My first successfully carved pen blank using the Vortex. The kit is an older Elegant Beauty that I had from a former life. 
The wood is Koa, clear coated, then stained dark mahogany. When the stain dried, I sanded it off the surface to leave the carved bits dark.
I rounded of the square blank using the VCarve rounding gadget, then carved the detail using a 30° V bit, cutting to .045" in one pass.
This was my fourth attempt. Still a fun project.
Cool, wonder if you’ve tried minwax tung oil for finish. Been hearing good things as it relates to guitar bodies, Tru Oil as well.
@Chaosweaver When I was making pens regularly, I experimented with pretty much every finishing process there was. Many worked well and looked good at the outset, but after months of handling, wore off. Polymerized tung oil lasted quite a while. Many use CA glue as a finish. It is very durable, but look a bit too “plastic” for my taste.
This one is not finished at all. I clear coated it in lacquer to seal the carve so that the dark stain wouldn’t bleed. After the stain, I sprayed it clear again just to see how the contrast worked. Since this one is not a keeper, I won’t be doing any “permanent” finish on it.
Tks for your interest.
