Well, I will start with the disasters for this week:

the ebonite cap I really liked

the red see through one I loved

which would have looked so damned cool

Oh well, I will tell you something. When I broke that red blank I uttered… Well shouted a number of words which would turn your ears blue. To say I was mad would be an understatement, I had spend all the spare time I could get today trying to do that lid and in the last 10 minutes I had boom, there it went. I sat down on my office chair and thought about just giving up and that I haven’t been able to get a cap done without any troubles in the past two weeks. Then I kind of saw red, I wasn’t going to give up, I had just received a box of blanks from a friend and I was determined to get something out of today. So with hands visibly shaking with fury I went to the lathe and I turned the lid you can see on the main image of this post. It isn’t sanded yet but I ran out of time. I think I know where my problems lay though.

I think my tools are knackered. I have been sharpening them by eye with no measurements or anything and I think I may have ruined the parting tool as well as both the right turning tool and the left turning tool. Which sucks, I think the next tools I get will be the carbide insert ones so I don’t have to deal with sharpening them.

I have to say a massive massive thank you to u/newtonpens as he has been such a help to me. I have been bouncing ideas off of him and he has been helping me through my problems. I recently received a box of blanks he sent me which was full of beautiful blanks I can practice on or even make pens from. He is a total legend and yeah, he has been such a big help through this whole thing.

So, I am not giving up. Fuck my brain (excuse the language) I am not giving in to this damned depression. I am going to get through it, I am going to fight my way out of the pit I am in even though it feels like I have a 10 tonne weight on my shoulders, the support you guys have given me has been amazing so thank you 🙂 . I am going to start to build up a stock of pens I can sell from my website so it is not just custom pens. I am going to learn from every fuck up. I am going to shame myself for each one I make by sharing it here. I am going back to basics, I am not going to try to learn anything extra special or clever for the time being, I am going to concentrate on nailing the basics. I will get there, I will make it, I will become a name in the pen making industry. I will succeed and I won’t let my head make me fail. You hear that brain? Fuck you.

As usual any thoughts on the website I am more than happy to listen, don’t be afraid to talk up if you don’t like something. I have never made a website before I won’t bite your hand off if you say something looks crap.