Culprit
Member
I'm a government employee in the DoD. Our office supplies are provided by the lowest bidder - right now a company named Skilcraft.
Since I started making pens a few weeks ago (made about 10) I'm learning and improving every day - and that includes eyeballing everything around me that I might be able to chuck in the lathe - nothing is safe from my curiosity. Yesterday at work I took a second glance at my mechanical pencil and this is what I came up with later that evening after the kids were in bed.
It's fun to see and hear the reactions of folks at work when they see a nice piece of wood on the standard pencil that we see laying on everyone's desk around here.
I drilled and squared the blank, and mounted it on the blue plastic pen barrel via friction fit, then threaded the nib back on (with the mechanical guts removed. I chucked the barrel in my Jacobs chuck on the headstock, and placed the nib against the live center. The plastic on the nib wasn't strong enough and kept gradually giving way and expanding, so I kept gradually tightening up the live center (actually, advancing the quill on the Shopsmith).
Incidentally, I've carried this particular pencil 5 days a week for over a year now, and I've used this same model of pencil for at least 4-5 years. Even though Skilcraft was the lowest bidder and won the gov't contract, I've been very impressed with the quality, reliability, and durability. In 4-5 years of continuous use, I haven't had one break yet. I've only had about 3 in that timeframe - I've lost a couple.
The wood is Jatoba with friction polish and renaissance wax. A fun little what-if project that gets neat reactions from people at work.
Since I started making pens a few weeks ago (made about 10) I'm learning and improving every day - and that includes eyeballing everything around me that I might be able to chuck in the lathe - nothing is safe from my curiosity. Yesterday at work I took a second glance at my mechanical pencil and this is what I came up with later that evening after the kids were in bed.
It's fun to see and hear the reactions of folks at work when they see a nice piece of wood on the standard pencil that we see laying on everyone's desk around here.
I drilled and squared the blank, and mounted it on the blue plastic pen barrel via friction fit, then threaded the nib back on (with the mechanical guts removed. I chucked the barrel in my Jacobs chuck on the headstock, and placed the nib against the live center. The plastic on the nib wasn't strong enough and kept gradually giving way and expanding, so I kept gradually tightening up the live center (actually, advancing the quill on the Shopsmith).
Incidentally, I've carried this particular pencil 5 days a week for over a year now, and I've used this same model of pencil for at least 4-5 years. Even though Skilcraft was the lowest bidder and won the gov't contract, I've been very impressed with the quality, reliability, and durability. In 4-5 years of continuous use, I haven't had one break yet. I've only had about 3 in that timeframe - I've lost a couple.
The wood is Jatoba with friction polish and renaissance wax. A fun little what-if project that gets neat reactions from people at work.
