Here's another hobby of mine!

Well, I like to make things. Here's a new hobby that I've picked up; pen making. Here are a few that I've made:







These are some of the nicer ones of about 10 to 15 that I've made. From left to right they are amboyna burl (sapwood and heartwood), honduras rosewood burl, cocobolo, and reconstituted stone. The amboyna and cocobolo are finished with CA glue and sanded/polished to a shine. When I have the chance, the honduras rosewood burl will be finished the same way.

Those are awesome! You should share the pics at EDCForums. They have a whole subforum just for pens and writing. Probably find a lot of people that would really appreciate them. Might even find some buyers to fund some knife purchases! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Nice work DL.

cool, those came out great

They sure did! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Those are great!

Thanks for the compliments! Andy, I'll have to check out that edc forum. Thanks for the heads up!

Very nice, commission time?

WOW......nice work......very nice.... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />

Very nice.They come in kits?

Thanks again for the compliments.

Myketheknife, yes, they do come in kits. Anything that looks like metal or plastic is part of the kit. The wood is purchased as a blank that gets cut, drilled, turned to size, and finished. There are also acrylic blanks and several others of the reconstituted stone.

pretty sweet. i'd end up safe queening those.

Those are some really nice pens. Never thought about pen making as a hobby but Im sure most peole can appreciate a really nice pen.

Very cool hobby. Look forward to seeing more.

A couple three years ago, my wife and I help start a new Chruch. It was just a factory building when we started. We built bathrooms, classrooms, kitchen, Fellowship hall and Sanctuary with pulpit.

My wife's dead Father had given my dad some wild cherry lumber about 15 years ago. Well We got some of it that dad had left and was not going to use. Our pastor used it to make a Pulpit AND alter benches. He also had some pieces left over and used some of it to make my wife a Pen. She will cherish it forever. I had never seen a handmade pen before that. Once again, good job on your pens. They are really nice. The work shows you care.

cool,I'm liking the recon. stone.

Wow, impressive. Surfboards aren't enough huh? The yard has talent.

Post some pics of the honduras rosewood burl one once it's done, the polishing will really bring out burl.

Thanks for the compliments!

The honduras rosewood burl is nice, but will look nicer with a better finish! At about $15 just for the single pen blank, it better look good! It'll be a while until I refinish that one. My lathe is back home (I'm down at school) so I won't be able to work on any pens for about a month.

As for the surfboards, I shaped another one for my girlfriend a few weeks ago, and the glassing should be done Monday! What can I say, I'm and engineer and I like to make things!

Looks great. My dad makes Pens too, he made me a burrly Maple one that I love and use often.

Nice! I'd like to do a maple burl pen sometime!

What I really like about making pens is:

1. It's not very difficult, once you have all the tools
2. Since I enjoy woodworking, it gives me a chance to work with
some exotic woods without breaking the bank!

Like knife collecting, though, it can get expensive. That Honduras rosewood burl pen and the reconstituted stone pen cost around $20 each just for the materials, and those are not expensive pen kits. Oh, that doesn't count the drill bit cost or the bushing cost. Usually there's a specific bushing set for each pen design and for me (starting out), I usually need to buy a drill bit when I get a new pen kit design.

Those are some beautiful pens

Very nice.

PM me if you are selling any. I could use a nice pen.

What ink cartridge do ethey use? I am partial to Cross pens myself.

Here are some more I've done.

These are some slimline pens I've turned. From back to front they are bloodwood, polymer clay with CA glue finish, polymer clay, and rosewood. These wood ones are some of my first from when I'd just use a friction finish. Now I use CA and polish that up. The CA finish is much shinier and more durable.


Here are a couple I did two days ago.

This one is reconstituted turquoise with copper hardware. I really like the way this one came out! Also, I don't know why, but the copper hardware always looks more like brass in pictures. Oh well.


This one is just some black/red/silver acrylic with black hardware. I like this one, too!

wow they all look sweet but the last two are awesome! good job man! by the way that copper looks like copper to me.

Wow, beautiful one. I like the 2nd from the top.

Diggin the turquoise dude.
You are an artist.
Are the reconstituted stone pens heavier?

Thanks for the compliments!


To answer your question, yes, the reconstituted stone pens are heavier. I like that they are heavier, though. My girlfriend, however, thinks that these larger pens made of the recon stone are too heavy. It's all personal preference.

As a side note, I really like these recon stone pens. I prefer turning wood because it's easier and I like the natural look of wood, but to get a nice shiny (I like shiny) finish on wood that is durable, it seems a CA glue finish is what's best. However, it's a bit time consuming to apply at least 6 or more coats of CA glue to the pen. What I like about the recon stone is that it's more natural looking than the acrylic pen blanks, and it doesn't require any application of a finish.

Oh, I don't know that I'd call myself an artist for making these. Having the right tools for the right job definitely helps!

Michelangelo had the right tools also.

Hahah! I made a few more!

A Bloodwood pencil:


A spalted maple pen:


And last, another recon stone:


That recon stone was a pain to turn compared to the previous ones! It dulled my gouge like crazy before I even knocked down the corners of the square blank very much at all! So, like any self respecting male, I bought a new carbide cutting tool to turn it down! That bad boy cut that pen blank like butter!

WOW!

Nice work,thanks for shareing.

Truly nice work. Where do I sign up for one!

Here are a couple that I got done this weekend. The first is a Redwood Lace Burl and copper Cigar, and the second is an Azurite/Malachite Tru-stone Hybrid Cigar.

Truly beautiful work there, more craftsmanship than work!

Those cigars are smokin'!
The RLB&C especially.
Keep 'em comin'

Thanks for the compliments! I wish I had more time to do some more!

Give me some shiny silver on the maple and I'm sold.

I have the technology!

Do it up!!! Me like!!! Are you taking custom orders? Are you selling or JUST creating your OWN works of art? They are truly beautiful pieces. Not sure I could actually USE it. What are the refills?

Most of what I've done is just because I want to. I enjoy working with my hands and pen turning gives me the opportunity to make something that is somewhat useful out of some pretty exotic (and pricey) woods. Right now, being in college, I only make pens when I head home for any given weekend or holiday. Between school, mountain biking, and trying to surf here on the central coast of California, I don't think I need more distractions down at school!

As for the pens I've shown here, most of them take Parker style ball point or gel refills. I just received some materials so I can make a couple types of roller balls and fountain pens. The thing with fountain pens is that they get pretty expensive, though.

Oh man, Those are true Gentleman's Pens right there, no joke. Gotta be in charge of something to carry a pen like that in your breast-pocket. Awesome work!

Well, here's another recon-stone from a few weeks ago. This color is called "Bloody Jasper."

The Jasper looks good with the black furniture.

Thanks for the compliment! What amazes me when I work with this recon stone is when I find pictures of the actual stone. There really is "Bloody Jasper" stone and it's red with black lines in it!

On another note, this summer should be fun with the lathe! I've purchased more pen blanks than I know what to do with! Some are Honduras Rosewood burl, Desert Ironwood (plain, high contrast, and one piece of burl), red heart burl, a couple Austrailian burl pieces, some Cocobolo burl, and several others! Maybe I should get a respirator for some of these. I've noticed that some types wood's sanding dust bothers my nose more than it used to. I have read that the more people get exposed to certain types of wood dust (namely Cocobolo and other rosewoods), the more likely a person is to develop an allergy to it. I'd rather not spend much time sneezing and blowing my nose every time I make a pen.

You got to watch Cocobolo. I hear it is toxic to breathe.

Have you tried brazilian lacewood or Tulipwood? I like Blue Mahoe also.

I do have a Tulipwood blank. It's definitely interesting looking. The only Lacewood I have is a 3/16" thick board that I'm gonna use to make some knife handles. As for Blue Mahoe, I've only seen pictures of it, but there are a few places that I know sell it. I may have to give that one a try!

Well, summer is here and I've been on the lathe a bit! Here are some that I've done since I got back from school:

Florida Monkey Ear:



Cocobolo Burl:



Desert Ironwood Burl:



Figured Eucalyptus:



And an acrylic:



That's all for now, but I'm sure I'll turn more!

I like the allmost flame look of the acrylic,hell I like them all.
Nice turnings.

That Eucalyptus looks fantastic! I'm diggin the acrylic too!

A little late for Halloween, but this thread is back from the dead! (I know, that was pathetic...)

Anyway, here are some that I've done recently:

This first one is another recon-stone.


This one is the first of a new style I've tried. It's a little bigger than the slim ones, but still takes Cross-style refills. The wood is stabilized spalted monkey ear (or Florida ear).


This last one is a segmented pen. From the ends in, the wood is dyed spalted maple, beech veneer, lacewood, beech veneer, and cocobolo. I really like this one!

LOVE the cocobolo burl!!!!

ALOT

do they take fischer refills?

If you mean the fischer space pen refills, then yes, a lot of the ball point pens I have shown do. Fischer sells their space pen refills with Parker refill adapters. The larger ball point pens I've shown (the larger ones without caps) take Parker style refills.

Thanks for the compliment!

man, that's some beautiful work you do... just might have to make my own sometime... care to elaborate as to where you get the kits?

Outstanding! You'll be getting a call when I have my corner office with a view, I'll be needing a few of these for my desk! (if that ever happens, lol)

Hah! I use my pens every day at school and tell myself that I look more distinguished than I really am! I made one fountain pen that I haven't photo'd and one of my friends said: "Do you think you're Abraham Lincoln or something?!" I'll say though, once I wrote much with a fountain pen, all other pens got bumped down a notch. And that was with a fairly cheap fountain pen kit!

I've done some artwork with a fountain pen before, I liked the way I could bleed the pen for just a bit more oomph, it's a very interesting medium to work with. I definitely am right with you on that, no ball point hold a candle.

You really stepped it up a notch with the segmented pen,very nice.

Thanks for all the compliments! Here's another segmented pen that I just photo'd. This one is a personal favorite! From the ends in it is Mango, Beech veneer, Purpleheart, Beech veneer, and Amboyna burl. The mango looks better "in person" because it has some nice chatoyance (that shimmery reflective property of some woods). Here you go:

Here's one for fellow gun owners:



It's an actual .30-06 shell and bullet, not some fake thing that was made to look like a bullet!

Oh, the wood is cocobolo.

That is an awesome cartridge pen!

Sure is.
Keep 'em coming,love the pen porn.

Love the cartridge pen. BTW, I need to get with you about some more things!

Thanks for the compliments! The cartridge one was a fun one to see finished.

Sumo, just drop me an email or pm whenever you'd like!

Here are a few more I've done in the past week. Living the life of the unemployed recent college graduate has given me some extra free time.

First, a new (for me) style in acrylic:



A recon-stone roller ball called banded malachite:


Another cartridge pen with camo acrylic:


And last, a... well, I'll see if anyone can guess what this is. It is finished with CA glue.

one again thats some very nice work dl. they all are very unique so it's hard to pick a favorite of the last few. the cartridge pens are pretty cool though.

last pen reminds me of an octopus. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

All look good but that last one has my eye for sure. Is the wood California Redwood Burl?

Some kind of seeds, persimmon?

I was going to venture Fish scales perhaps? Probably way off though, lol.

There are some interesting guesses, here!

Well, that unidentified pen is actually a pine cone. Lots of super glue and slow going on the lathe for that one, but I think the results are worth it!

On another note, here are some things I got done recently:



A question for all who look at this, would you prefer the cartridge pen and firesteel with material like the camo acrylic, or various woods? Thanks for the input!

Ok, that's strange. I Answered this and now it's gone!

I think the pen would look good with Osage orange or Zebra wood. The Camo on the fire-steel looks good!

Wood for the win!

A pine cone?who'd a guessed.
I noticed the tube liner in the fire steel handle,nice attention to detail.

+1 for wood

Thanks for the input. I'm working on a wood cartridge pen that hopefully will be done in the next day or so. For now though, I finished this one. I call it my "more money than brains" pen because it's the most expensive one I've made (despite being fresh out of college and on the job hunt)! It's a roller ball pen made with a "metal mokume" blank. I put that in quotes because it's pretty much powdered metal put together like the reconstituted stone. By making them that way, they are 95% metal, but can be turned with wood turning tools. Enjoy!

Very nice!

That is cool! I dig the pattern

After much battling, I finished this cartridge pen! The wood is spalted ramon with a CA glue finish. It's a .30-06 cartridge.

I love the little dings in the cartridge, it gives it character!

What's nice is that the particular cartridges I get are clear powder coated so you see all the little dings, but they won't tarnish.

Cool! That last one is really choice!

If I carried a pen like I used to I'd be having one of these.

Here's one that I did yesterday. The wood is spalted honduras rosewood burl sapwood. It has a CA glue finish. I rather like the way this piece of wood looks! Here you go:

Another beautiful pen. Will be talking very soon about another one.

Thanks for the compliment!

Well, I have plenty of time to talk and turn pens! Still on the lookout for a job!

maybe you should turn a profit while you're making these pens then? That'll at least keep you afloat. I'm sure there's a market for awesome custom pens to be had.

Yeah, I'm sure there's a market, too. The problem is that most of the time, co-workers, friends, and family are where customers come from. Being fresh out of school and on the job hunt, I don't have any co-workers to show off and sell pens to. That's where the biggest number of customers seems to come from. I've thought about trying to make a website, but I keep reading that website sales for pens like these are typically very slow. Oh well.

I've got a couple in the works for one of my mom's co-workers. They'll be like the pine cone one. Those ones take lots of time, and lots of CA glue! It's all fun for me though! If I can have fun and make a little money, that's even better!

Love your pens. PM Sent!

I have one of his pens, it was top notch. Unfortunately I left it on my desk and someone (student) liberated me of it. Like I said, I will be getting another one soon.

Ah! That's terrible! If they're dumb enough to steal it, maybe they'll be dumb enough to use it in class!

DL, I would love to see that.

Here's one I finished the other day. It's another one of the "metal" ones. My fiance got me all the materials to make this one for v-day! Here you go:

Well, I've been a little bored this evening, so I thought I'd post some pics of a recent "project." This is a ferro rod that I put a handle on. The handle is logwood burl (looks kinda like amboyna burl) and has a brass lined lanyard tube.




To add a little (I really mean a little) excitement to my sometimes boring life, I put a glow in the dark spot on the end of the handle. I even put a brass tube in the hole to line the glow in the dark spot.




Just for fun, here's a set of ferro rods I put some desert ironwood handles on:

Those are awesome! I might have to place an order for a ferro rod when I get a pen from you too, <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> I really dig the glow in the dark spot. I wonder if you could get tritium vials and do the same? A very functional add on should someone drop the ferro rod in a survival situation. Could save someone's life.

Sweet! Really dig the logwood burl. Bet it would look nice on a pen!

The logwood burl does look nice on pens! I had one finished and was pressing the hardware into the tube, and the wood cracked! I hate it when stuff like that happens! Fortunately, I have plenty more logwood burl blanks.

Tritium vials is a good idea! I'll have to look into that. Are those even available to buy individually?

I believe you can, there has to be a distributor for them, since you can mail order stuff with tritium vials already installed, various weaponsights, and keyrings are two examples. If you can mail order stuff like that, shouldn't be a reason why you can't buy straight from the manufacturer. Asking a rep from Trijicon how they do it may be a good starting point.

I know you can't export it though, not without a special license. For example, if a soldier who is already deployed wanted to purchase an ACOG and have it shipped to him, they wouldn't be able to.

A little info on tritium. I remember someone mentioning once not liking the idea of having a radioactive isotope near thier important parts (ala a keychain). Turns out the radioactive particales cannot even penetrate the skin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tritium

Hey, dl351, your inbox is full!

Well, I've made a few pens lately, but this is one I really liked. It was for my brother's birthday. It is Zircote (the dark wood), Beech veneer, and Mesquite.

Man that is an impressive pen!

you are a true craftsman sir, well done!!

I have a somewhat similar hobby, I like to collect re-curve bows. I love the exotic woods used and the curves.

wow. i've never seen this thread before, but those pens ect are amazing.

So, here're a couple ferro rods I did a while back. What do you guys think of these? I tried to sell them without much luck. Please don't mistake this for me trying to sell here, I just want some good input. Do you think they are too "crafty" looking? Since I know plenty of you here are into the outdoors, I appreciate your opinions. Oh, those dots on the end glow, too.

DL, I think they look good. Are the rods replaceable or once used the whole unit is useless?

Those look great!

Thanks!

Sumo, once the rods are used, the entire thing is done. I've been trying to figure out how to make them detachable while maintaining outdoor compatibility. I've thought of using inserts and allen screws, but I'm worried that they would corrode too easily. I'll keep the gears turning!

Oh, the rods are 3 1/2" long by 3/8" diameter, so they do last a while!

Those are some nice looking rods. I love the work you put into them.