bluntchisel
Registered
Hi again,
This is the other Epsilon. Made in gunmetal and Ceylonese Ebony, this pen is a real beauty, and deserves the nickname I've given it - "The Black Knight". The pen has a sinister gleaming lustre which goes well with the gunmetal plating, and is quite the business. Also, the weight of the ebony gives it "heft", if that's what you want from a pen.
My piece turned really well on the lathe, but you NEED to wear a mask as the black dust is like coal, and gets up your nose pretty quickly, so be careful! Sanding needs to be properly done, in my case 150 up to 1000 grit, else you will leave radial lines that stand out like pigs in a mosque! I don't normally use CA when finishing, due to the fumes, but made an exception with this one, applying six coats of BLO and thin CA. Boy-oh-boy was it worth it! The ebony just gleamed!!!
All the above are the positives - now come the rest. I spent an hour trying to photograph this bugger, and still failed to produce a decent piccy! This was due to the high shine. I tried in the garden, in every room in the house, in pitch dark using the flash, and under floodlights using no flash. When all of that failed I jumped in the motor, drove to the Sheppey Bridge, and clambered onto the parapet, with the intention of throwing myself into the Swale. I was about to take the plunge when the voice of reason intervened. "Hang on," it said, "you're a pen-maker, not a bloody photographer. Do you reckon that geezer David Bailey could make a pen?"
So you lot - bear this in mind when viewing my feeble attempts, right? Right!
And guess what? It's true what they say about ebony not floating - I put the off-cut into a bowl of water - it sank like a stone.
Pretty much like my photography skills, right?
Bob.
