This is a most welcome tutorial Phil, thanks for sharing. I changed over to melamine finishes on my wood pens towards the end of last year and although reasonably happy with the results I feel there is still room for improvement so I will spend a good bit of time going through it, comparing it with my method and considering a tweak or two.
Hopefully we will see some better results in the "Show off your finished pens thread - wooden pens" 
