Ironicly, my first hand made pen wasn't a pen, but rather a pencil... and
there was no kit.
Ironicly, my first hand made pen wasn't a pen, but rather a pencil... and
there was no kit.
The original pencil was a Koh-i-noor Rapidomatic 0.3 mm drafting pencil. The plastic barrel tends to break where it meets the knurled metal grip. After several attempts at gluing this piece back together. I gave up and replaced the pencil but kept the hardware, hoping to rebuild it one day.
I had contemplated making a metal barrel out of some hexagonal brass stock, but never got around to getting the stock and couldn't figure out how to drill a 1/4 inch hole four or more inches deep through the center of a 3/8 bar. It wasn't until I read up on the pen kits that I got the idea to make a wooden barrel.
Since there was no kit to rebuild this pencil, I had to make everything from scratch. The tube is a hybrid of two sizes. The bulk of the tube is 1/4 inch diameter to clear the pencil mechanism, but the end of the tube is larger to accommodate the knurled end cap. The two sections of tubing were carefully aligned and soldered together.
The scrap box yielded a piece of dark mahogany (I think) from a packing pallet. I cut a section, drilled it, glued the tubing in and then had to improvise a way to turn it.
I left the tubing long which allowed me to chuck it in the lathe. I supported the other end with a dowel pin held in the tail stock chuck. I rough turned the piece round and then set about reproducing the barrel's dimension. Everything was great until I cut the barrel too short. I turned all the wood off and tried again.
This time I got it right. The nice thing about a wooden barrel is that I didn't bother trying to cut threads for the grip to thread onto. I selected the finished diameter such that I could just let the grip cut its own threads when I screwed it on. In the original the end cap was pressed into the plastic, but in my case, the barb was filed off and glue used to retain the cap.
I finished the barrel with many, many coats of tung oil and it turned out to be a very nice looking pencil.
My first pen was an El Grande in a dyed maple burl. This was actually a test
run to get a feel for how the pen kits go together. It was also the only way
at the time to get a fountain pen nib for the Churchill kit...
I had never worked with a stabilized burl before. They are a bit tricky. First, they are nowhere near square or straight. Drill carefully. Second, they are prone to tear-outs. You have to take a pass or two, then stop and look for voids or loose pieces that are going to tear out. I fill voids and weak spots with some cyanoacrylate adhesive, let it cure, then take a few more passes. If you don't reinforce the wood as you go you can get a tear-out that goes deeper than your finished diameter, ruining the part.
I had my doubts about the purple maple. The color seemed awfully pale once I got past the surface. Some parts of the wood hadn't taken any color and were orangeish in color. I wasn't sure it would look all that good but once it was finished, it looked great. The tung oil darkened the colors a bit and the undyed parts keep the pen from being boring.
The photos show the pen with the fountain pen nib in place, but this one became a rollerball by swapping parts with the Churchill kit.
This is the pen that I was going for. This is a Churchill kit made with a
cherry burl. I swapped the rollerball and fountain pen parts with the El
Grande and got a very classy pen. The piece of cherry I used in this pen was
a bear to work with. Compared to the maple burl there were many more voids
and several internal cracks that I had to reinforce several times. Even so,
I did have one piece chip off in such a way that it did cross below the
finished diameter. Luckily, it was right near the edge of the barrel and
didn't go deep. It is just about invisible in the finished pen. The only
complaint I have about the Churchill kit is the pen clip. The clip is made
from folded metal like most clips and does not look substantial enough for
the rest of the pen. The notch in the spacer for the clip is either too
large or the clip to narrow, but it is a minor complaint.
The cherry burl Churchill was impressive enough that I got an order for
another one from a co-worker. I was out of parts so I placed an order for
more with an outfit that would also sell the fountain pen nibs separately.
They also had the Churchill in silver trim instead of gold. I had a blue and
black acrylic blank on hand, so I ordered a Churchill in gold and one in
silver along with a cherry blank and some fine fountain pen nibs. This is
the blue and black acrylic Churchill in silver trim.
Acrylic is very easy to drill, but a bear to turn. I finally found that a sharp point carbide insert was my best bet. Even so, the swarf tended to get tangled up around the piece or oddly, wrap around the piece such that you wondered if you actually cut anything. If you rubbed at them a bit, they would break off and reveal a clean cut below. Once at the right diameter a pass with 600 grit wet/dry paper followed by a green pot scrubbing pad and some polishing compound on a paper towel results in a smooth glossy finish in about 5 minutes.
To do this one over again, I would replace the brass tubes with aluminum. The brass shows through the acrylic slightly resulting in a slightly greenish tint under strong light. The aluminum would prevent this problem. If I had used a red acrylic, the brass wouldn't have been a problem.
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