In the shop

I managed to get some time in the shop this weekend.  3 or so hours on Saturday and 5 or so on Sunday.

Most of Saturday was spent working on a console for a cousin.  The major body is ready to go, now it's time to work on trimming the edges that need it with solid oak.  At the end of the weekend, 1/4 of the body needing trim is done.  I've got 3/4 more to do and trim out the tops and the shelves.  I've prepped the oak stock.  I need to run some of it through the planer to reduce the sanding time.

I also managed to do some pen turning.  I've got a commission for 6 pens on artfire and I finally got started on them.  Unfortunately, I had more failures than successes in that department. 

I had recently ordered 8 blanks of the needed wood, so I cut and drilled all of them.  Given my past track record, 20% to 30% of blanks I start with will not end up as completed pens, so I need to have extras ready.  Well, right off the bat, I'd cut two of the blanks too short, so they were useless.  Then two of the blanks blew out when I tried to square the ends on the drill press.  So, of the 8 I started with, I was down to 4 possible pens.

I then went looking through the rest of my blanks and discovered 2 more of the right wood.  I was at 6 possible pens, just the right number.  I got those prepped and started turning. I turned one of them too thin and so it blew out on the lathe.

At this point, I may get 5 pens out of what I have on hand.  I need to order more wood.  The place I ordered from for my latest batch is currently out.  I ordered 10 blanks and they only sent (and charged me for ) 8.  So, I have to find a new supplier.