# Checked Olive Burl



## Sprung (Jul 22, 2015)

This piece of Olive Burl was a packing peanut in a box I received from @manbuckwal with a righteous piece of Walnut Burl I'm going to make into a bowl sometime.

This piece was perfect for something that I've been wanting to try for a while. I've been wanting to get a blank of some lighter colored burl that had checked while drying and was full of little checks. What I did from there was instead of glueing in the tube with clear CA like I normally do, I glued it in with black CA. This would partially fill some of the checks that were inside - and would ensure that when I got it turned down to size I wouldn't find checks filled with clear CA showing off the brass tube.

After turning almost to size, I filled in the checks with a few applications of black CA. After that I turned it down to size, sanded, and did my normal CA finish. The kit is a Gunmetal/Gunmetal Le Roi v. 2 from Smitty's Pen Works.

I really really like how this pen turned out - it's probably one of my favorite pens I've made. I really like the effect of the black filling the checks on this piece of Olive Burl. Methinks I need to sometime get some more olive burl that was checked like this piece, especially since this pen will be on its way to a new home soon. I could have easily kept this pen for myself, but I made this pen specifically to give it to someone and am glad to be packaging it up and sending it on.



 



 



 

C&C welcome.

Reactions: Like 6 | EyeCandy! 2 | Way Cool 4 | Useful 1


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## kris stratton (Jul 22, 2015)

looks good!

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## manbuckwal (Jul 22, 2015)

You rocked it Matt ! That black CA looks great .......... So where did you get black CA ? Guess I need to save more cracked pieces

Reactions: Thank You! 1 | Agree 1


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## ironman123 (Jul 23, 2015)

A fine job on doing that pen. Burl with the fill looks great.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Sprung (Jul 23, 2015)

Thanks, everyone!



manbuckwal said:


> You rocked it Matt ! That black CA looks great .......... So where did you get black CA ? Guess I need to save more cracked pieces



Here's the stuff I've got. There's other brands out there too, but I haven't tried them and this one seems to work well enough for me. It's not as thick as the designation "thick" would have one think - it's about the same viscosity as the Satellite City medium CA that I use.


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## ClintW (Jul 23, 2015)

That is sweet! I like how the black adds depth to the checks. I can't tell in the photo, but is it dead black? Or partially translucent? Either way, awesome pen!

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Sprung (Jul 23, 2015)

ClintW said:


> I can't tell in the photo, but is it dead black? Or partially translucent?



It's dead black, not translucent at all.


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## Karl_99 (Jul 23, 2015)

Great looking pen. I like the blank and hardware match. Olivewood root and burl are among my favorites.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## barry richardson (Jul 23, 2015)

Beautiful pen Matt! I think your on to something there, since there is no shortage of checked olive, I certainly have a bunch of it....

Reactions: Thank You! 1 | Agree 1


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## ripjack13 (Jul 23, 2015)

Nice job Matt..that looks really cool....
I also have used the black ca. It works good as a coating/filler on really porus wood that hasn't been stabilized. It gives it a dark speckled look.



 

It just makes everything darker and fills small cracks and soft spots soak up the color....

Reactions: Like 2


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## ripjack13 (Jul 23, 2015)

That's a crappy picture. I took that before I fixed my lens...


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## manbuckwal (Jul 23, 2015)

ripjack13 said:


> That's a crappy picture. I took that before I fixed my lens...



Looks like you were in fog on the coast ........

Reactions: Like 1


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## rdabpenman (Jul 23, 2015)

Great idea filling the inclusions with black CA.
Well done.

Les

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Sprung (Jul 23, 2015)

ripjack13 said:


> I also have used the black ca. It works good as a coating/filler on really porus wood that hasn't been stabilized. It gives it a dark speckled look.



I like using black CA too. It gives a nice contrast when you use it to fill in on something. Haven't tried using it on a porous piece of wood, but I think I'm now going to have to try it now...

Reactions: Like 1


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## manbuckwal (Jul 23, 2015)

Sprung said:


> I like using black CA too. It gives a nice contrast when you use it to fill in on something. Haven't tried using it on a porous piece of wood, but I think I'm now going to have to try it now...



I think the other thing that plays in well with the olive burl, is the fact that the burl eyes are black. The black and tan look matches up sweet imo ! 

I think I have more of that English walnut you made Barry's pen out of too somewhere .

Reactions: Like 1


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## ripjack13 (Jul 23, 2015)

manbuckwal said:


> Looks like you were in fog on the coast ........


Yep...I fixed/cleaned it with toothpaste!!

Reactions: Like 2


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## Sprung (Jul 23, 2015)

manbuckwal said:


> I think the other thing that plays in well with the olive burl, is the fact that the burl eyes are black. The black and tan look matches up sweet imo !
> 
> I think I have more of that English walnut you made Barry's pen out of too somewhere .



Yeah, that was a super sweet piece of EW you sent me and I wanted to do something special with it - so I thought it was a fitting piece for the pen swap, especially for a stand up guy like Barry. No exaggeration when I say that it's the nicest piece of walnut I've ever worked with!

And, you're right, that black and tan makes a great combo. Now I'm thirsty! Oh, wait, we're talking about pens here, not beer!

Tom, if ever feel like burning or throwing out or getting rid of some pieces of Olive Burl because they're full of those small checks, let me know - I'll buy or trade you for some. I like how well this turned out so much, that I'd like to make some more pens like this, including one for myself.


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## duncsuss (Jul 23, 2015)

Excellent Matt -- pen looks great, and you confirmed something I'd been thinking about testing for the exact same reason (thanks, now I don't need to experiment -- just have to buy some of the black CA)

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Sprung (Jul 23, 2015)

duncsuss said:


> (thanks, now I don't need to experiment -- just have to buy some of the black CA)



Yup - you know it'll work out! (If it doesn't work out for you, please don't blame me, lol.) The idea came to me when I turned a pen from a piece of wood that didn't have any externally visible checks, but was full of small internal checks when I turned it down. Since I had glued the tube in with clear CA, the checks were filled with clear CA and it looked horrible. Since I already had the black CA on hand, this idea came from it. Glad I'm not the only one who has given this idea thought!

I do have another pen I'm working on for a friend with a completely different species of wood that I suspected had internal checks like this piece. So I glued those tubes in with the black CA at the same time as I did this one. It's still in process, but getting it partially turned confirmed the internal checks - and that I was wise to glue in the tubes with the black CA.

Reactions: Like 2


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## Jerry B (Jul 23, 2015)

awesome looking pen 

I've got some locally cut Olive that's all checked up, definitely gonna have to give this black CA a try, really liking the look & contrast

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Sprung (Jul 23, 2015)

Jerry B said:


> awesome looking pen
> 
> I've got some locally cut Olive that's all checked up, definitely gonna have to give this black CA a try, really liking the look & contrast



You definitely should try it! I'll be looking forward to seeing the results that you - and anyone else who tries this - has!


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