brown ebony / custom

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duncsuss

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I just got finished on a custom fountain pen made from brown ebony.

Because wood really doesn't take screw threads well (at least, it doesn't when I try) and doesn't take kindly to ink leaks, I made both the barrel and the cap fully lined with ebonite (hard rubber).

In effect, I made an ebonite pen with wooden sleeves wrapped around it -- not difficult as such, but it does require the various parts of the lathe to be in good alignment and you have to make frequent stops to check progress as you sneak up on the target dimensions.

The nib and clip kind-of match -- the nib is ruthenium-plated steel, the clip is "black titanium" plated. Both have a kind of gray-gunmetal look which the customer specifically asked for.

Finished by sanding through 2,000 grit, then a lick of Danish oil, then a bunch of coats of CA -- after polishing that, I buffed it with carnauba wax.

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magpens

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Beautiful !!!!! What is the diameter of the ebonite insert ? And what is the O.D. of the pen .... please .
 

duncsuss

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Beautiful !!!!! What is the diameter of the ebonite insert ? And what is the O.D. of the pen .... please .

Thanks!

The insert in the barrel is 10mm diameter; internally drilled with 8.25mm so that I could tap it M9x0.75 for the section to screw in. (Also, 8.25mm is a good size to take a cartridge/converter.)

The cap is threaded M12x0.8 (double start), drilled 11.3mm. I think I made the diameter of the insert 14mm -- either that or 13.2mm, since those are the only 2 drill bits I have which are in the right range (less than the cap outer diameter and bigger than the hole I drilled into it.)

Outer diameter (of both cap and barrel) at joint is 15mm, both get a little smaller towards the ends.

HTH
 

magpens

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:):) Thank you for the info. That's quite a big pen ... I really like your idea of sheathing the ebonite with wood.
 
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duncsuss

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:):):) Thank you for the info. That's a BIG pen !!!!:biggrin: I really like your idea of sheathing the ebonite with wood.

Thanks ... not my idea, though I can't remember exactly where I first saw it done. Maybe Jonathan Brooks or Doug Scott.

You can think of it as a wooden pen lined with ebonite, or an ebonite pen sheathed in wood -- I'm pretty sure the customer sees it one way and the penmaker sees it the other :wink:
 
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