Bloody Idiot!

[Bob Ellis]

I have been saving a gorgeous blank to make a special pen for one of the most deserving people I know - me! The blank is one I bought from George Watkins a while ago - a beautiful hybrid of mallee burr and iridescent chrome orange resin. Having decided it would be a Roman Harvest and bought a few from Timberbits, I also bought a left-handed Bock nib from Phil (me being cack-handed) and was ready to go.

To be on the safe side, I decided to do a trial run, a Roman Harvest with a turquoise pearl acrylic blank. The trail run worked perfectly, so today I started work on my special blank, marked it, cut it and drilled it. It was only when I came to glue the barrels in the holes that I realised that I had forgotten to change drill bits after drilling the cap blank with the result that I now have two holes of 33/64", whereas one of them should have been 31/64". So, the blanks are unusable, unless I can find a kit with two 33/64" tubes of similar length to a Roman Harvest.

In all the many pens I have made, I have never made that mistake before. Why did it have to be my special blank?

I tried looking on George's website in the hope of finding a replacement, but there was nothing as special as that one. I tried Exotic Blanks, Penn State and other sites - nothing came close.

I AM NEVER GOING TO TURN ANOTHER PEN...EVER!!!....well, not until tomorrow, at least.

 

[Buckeye]

See if you can find a blank that will compliment the ones you have and you can make up two pens.

Peter

 

[Bammer]

Bugger .....

Put a pic of the blank up, someone may know where can be found

 

[Jim]

I bet there are a few in here that can relate to that Bob .. I feel for you my friend, those special blanks are hard to come by ..

 

[scouseroy]

I have that teeshirt !!!!

 

[Lons]

I've done that once as well Bob though luckily not on a special blank.

The difference is only 1.5mm, what about sleeving it with one of the larger tubes to make up the difference or maybe turning a dowel of something to plug the hole and re drilling. Needs a bit of lateral thinking, there must be a way to make a save.

 

[Woody]

Cant you fill it with the same colour resin and redrill it then turn that end a bit fatter

 

[Treeesa]

Cant you fill it with the same colour resin and redrill it then turn that end a bit fatter

Gotta be the way home there Bob from the master

I don't think I've ever done that

 

[Bill Mooney]

GUILTY.

 

[Bob Ellis]

Some food for thought there, guys. When I've calmed down and can think rationally (that would be a first!), I'll see whether there is something I can do.

I'll also post a picture when there is sufficient light to take one. Today has been so dark that I needed to use artificial light even at midday!

 

[Lons]

Maybe still sleeve it , to keep the smaller tube central, but only a centre section keeping it short of the ends then epoxy the whole thing in but colour the epoxy to match up as best you can.

 

[Penpal]

Bob the Roman Harvest looks great but the thickness of the turned sizing at the cap end is ever so slim from the brass. I felt your pain immediately. Trust you can get a beaut match for two lower halves mate bodgy work will never give you peace.

Peter.

 

[Winemaker]

That's a sad story I sure when you have a nights sleep you will think of some thing to sort it out

 

[Grump]

Clear acrylic tube or rod ca'd inside and drill through to correct diameter will do it.

 

[wm460]

Always drill the small size drill first DAMHIKT

 

[George Watkins]

Send me a picture Bob and I'll have a look through my burrs and see if I can help, I am casting every couple of weeks at the moment so can always tag an extra blank onto the end of a batch.

 

[billyb_imp]

Funny how these things happen when you think you've covered every angle, and then something like this happens

 

[Dalboy]

OOOPS. I must confess that I have never done that(well not yet) but have made plenty of other mistakes so there is still time. Hope you get sorted and hope George can help you out

 

[Penpal]

Gentleman George to the rescue.

Peter.

 

[Bob Ellis]

I was asked to post photos of the blank in which I drilled too large a hole (if for no other reason than to afford folk a good laugh at my expense!). Anyway, here it is (the one in the centre). Before anybody says it, the off-cut on the left is not quite long enough to replace the centre piece with the oversize hole. Typical!