Thread: Closed End Curly Koa

Leaving the 2 rings off the cap centerband made the cap about 3mm shorter. This caused me some problems, because the nib was contacting the finial cap before it was screwed all the way on.

To overcome this, I cut a couple of mm off the end of the feed housing, and also modified the feed so it would push in further.
This helped to make the pen look a bit simpler too.

You can see the difference in these 2 pics.

DSC_9177.jpg

DSC_9189.jpg

Very nice Brad

beautiful pen & wood Ironwood .. well done. Thanks for sharing

Agree that KOA is nice and most similar to our blackwood. Being a tropical wood it grows faster and seems to have a sl coarser texture (shows pores more readily) as can be seen, I have a few curly Koa blanks left.

Euge

Love your solution to your own created problem Brad,this pen is model construction of quite some acheivement,most clearly shown in your pics and description.I appreciate your pens mate.

Kind regards Peter.

Certainly a different take on the Barron - I quite like the single ring approach....and the smooth lines for the closed end are very nice!

I recently received a kitless pen in a swap - I am now thinking it is something I should look into over time. That being the case a collet chuck will be on the cards and I'll give a few closed end pens will be on the cards....thanks fir even more inspiration!!

Originally Posted by Acco

Very nice Brad

Thanks DJ.

Originally Posted by Euge

beautiful pen & wood Ironwood .. well done. Thanks for sharing

Agree that KOA is nice and most similar to our blackwood. Being a tropical wood it grows faster and seems to have a sl coarser texture (shows pores more readily) as can be seen, I have a few curly Koa blanks left.

Euge

Thanks Euge.
This is the first time I have turned Koa ( I have one more blank left, a lighter colour than this one ) , it does seem to have an open grain.

Originally Posted by Penpal

Love your solution to your own created problem Brad,this pen is model construction of quite some acheivement,most clearly shown in your pics and description.I appreciate your pens mate.

Kind regards Peter.

Cheers Peter, glad you like it.

Originally Posted by Gabriel

Certainly a different take on the Barron - I quite like the single ring approach....and the smooth lines for the closed end are very nice!

I recently received a kitless pen in a swap - I am now thinking it is something I should look into over time. That being the case a collet chuck will be on the cards and I'll give a few closed end pens will be on the cards....thanks fir even more inspiration!!

Thanks Gabriel.
I much prefer the sleeker lines that the original kit looks as well. I would like it better if it didn’t have the black threaded section. But for the price, it’s not a bad platform to experiment with.

A collet chuck is essential if you want to start customising pens, one of my best purchases.

Would like to see a pic of your kitless swap pen if you are able to.

Originally Posted by Ironwood

Would like to see a pic of your kitless swap pen if you are able to.

Created by Tim McKenzie of diamond cast blanks.....very lucky to have received this. He was originally going to make me a fountain pen, but I would have never used it so he made me a rollerball. He also customised the colours after a conversation with me.

Extremely humbled to receive it.....

IMG_20190225_182802-01.jpg

IMG_20190228_194907.jpg

The cap open shot wasn't done in the sun so the colours are a little muted but you get a view of the shape

Cheers!
Gab

nice! what makes it closed?

Originally Posted by brainstrust

nice! what makes it closed?

“Closed end” is the term given when the hole through the brass tube doesn’t go right through both ends. The kit hardware for the finial end of the pen is not used. Gabriel’s swap pen could be called a “double closed end”, because the cap is closed end as well.
I drilled into the blank only far enough for the brass tube to go in , and about 10 mm further in with a 7mm drill to allow for the spring and refill.

and what mandrel did you use for this, did you make one or bought one of the special closed end mandrels?

Originally Posted by Fumbler

and what mandrel did you use for this, did you make one or bought one of the special closed end mandrels?

I made the mandrel, I have a metal lathe. They are a fairly simple thing to make, but without a metal lathe would be hard to make something strong and accurate enough.

Did you just make one or multiple mandrels for different size tubes?

Originally Posted by Treecycle

Did you just make one or multiple mandrels for different size tubes?

I just made the one to suit the Baron, Jr Gent I kits, because that was what I was experimenting with back then, they are a relatively cheap kit to use that still looks pretty good.
I was planning to make more sizes, but didn’t continue on with the closed end pens, and Rollerballs/Fountains in general, because people in my area just weren’t buying them, they preferred the single barrel ballpoints like the Sierra and Elegant Beauty, and my real bullet pens, so I pretty much concentrated on making what I could sell. I did quite well out of selling my pens, it paid for another wood lathe, my metal lathe, and about $6k of camera gear, plus tools and stuff I needed. It’s been my only hobby that has been able to support itself, in fact it supported my other hobbies as well.

If there is any interest, I can take some photos of the mandrel, and maybe a WIP of a pen being made with it.