"Feathers" Tell me how........

[Skiprat]

Hi Dave,
This pen is not really feathers but simply indexed cuts. It becomes 'feathered' when the cuts start to overlap each other.

The green one has 8 cuts. If you start with your four cuts and manage to fill them nicely then you are much more than half way there.

It is an excellent way to start experimenting.

Try this...........

Cut your four cuts and fill them. All at same distance from end of blank. Same angle.

Now at a different position ( say 20mm away ) cut 4 more cuts BUT at the opposite angle.

You now have the beginnings of feathers. As the second set of cuts crosses the first set.

Eagle was the absolute master of the feathers. He may start with a boring wood blank and  have so many cuts in it that the original wood was completely gone!!!!!! Not only that, but he would make an indexed set of cuts look random, which is harder to do than it sounds. You will have to figure that one out for yourself though. There is a nice example of his work on my site. He made the blue blank for me and gave it to me when I met him at Lou's house


PS. Apologies for the long delay in replying. My Internet Explorer browser crashed on me. My son managed to email Firefox to me.
I've been out of reach all week without any internet connection. I've got a lot of catching up to do. Another week and I'll be back home. Can't wait to get out of the Big Smoke

Cheers
Steven

[Skiprat]

Here's some pics primarily for Dave. I could have sworn that I posted these pics before, but I can't find them on here. 

This is an indexing jig for doing the cuts in the green pen that Dave showed.
It is simpler than it looks. One end has just a pointed bit of thread from a bolt which acts as a tailstock.
The other end has a 24 tooth gear with another bit of bolt which fastens it to a roller bearing inside the block.
The blank is prepped by tapping a thread in one end and a small centre drill dimple in the other end. The blank is then screwed onto the 'headstock' end and locked with the lock nut.
The slitting saw ( or slot saw if you prefer ) has its own rigid mandrel and is held in the lathe chuck.
The jig is mounted at the desired angle on a compound table, which is used to pass the blank under the blade.

Because the cuts are just less than half way through the blank, I could cut them all and glue the aluminium in afterwards.
I moved the jig to do the second set of cuts. Slighty steeper angle too. After trimming with heavy duty scissors, the aluminium was filed flush with the blank. It was then drilled for the tube(s) and then turned to size for the pen.

I use the same jig on my metal lathe when using tougher material.

I hope this makes sense

PS. Of course, I just put the finished blank back in the jig for the pics

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[Canuck]

Very nice set-up Steven, thanks for posting the pics with description!!

[daveeisler]

Steven is just as amazing as his pens, we all need to thank him for sharing this great info, I am running down to the shop to get turning, see you guy's soon. Dave