Brass & Ebony

[Roy_Quast]

Well boys and girls, it's been a while since I last posted so I HOPE you all will enjoy my latest pen. It took me over a year to make this blank. I did not want to rush things. I had to let the ebony do it's thing and shrink a little each time I added another line of brass. It cost over $40.00 US just to make. 12.00 for the ebony blank, 2X2X12 24.00 for the brass sheets, 2 sheets @ 12.00, and 2.00 for each single use epoxy unit X's 8. Once all the lines of brass were in, I let it sit for about 6 months. I then added maple to all 4 sides to prevent a blow-out when drillijng the hole for the barrel. It took me all day to step-drill the blank on the lathe. After all this time I was NOT going to take any chances of a blow-out. Once the hole was complete, I cut off the maple and started sanding. I never once touched it with a gouge! A gouge hitting that thick brass would have ripped it apart in a heartbeat. 36 grit sandpaper was what I used for the next 3 weeks. I could only sand for about 1 minute before the brass heated up too much. After a minute, I had to let it cool down for about 15 minutes. That is why it took me sooooo long to sand it down to the bushings. When it got close to the bushings, I let it sit for another month. I gave the ebony time to shrink. The final sanding was wet sanded all the way through 12K MM. It has about 15 coats of CA. It's on a sierra gold ti.

Let me know what you think
Roy

 

[JimMc7]

Beautiful result from a lot of work!

 

[chriselle]

Roy, Aside from being a spectacular blank your persistence and patience to the project is an inspiration. As one who spends months on a finish I can somewhat relate. However, not to critique..... but why a cheap (albeit Ti gold) clicker kit?:question:
After all that work I'd be searching world wide for a worthy kit. Well Done!!

 

[Bree]

Fantastic! Dayum I love that pen!! Outstanding job!
:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

 

[Rick1708]

wow

 

[glycerine]

Me likes. Looks like your Christmas balls like it too...

 

[ldb2000]

Great looking segmenting job , it makes a stunning pen . I agree with Chris about the kit , an Elegant Beauty Sierra might have been a classier looking kit but that's just my opinion . What thickness brass sheet did you use ?

 

[Penmaker2]

Has to be the best looking pen I have seen. It took my breath away and wondered if I will ever have the patience to do this

 

[el_d]

Very, very cool blank. I think the Glass and the balls(X-mas) takes away from the beutiful work. I think Beartooth has a Bl/Ti sierra click that is screaming for that brass and ebony blank.

 

[mrburls]

Very cool pen Roy. I like all the brass and design.

Keith "mrburls"

 

[Phunky_2003]

Stunning absolutely stunning.

James

 

[mbroberg]

Very nice blank. I don't know if I would have the patience but obviously yours paid off. I would not have used that particular kit but is there ever really a "wrong" choice when dealing with individual tastes? I think the pen looks awesome!!

 

[Jim15]

Awesome pen, outstanding work.

 

[David M]

NIce pen , the brass and ebony looks great.

 

[artme]

Superb workpersonship,resulting in a superb pen!!

 

[Rollerbob]

Very nice work. Admire you guys that spend months prepping a blank. For me, a bird in the hand...

 

[kruzzer]

What can I say... beautiful...

 

[Roy_Quast]

Thanks for all the nice replies. I made this pen for myself. Beings that I am a working man, NOT an executive, I usually have papers in one hand and need to pull a pen out with the other hand, click it, and start writing. I don't have time to twist with both hands. I have used other sierra click pens and have not had any problems. That is why I used that kit.
The brass is .025 thickness.....I think, it's been a while since I bought it.

Roy

 

[rpearson]

Awesome work and dedication :biggrin: !!!

 

[gketell]

Absolutely fabulous pen!!

 

[titan2]

I don't have time to twist with both hands.Roy

I've seen numerous references to people having to twist their pens with both hands.......I've always used just one! Bottom two fingers hold it while the upper two twist.......the middle one, well, it's free to do what it wants!!!! LOL

By the way.....that's one pretty pen!!!


Barney

 

[thewishman]

Beautiful pen! That is a fitting result to the patience and persistence that went into its creation. Bravo!

 

[george]

Very, very beatiful !!!!
Congrats.

 

[Mrs Rojo22]

Nice!

Robin

 

[Roy_Quast]

To Butch
The actual thickness of the brass is .040. I went back the same hardware store to buy some more brass and saw that the brass that I used on this pen was .040.
Hope that clears it up.
Roy

 

[bitshird]

The pen definitely shows the time spent, and looks like it was worth the effort.

 

[diamundgem]

I love the pen ,also think the Christmas ball really give a dramatic effect. I like them. Very orginal

 

[leehljp]

I enjoyed your "journey" in making it as much as the pen itself, which is fabulous!

I enjoy making a pen like that, one step at a time with no hurry; just get each step right. Overkill for some, but pure enjoyment knowing the care, patience and precision that went into it!

Congratulations of both the journey and the pen!

 

[louisbry]

What Hank said. Beautiful, well done and spectacular. BTW you choose the perfect kit--the one you like!

 

[arw01]

An incredible pen, and a large kudo's on the patience!


A possible way to massively cut the amount of time you had to spend, would be to make a router carriage to fit over your lathe. You could turn on the lathe and then slide the router onto the blank from an end. With the lathe spinning you could slide the router back and forth on the carriage and that 22,000 rpm bit would have cleanly cut both the ebony and the brass.

Again wow...

 

[Ligget]

Kudos on the patience, it has certainly paid off big time, lovely pen!