banksia/zircote

[crabcreekind]

My cousin recently bought me a banksia pod to make pens with and we had schemed about it for a couple weeks after seeing one on the internet. the pen took me about 4-5 hours to make over about a week. I used green inlay and a gallon of superglue to make it work. But it finally turned out just the way i expected. I was happy because the thing didnt blow up on me when drilling,thanks to woodcraft 7mm drill bits, but the inlay came out frequently. The zircote pen was relatively easy, I had saw some fatline pens people had made and decided to try it, but i dont know how to make a center band. I used sanding sealer, high friction polosh and carnauba wax for the finish. ideas can really help me out. all complements and criticisms are welcome.

 

[G1Pens]

Good job on both pens. I especially like the Zircote. From what I see it looks really good without the band.

 

[hilltopper46]

Your work looks good. If you want to make fat pens, in my opinion, you should move to a pen with a larger tube and fittings.

One way to make a center band...

1) decide which barrel will be the top barrel
2) turn the pen down to a round shape, if you want the band to be larger than the barrel, turn the barrel to its final dimension. If you want the barrel and centerband to be even, leave the barrel larger than the final dimension.
3) take the barrel off the lathe, and glue a small block of whatever material you want to be the center band to the barrel. Only the side that you glue to the barrel has to be flat
4) once the glue has set (accelerator is OK), take a drill bit that just passes through the barrel and drill out the centerband (for 7mm pens this is a letter 'D' bit)
5) use a barrel mill or other method to face the centerband flat and square to the barrel
6) take the drill for the tube size (7mm for 7mm tube) and BY HAND drill (enlarge the existing hole) out the centerband until you have drilled all the way through to the brass tube
7) remount the barrel and turn to the desired shape and size. I'll be posting a pen on SOYP in a few moments that I did that exact process to just today.

Hope this helps.

 

[crabcreekind]

Thank you for the help i guess i need to get a D bit then. That helps alot