everyone, for the comments. The burl does have a flame like appearance and I did not cut that part for the pen. I am saving the flame part of the burl to make a bowl in the future. I have not turned a bowl yet of any kind, so I am going to practice this spring and summer - making several bowls - before I ruin such a nice piece. If I have to wait a couple of years or so, I will do that to keep from ruining such a stunning piece of burl.

[Uncle Cracker]

Hank, I suggest you look into the McNaughton system for bowl cutting. A nice piece like that is too good to turn into shavings. With the McN, you can hollow out several nested bowls from a single blank (or cut your bowl from the fine figure, and have bonus pen blanks from the same area)... Woodcraft sells it, others too...

Forgot to add the caveat that this system is for high-mid to full sized lathes. Minis flee at the sight of this thang...

[leehljp]

Hank, I suggest you look into the McNaughton system for bowl cutting. A nice piece like that is too good to turn into shavings. With the McN, you can hollow out several nested bowls from a single blank (or cut your bowl from the fine figure, and have bonus pen blanks from the same area)... Woodcraft sells it, others too...

Forgot to add the caveat that this system is for high-mid to full sized lathes. Minis flee at the sight of this thang...

I have seen those and have given some good thought to it. It will be after retirement in a couple of years before I can get one when I am back in the States, along with a new lathe. For the beauty of the burl, I can wait!

[jking]

Beautiful pen, Hank. Just the piece you showed in the first picture is worth showing off as is.