One more of the “Stratus” pen kits (see yesterday’s post), turned in a camo-style acrylic.

There was to be a fourth one, as I had four kits. And in fact I turned a very nice body for it, in padauk which I love, but sadly upon assembly the kit proved to be defective. Sometimes you can salvage it for parts, but in this case all I could save was the refill.

Small consolation is that it was not user error. Between kit defects and user error, I probably waste one in ten pens, on average. Some kits, usually (but not always) the more expensive ones, have a better track record than others at going together without a problem. My rollerball kits have been pretty good to me, knock wood (or acrylic).