Here are a couple of rollerball pens I just made.
They are “Sedona” style, copper finish, and the wood is either Afzelia Burl or Box Elder Burl, not quite sure…
Category Archives: Pens
Stocked Up
In a moment of weakness, I stocked up on pen-making supplies. Except for a sample Spectraply they threw in, these are all acrylic blanks, as I found myself attracted to their colorful shininess.
(Click photo to view larger on Flickr)
Here’s a link to a page with the larger photo sizes of this picture, so you can see the blanks up close and read the cute names:
A Whirl of Turnings
(I don’t know what the collective noun for “turnings” is, or if there even is one, so I just made this up. A “whirl” of turnings sounds at least somewhat appropriate, I think.)
So I’ve been puttering about in the shop, as one does, gravitating towards the lathe and smaller projects (tiny little attention span). First up, and most recent, is this prototype of a bud vase, made from maple. I thought I’d test the process before I break out the fancy schmancy wood, although the understated elegance of maple is not misplaced here. I think it does need to be a wee bit taller though.
(Click any photo to view larger on Flickr)
Before the bud vase, I made these three small (about four and a half inches) maple and walnut bowls. I laminated the maple and walnut boards, then cut them into three equal pieces to form the blanks. They’re not meant to be a matching set, I was trying out different thicknesses and shapes.
One of them, if you look very closely, contains the remains of a tiny drop of my DNA (a kind of signature?) I broke the cardinal rule: “Don’t get blood on the work piece!”
Lastly, and least recently, a trio of acrylic pens. I love the names of the acrylic blanks, despite being a bit of a pain to turn. Two of these are called “Harley Flame” and the other is “Licorice Allsorts”. They are “Streamline” pen kits.
Not sure what’s next, but I do have a whole box of the test tubes, so expect more bud vases…
Pens and Stoppers and Pens (Oh My)
Some recent small turnings from the Barkwhistle Wood Shop (i.e. me):
(click photo to view larger on Flickr)
From left to right: Three Sedona rollerball pens in Stabilized Black Box Elder Burl with a Black Titanium finish; two Nouveau Bottle Stoppers in “Licorice Allsorts” acrylic with a chrome finish; and three Stratus ballpoint pens with a gun metal finish, one is purpleheart, the other two are “Midnight Forest” acrylic.
We’ve seen the stoppers before in an earlier post, but they are presented here again because all of these (except for one of the rollerballs) are soon to be shipped off to another (hopefully) happy customer.
I LOVE rollerball pens, and have landed on these Sedona’s as my favourite style. Each of the three shown here is made from a single piece of Box Elder Burl, as noted. They are “stabilized” with resins to add colour and make them smoother and more consistent to the touch, important for pens. Between the swirly burl wood and the injected resins, no two are alike and they can be full of surprises. In the case of the one on the far left, the top half and the bottom half turned out to be quite different in overall colour. You can see where the bottom colour extends into the cap a little bit, but if I didn’t know better, if I hadn’t cut and prepped the original blank myself, I’d almost think they came from two different pieces. Whether this is a feature or a bug is a matter of individual preference I guess. I kind of like it, but I would say that…
“Carbara” Pens in Acrylic
While we’re talking plastic, I thought I would capture my current inventory of other pens still remaining from the last time I did some acrylics.
(click photo to view larger on Flickr)
These are a style called “Carbara” – they’re a tiny bit shorter than the “Stratus” pens (see previous posts, here and here) but have about the same thickness, for those who like a thicker pen. If I have to write with a Slimline or similar skinny pen for any length of time, my hand cramps up. So these are a personal favourite style for me as well.
If, by the way, the one the right in the photo above reminds you of coffee beans, that’s because it is coffee beans. The beans are embedded in white acrylic. You can actually smell them, especially while turning of course. Not really a plus for me, as I don’t drink the stuff, but they do look cool.
Like the “Stratus” I also enjoy a pen style where the body material (wood or plastic) is presented in one single piece, rather than broken up into two with a center ring. Although I do love my rollerball pens, and they’re in two pieces, so it’s not like a rule or anything.
One More “Stratus” Pen
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).
Another Fine Mess
When you turn acrylic on the lathe, it doesn’t get more or less messy than when you turn wood. The problem is, I use the vacuumed-up wood shavings and sawdust as mulch on the paths out in the back 40, and I don’t really want multi-coloured plastic mulch out there. Tends not to compost and might be harmful to critters. So therefore I don’t run the dust collection, or vacuum up the leftovers. So therefore I don’t turn acrylic pens very often.
Despite the mess that turning acrylic makes, the results can make it worth the effort. These are a new-to-me kit called “Stratus” in a “Gun Metal” plating. I like the style. It’s masculine without going all the way to being one of those obnoxious lock-and-load bullet-style pens. They’re a decently large size, for those with larger hands that tend to swallow a lesser pen.
(click photos to view larger on Flickr)
New Slimline and Streamline Pens for July 2012
(Click photos to view larger on Flickr).
Nine new “Slimline” pens with gold plating. Woods, left to right, are purpleheart (3), padauk (3),zebrawood (2), and bubinga (1).
Six new “Streamline” pens with gold plating. Woods, left to right, are zebrawood (3), and olivewood(3).
At the moment, all are available, so holler if you’d like anything.
Nine Pens
Via Flickr:
Nine pens to rule them all… or just write them some letters perhaps… there were supposed to be ten pens, but one exploded on the lathe… these things happen, one out of ten is not a bad rate of spoilage for turnings… click the photo to view larger…
As with most things in life, these ARE for sale.
Fountain Pen
I just made five of these beauties. One has gone to my wife, who is sophisticated enough to actually use it properly, I expect. Two are going off in the mail to my sister, who has a buyer for one already. Leaving two to have for sale here. I won’t be using one myself, I’m not optimistic I would manage it without making a big mess.
I”ve just learned that you can install either the cartridge, for the self-contained thing, or else this little pumpy thing, which draws up ink from an inkwell, for that traditional writing experience.
The wood is Bethlehem Holy Land olive wood (certificate of authenticity included), the pen style is "Sedona" (same as the Rollerball pens I’m so fond of) and it’s gold plating.