Teacher's pens and holders
Well, the end of the school year has come around and that means teachers pens for my boys' teachers and pens for the assistants... (along with a gift card for a meal out... it never ceases to amaze me that our teachers get paid so little and are so dedicated)
At any rate, this year I used my Carvewright to personalize things a bit--
I made the coyote dingbat with a picture from a scroll saw book (and some editing in photoshop) I've included the font and the coyote is the letter "I" or maybe "i"
The top holder is maple with a couple of coats of spray laquer (holy cow it dries almost as fast as you can put it on!)
The bottom holder is lyptus with a shellac and then laquer finish (again, finishing for the 2 pieces was less than 2 hours for several coats to completely dry) The recess for the post-notes was unbeliveably easy... make a 3.05 x 3.05 box, carve recess for .05 and bob's your uncle....
The teachers pen is bloodwood and walnut with a spalted tamarind middle. The other teachers pen is on the lathe-- I'm waiting for the CA to completely cure before removing it.
The bottom two pens are for the TA's and are dymondwood
I think I may have finally figured out how to do a pen holder that I am happy with-- I used a 3/4 forstner bit to create a hollow for a rare earth magnet to be glued on the back, then used the center spur hole as a guide for the 3/16 drill bit at a slight angle... the nibs are (slightly) attracted to the magnet and the pen pulls out without effort but sits nicely in the hole without slipping when you put it in. It also seats itself with a rather satisfying "click" when you set the pen in the hole... I cannot begin to tell you how long I've been searching for an inexpensive way to create a pen holder-- this is my most successful attempt so far-- smaller magnets don't hold with any power at all (as it is, the hold is very minimal) and creating a differently sized hole does not allow a pen nib to register without allowing the pen to tilt too much... the combination of 3/16 hole, 3/4 magnet, and 1/2 material seem to work out just right.
Thanks for looking
Lawrence
Thanks for looking-
Lawrence
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