Last night I went to Woodcraft and bought the bushings and a kit for a Classic American "click" pen, which is different from the twist pens that I have been making. Unfortunately, I did not realize that the "click" pen requires a different drill bit as well (11 mm), and I had to go back tonight on my way home to get that. I also applied for a Woodcraft Visa card (about time - I should have done that ages ago!) and picked up the kits and bushings for a regular ball-point click pen - not Classic American style.
Last night, after getting home, I made a Bocote Classic American pen that came out pretty well. It is the same wood that I used for my brother's pen and pencil set.
Today, I went to my company's office in Burlington and brought my pens with me (as I always do). I ended up giving away a pen that I thought no one would want - a pen/pencil combo that was made from two woods (Redheart on top and Cocobolo on the bottom). I always kind of liked that one, but I never thought that anyone else would. One of my co-workers really liked it, so I gave it to him. He wanted to pay me, but I stuck to my "free to friends, sold to friends who want to give it as a gift to someone else" policy. He wanted to use it himself, so it was free.
Tonight I tried to make two pens. I used Olivewood to try to make the regular click ballpoint pen, and it did not come out quite right, so I tried to fix it and ended up breaking the mechanism. So, it looks good but does not operate. The look of it is such that I may make more in that style, though, and I can show it to people as a prototype as long as they do not try to write with it:
The second pen was an acrylic that was the most expensive pen (in terms of materials) that I have made so far. The kit was platinum instead of gold (my wife picked out the acrylic and the kit to go together), and went nicely with the black, white, and red of the acrylic. The sanding was not a perfect job. It falls just short of my last attempt with acrylics in terms of the look and feel of it. I could probably sell it, but we'll have to see:
The first "team-designed" pen was glued together tonight as well. My wife designed a pen that is part cocobolo and part ash. We cut the pieces and glued them together, and tomorrow we will (hopefully) cut and drill the resulting blanks, and then glue the tubes. If THAT goes well, we will later make the pen. The first combo experiment! I am excited, but a bit nervous about the process, as it is the first time.
Projects in the queue
- 8-ball tournaments
- Custom Pool Cue
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