Thread: Monthly Pen thing

Originally Posted by Stuart.

So do you guys have any photos?

I go away Wednesday so my month is over

Here is my attempts for the month

Antler
I slit the antler in half and tried to drill the hole as near as possible to the outer. Missed most of the marking after shaping, also enter what I think was a flaw in the core. sanded up to 1500 grit natural finish

Burl

I ran in all kinds of trouble, beautiful piece of timber but my shaky hand did a bit of chipping. Sanded to 1500 grit Finish clear polyurethane

Bullet

As per earlier post

Sam very nice you are quick off the board. I have to make mine yet. Way to go
Sam
bye Toni

yay ... mine have arrived

Looking forward to having a go at something new ...

Hey Toni, how have the boys managed to mail theirs for about $1 and you got stung for $3.80??? That must mave been expensive for you

Antler
I slit the antler in half and tried to drill the hole as near as possible to the outer. Missed most of the marking after shaping, also enter what I think was a flaw in the core. sanded up to 1500 grit natural finish

Great idea but don't think I'm brave enough in case I blow it completely!!

Like your pens Sam


Jenny

must of been wrong sex. could not butter up the post office chick. LOL
Toni

Use some ground up antler - apparently works wonders....oh wait, you need the parcel to arrive to get the antler!

Originally Posted by Simomatra

I slit the antler in half and tried to drill the hole as near as possible to the outer..

You did very well then Sam, braver than me drilling so close to the edge.

Thanks Touchwood< Toni and Neil

My first choice was to wait for a Sierra pen kit but there looked enough to get two out of one. I was very carefull with the drilling in the press

Thanks for the Antler Toni it was a real challenge. I found the best cut came when I used freshly sharpened tools and jacked the lathe speed right up

I will not be home till late next month so I woun't be so fast next time

Very interested to see other pictures

Seeing as how others have posted their bullet pens in this thread, I'll show ya what I've done with mine. 'Tis a modified slimline kit, you can see where I've nibbled & bent the clip to conform to the top barrel. I also stripped the nickel/chrome/whatever off the casing, bringing it back to brass. Now it looks much better with the gold kit.

The other pen (using the burl) isn't done yet; I'm thinking of buying some new, unprimed .308 cases and making more of this style of pen... it depends on whether I can stretch the budget. (Which was shot to hell this week; we had a fire in the bedroom t'other day that took out the carpet, bed, & b/r suite. $$$ )

thats pretty cool skew. the divided casing looks awesome

That is a very good looking pen, unusual, great job.

If I may say so, the recycle bin does not make a good background though

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

Tis a modified slimline kit

Looks great Skew they way you have split the casing. As it is a slimeline, which part twists? I would have thought the antler is too close to the tip and the end of the casing too far away from the mechanism.

Anyway, while we are on a roll, I might as well post mine. I drilled down the guts of the antler and ended up with pure white . To add some colour I engraved flames of sorts with a dremel and cast them with resin. At the time I was going to sand back the casing to the brass, but then I saved the crome, so not sure now if the red/yellow goes with it , perhaps blue would have looked better. Also didn't get the ends of the flames sharp, the dremel kept going where I didn't want it to , so not really happy with it. All good learning experience though , thanks Toni.

The burl didn't have much 3D in it afterall, but still looks Ok with plenty of grain.

Originally Posted by dai sensei

As it is a slimeline, which part twists? I would have thought the antler is too close to the tip and the end of the casing too far away from the mechanism.

The top half of the antler is glued to the top tube, the bottom half is "tubeless" and freewheels over the lower tube, which only has the bullet glued to it. ie. the lower tube is still full length, so the mechanism works OK. I did a bit of a stub tenon on the antler to fit snugly inside the bottom half of the bullet, so it's not an obvious joint. (Bushing on the mandrel was a nightmare!)

The little bit of antler at the finial end is there 'cos whoever drilled the primer out had drilled off-centre (probably why the case was a reject) and when I redrilled for the tube it was still noticable. So that bit of antler hides it.

I drilled down the guts of the antler and ended up with pure white .

Ditto. By the time I turned it down to the right size all the colour was gone... my own fault, I mis-measured. I like the idea behind adding the flames, I might try something similar with a bit of Corian and see how it comes out.

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

..I might try something similar with a bit of Corian and see how it comes out.

I found the best way of casting was to drill a 15mm hole into a scrap piece of wood and mark the depth on the outside. I oil the inside of the hole and let soak in, then place in some resin, then place the pen part. The resin comes up the sides and into the carvings. If the cast doesn't slip out easilyafter it is set, I cut off the base of the scrap timber and redrill through the sleeve, just reface and re-turn.

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

. (Which was shot to hell this week; we had a fire in the bedroom t'other day that took out the carpet, bed, & b/r suite. $$$ )

Skew I am so sorry to hear about your fire. Terrible things. been there and done that. Mate but least you were able to contain it before the whole house.
Bye Toni