Here's something a little different that I've just tried my hand at. In fact, I just started doing this a few days ago. Sometime ago, I got a Taig lathe primarily for model work. But the model work isn't very intensive and the lathe was sitting for weeks at a time without being touched. That's a waste so I found this new use for it.

I've just started making pens. This is not unlike model making. Part of it is scratchbuilding and part of it depends on a kit. The kit consists of the pen hardware: all of the metal parts plus an internal mechanism and a refill.

The pens are made from variety of materials. Blanks are cut on a bandsaw and then drilled with a 7mm hole to accept brass tubing. The brass tubing is epoxied in place and then the ends of the blank are trimmed and they are fited to a lathe mandrel. They are turned to shape, and finished on the lathe. The metal components are then press fit into the internal brass tube using a drill press as an assembly arbor press.

Here are my first three pens:

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/9562/pens27kl.jpg (http://imageshack.us/)

The top one is a Mont Blanc style made with lacquered Honduran Rosewood. The second one is a slim twist pen made with an African hardwood called Green heart. The last one is made from a material called Dymondwood which is dyed, wooden laminations impregnated with resin.

very cool Brent!!!! Nice work you do there......how come you havent made one like 50's rocket ship yet???

Neat!

When I can figure out how to work that 50's rocket ship theme into a pen, I plan to do just that.

I would like to make "theme" pens. Realistically, the above pens are very nice but a guy can only have so many pens. In order for this to continue as a hobby, I need to come up with something different and I really want to try and incorporate some classic sci-fi ideas. Of course, these are pens so there are some limitations.

I do have an advantage with the Taig lathe. Most pen makers use a standard wood lathe. The Taig is primarily a metal working lathe and that gives me the capability to make custom metal hardware if required.

Too cool Brent, never would have thought of using a metal lathe for something like this. I am a shift supervisor in a metal shop, the owner turns a blind eye to occasional "government" work, may have to try turning some wood.

COOL! Very interesting! :thumbsup:

I should mention that these pens are of outstanding quality and I don't say that as a compliment to my work. I'm speaking specifically of the quality of the hardware kits and they way they are designed to fit into the pens.

These are called twist pens because the writing nib is extend and retracted by twisting the pen body (no springs). The primary mechanism for this is called the "transmission" and it's as smooth as silk. The machine work is excellent. The refill writes beautifully (I've built four pens now and the quality is consistently high). The external hardware is all plated in 24k gold. And the hardware kits I've used are less than $10.00 each.

Also, these pens are literally solid. Open any commercial ball point and you'll see a refill floating inside a hollow plastic tube. There is no empty space in these lathe turned pens. The internal brass tubes are epoxied inside the solid pen bodies. The pen hardware is press fit into the brass tubes. The refill is screwed into the transmission and then the top of the pen is press fit onto the large steel refill (not plastic refill). There is no air space...nothing to rattle or come loose.

I was at the stationery store today to check on the avialability of the CROSS refill used by these pens. They are easy to obtain (2 pack for $3.85). I also checked out the genuine Montblanc pens...at $300.00 for the ball point. The real Montblancs are virtually identical to "my Montblanc" except that mine is rosewood and the genuine ones are plastic :).

Here's a pic of a Montblanc style pen on my lathe:


http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/2681/pens37me.jpg (http://imageshack.us/)

It's on a mandrel held by a collect in the headstock and a live center at the tailstock. The wood is separated by steel bushings which serve as diameter guides so that the pen body can be machined to the exact diameter required without having to depend on calipers for measurement.

I am just beginning to get started in pen turning. Here is a link to a great site/board for pen turning:

http://www.penturners.org/forum/default.asp (PEN TURNING)