Thread: Imperial Fountain Pen in Alternative Ivory

Originally Posted by Dennis Millard

I once made an ordinary slimline pen -one of the first I tried- from a piece of old Lemon wood. It polished up almost indistinguishable from ivory! I was very pleased and thought I must do some more of that, but I haven't yet. I'm afraid I haven't any pics because I gave the pen away, but I did do some Lemon chess pieces. If I can find the pictures of thjem, I'll post if anyone is interested.

I think that would be interesting.. post away!

Originally Posted by Woodenink

Skew, haven't come across real Ivory yet, need to find an old piano ! Amos

Probably no good... most piano keys have only a very thin laminate of ivory. Unless you want to laminate 'em up.

I bought a couple of old, ivory handled knives from an op-shop for 50c each. I thought they were horn but was pleasantly surprised once I had the time to look them over properly.

Haven't seen any since.

Originally Posted by NewLondon88

But it is something I've been thinking about for a year or so, wondering if I should carve out a pattern in something soft, or even have a metal tool maker carve me a mold and then I can pour a casting. Still working it around in my mind. Or should I do a squared blank and try to cut the black keys into it and then fill with black epoxy? (cheap inlay?)

I was thinking of a different approach. Drilling a long, square blank and then cutting a slot part way along one edge, removing about 1/4 of the cross section. Glue the tube in, and then remove the excess blank off on the bandsaw in fine slices. These slices could be cut into quarters and then glued back into the slot with fine spacing to make up the white keys - after a bit of filing to make thicker gaps where the black keys would be. Finally, casting it all in black resin to fill the lines.

It's basically the same approach as engraving the pattern into the blank and then filling the lines with resin, except that the cuts goes all the way to the tube.

I haven't actually tried it yet, 'cos it'll be so damned fiddly... and I'm bound to screw up several blanks first.

Great minds think alike! And so do ours..

You make wonderful Pens Amos!!!
I wonder who will be the first to order a matched set of "Ebony and Ivory(Alt)" pens from you.
I might have to start saving my lunch money.
All the best
Kevin

Great feedback, would love to see the Lemon Grass Chess pieces. And Skew, you continue to bamboozle me with technical talk, my mind only works off pictures, and one picture at a time so that I can "piece " it together, so hurry up and make one and photograph as you go!.
Kevjed, start saving.! Amos

Tried to order some Ivory today.

None left,turns out , that Amos has purchased the lot, the bin is empty.

Now have to wait for the next shipment to arrive.

Amos, are you planing some big project? Come clean now,let us know the plan.

Terry

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

It's basically the same approach as engraving the pattern into the blank and then filling the lines with resin, except that the cuts goes all the way to the tube.

I haven't actually tried it yet, 'cos it'll be so damned fiddly... and I'm bound to screw up several blanks first.

Yep.. I hear that.

Could go with cutting away parts of a white blank and filling with a black resin, or setting up a series of ebony laminate strips in the right pattern and then pouring a white casting over them.

The problem I'm having is doing the math in my head (concept) before trying it on material. If I use the bandsaw to cut a channel for the black keys, depth is a problem because I don't have any way to adjust/measure. And the depth controls the length of the key. Turn too far, and the black keys get shorter. So .. how to do the math to figure out how deep to do the inlay? Havent' thought that far yet.

I'm picturing two keyboards back to back with a black like separating them. The kbd is symmetrical, so that's ok.

This doesn't work well without pics, does it?

Maybe I'll 'cheat' and get the toolmaker to cut me a metal pattern.

Hey . .that would be a neat surprise.. black and white blank comes in the mail .. nobody would know what it was till they turned it.

Originally Posted by NewLondon88

The problem I'm having is doing the math in my head (concept) before trying it on material. If I use the bandsaw to cut a channel for the black keys, depth is a problem because I don't have any way to adjust/measure. And the depth controls the length of the key. Turn too far, and the black keys get shorter. So .. how to do the math to figure out how deep to do the inlay? Havent' thought that far yet.

Yep. My method gets around that, as my inset will always be 1/4 of the radius of a pen, so if properly done that ratio will always be constant. However the same problem comes up with the ratio of the width to the length of the keys... the width will stay constant but the length will shorten as the pen is turned.

This doesn't work well without pics, does it?

A pic is worth a thousand words. I know what I mean, but looking over what I've written I doubt that anyone else does.

Edit: maybe this'll help?
Attachment 68087

Hey . .that would be a neat surprise.. black and white blank comes in the mail .. nobody would know what it was till they turned it.

I've given away a few celtic knot, spider web and fish scale type blanks that I've laminated up. I tend to leave them looking rough, with dags of glue etc. on the outside... it'll all be turned away after all, so why bother making the blank look pretty? The recipients have given me odd looks and I could see them thinking "what am I s'posed to do with this mess?" Mind you, they've later come back asking for seconds.

Terry, only got 6, have to wait for another lot. Skew, after all that talking, I had NO IDEA that you were planning to put a piano keyboard into the side of a pen until i saw the diagram, now that I see it, I reckon that would be great. Amos.

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

Yep. My method gets around that, as my inset will always be 1/4 of the radius of a pen, so if properly done that ratio will always be constant. However the same problem comes up with the ratio of the width to the length of the keys... the width will stay constant but the length will shorten as the pen is turned.



A pic is worth a thousand words. I know what I mean, but looking over what I've written I doubt that anyone else does.

Edit: maybe this'll help?
Attachment 68087

Yep.. now I see what youre doing. my mind went in a bit different direction, using a thin kerf blade to notch out a place to slide in a thin laminate or maybe pour the resin. Still haven't thought it all the way through, though. Could also set the laminate in a jog and pour the resin in white? Not sure..

Please excuse the image, I don't have a 3D program, but managed to
hammer it through Photoshop, quick and dirty..

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

I've given away a few celtic knot, spider web and fish scale type blanks that I've laminated up. I tend to leave them looking rough, with dags of glue etc. on the outside... it'll all be turned away after all, so why bother making the blank look pretty? The recipients have given me odd looks and I could see them thinking "what am I s'posed to do with this mess?" Mind you, they've later come back asking for seconds.

LOL .. gotta love surprises like that.

You've done it again Amos The presentation in the pen case is spot on and I'm sure someone who appreciates high quality fine craftmanship will purchase very quickly.
I notice in your post you state that you frequently need to sharpen your tools; I gather you're using a gouge and skew? If alternative ivory turns like acrylic blanks, use a freshly ground round nose scraper taking light sweeping cuts right down to the stage before sanding. Use the roughing gouge beforehand to rough out the square.
I gave up using the spindle gouge and skew on acrylics because I was forever sharpening. With the round nose scraper I can complete 10 acrylics before sharpening. Try it out, it's a hell of lot easier and quicker and more enjoyable.
BTW I use 2000 rpm for this method.

As usual keep up the good works

Cheers, Evan

Thanks Evan, I use a 3/4" roughing gouge, am waiting on some "Normal" inexpensive wood before i start practising with a skew. Amos

Amos, I'll second the use of a round nose scraper for acrylics.

Originally Posted by NewLondon88

Please excuse the image, I don't have a 3D program, but managed to hammer it through Photoshop, quick and dirty..

I just use M$-Paint. It's fiddly, but it's almost always on every 'puta I use.

Yep.. now I see what youre doing. my mind went in a bit different direction, using a thin kerf blade to notch out a place to slide in a thin laminate or maybe pour the resin. Still haven't thought it all the way through, though. Could also set the laminate in a jog and pour the resin in white? Not sure..

Hmmm... You could rebate out that whole section of blank a bit deeper than the planned kerfs first and pour a white resin in that. Then, once it's set, you could cut the kerfs and pour in black. Or...

Sorry, I tend to grab people's ideas and run with 'em...

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

Sorry, I tend to grab people's ideas and run with 'em...

Well .. *I* was getting nowhere fast...

Originally Posted by NewLondon88

I think that would be interesting.. post away!

Sorry, this the bestI can do.
Nothing small enough to see properly, I'm afraid.
D.