Thread: First Cartridge Pen

Lookin good it will always be a bit slow as one offs, and prototypes. I am a cheapskate and just use one shell, no centreband and a 60mm long tube ,some with copper finials and some with the rounded "designer" finials .they sell pretty well, especially when people are told it's a genuine bullet casing.I havn't tried the bullet as a nib yet. maybe next batch hehe! cheers

That's worked out quite well Fred, I don't think you need those CB's at all. What did ypu use to protect the brass?

Originally Posted by Simomatra

That's worked out quite well Fred, I don't think you need those CB's at all. What did ypu use to protect the brass?

Thanks Sam, I am relatively happy, one can always do better, but for a first attempt it came out OK.

I haven't protected the brass at all, want to see how it stands up to wear and tear.

Thos bullets are something else to drill, the outer casing is relatively hard, then you break through in to the lead and it drills like marshmellow, very soft and it sticks to he drill bit so you need to spray liberal amounts of WD40.

I turned the back of the bullet down to take a 7mm tube, then CA'd the tube to the bullet, worked very well.

This is the first pen I have made completely on the metal lathe, including turning and polishing the PR blank.

Like your pen and the design you gave it, going Army with no finish is one way another is to go to the nearest Powder Coating Coy and mine will run a batch for me at their minimum charge of 50 dollars when they run my preferred colour, I offered to make the rack, just an idea.

When drilling bullets I purchased drills ground for brass they cut clean as a whistle, also I buy bullets with a concave entry helps centreing and commence with a small centreing drill. When countersinking through the back for the biro recess to take away any slop I drill through with the small drill first through the front then reverse the bullet for the countersink.

Have not had time to play cartridge pens for quite a while but will again one day.

Regards Peter.

Originally Posted by Penpal

Like your pen and the design you gave it, going Army with no finish is one way another is to go to the nearest Powder Coating Coy and mine will run a batch for me at their minimum charge of 50 dollars when they run my preferred colour, I offered to make the rack, just an idea.

When drilling bullets I purchased drills ground for brass they cut clean as a whistle, also I buy bullets with a concave entry helps centreing and commence with a small centreing drill. When countersinking through the back for the biro recess to take away any slop I drill through with the small drill first through the front then reverse the bullet for the countersink.

Have not had time to play cartridge pens for quite a while but will again one day.

Regards Peter.

Thanks Peter, I will investigate powder coating.

I purchased hollow point bullets, so it was easy to start the drill and drilled all the way through to the back, held the bullet in an ER collet and chuck. Like you I then used the bigger drill for the refill from the back (9/64 from memory). Whilst still holding the bullet that way round I then cut a short tenon for the 7mm tube.

These metal lathes are fun!

Fred, very impressive, like I like it very much, your skill level just jumped up heaps. Amos

Nice one Fred.

John gifted me one of his casings, but I've yet to even think of attempting what to do with it :P

Russell.

Nice work Fred. Looks great

Nice work Fred. Looks great.
__________
Oeistein

OK all you pen sellers, I have just been asked a price for two of these, with perhaps more to come from gun club members.

How much would you charge for a pen like this?

Material cost + labour cost (time, trouble) + margin for skill, + what ever you think you deserve on top. ???? $50 to $75 ???

If there's significant effort, I'd be thinking more around $90+, although at that price I'd really think they should be powder coated, or at least lacquered or something to prevent tarnishing.

Was the brass polished? It seems there's some rings on the bottom casing in the photo?

Russell.

*EDIT*

Just looked again. May not be rings on the casing, but marks/scratches/imperfections. Can it be smoothed, or is that the authentic look?

With that much hand work, a minimum of $50 to $60 American...if you replaced the resin "top cap" with another shell, thus reducing the amount of hand work, somewhere around $45 to $50.

You may want to have the person ordering these to carry the prototype around for a day or two and see if the weight of a real bullet nib is a problem...we found that as collector item never really used, no one cared, but pens that are a daily user people reported the bullet dragged their shirt pocket down, so we went with the kit nib instead...

Even new from the factory, these shells have dents and nicks...you can wet sand them and polish to a mirror finish, but never get all the dents out.



To give you a rough idea, this is our product, we sell it for $20.00 American at the local and state gun shows...we can get away with such a small price because we build and sell in volume...my shop is set up to crank these out at the rate of 50 a night, and our cost (minus labor) is around $4.00 each, we buy shells by the 1000 bag, and kits by the 100 lot....if you are going to make a few only of your style, price them accordingly to cover your cost and your labor...

Originally Posted by edblysard

Even new from the factory, these shells have dents and nicks...you can wet sand them and polish to a mirror finish, but never get all the dents out.

Oh OK, fair enough then. You could always bash it up even more and say it's a genuine war relic :P

Hmm, I wonder what a Howitzer pen would look like?

Russell.