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[btboone]

This pen has been something like a year in the works, but I've worked extensively on it in the last couple weeks. The pen is a fountain pen in wood or acrylic, but has the unique feature of having a twisting, tapering, and curving trilobe section that fits your hand. This one is made for a right hand and others will fit a left hand. The pen has both a clip and a cap that allows it to stand upright on a desk. When standing on a desk, the shape is somewhat reminiscent of a flame from a candle. It's actually a very comfortable pen. The only problem is that it's very hard to photograph!

 

[btboone]

Here's another pic in the light box. Note that the titanium clip is integral to the trilobe center band. Yeah, that was fun to machine.

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[btboone]

Here's another view. Note that the clip curves and tapers exactly with the body curve.

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[Snazzypens]

Way different Cool
Toni

 

[btboone]

Here's one with the cap off. The nib looks to be at a screwed up angle, but there's a reason for that. I made my own 4 lead threads to attach the cap. They unscrew quickly and don't take up much room. The cap has my proprietary 3 dimensional texturing called Mokumanium. I have the jaguar print and logo which would be visible when someone carries the pen in a pocket.

 

[btboone]

Here's an end view. It's a bit distorted from parallax, but you get the idea.

 

[btboone]

Here's where that screwed up nib orientation comes in. When you hold the pen, the twist allows the back of the pen to nestle nicely in your hand. The front part is gripped around the triangle shape. The clip goes between your fingers (assuming you hold a pen similar to me.) The metal parts are down toward the nib, so the pen is nicely balanced.

 

[btboone]

Here's another shot showing the grip of the pen. I'm fairly pleased with it. I need to get the finishing time down though!

 

[Ron Mc]

Absolutely amazing! Bruce this pen is a masterpiece and a beautiful work of art.

 

[Kaspar]

Very, very cool.

 

[btboone]

Thanks Ron and Toni. It was amazingly difficult to get all the fittings to squeeze in there and actually work. I had to have the clip screw on while still being able to orient the front half, and had to allow the nib to be able to be oriented. Also so the ink would be accessible, the the front half of the pen had to unscrew from the back half and and bottom out in proper orientation. The cap had to have very short threads, and the design all had to be tolerant of slight length variations of the wood or acrylic. I had to get very creative with the threads in order to get things to fit. Nothing has standard threads. I made up all my own threads, but it works since I make both the male and female threads. After murdering a metric tap in the tough titanium, I found that I had no choice but to single point them myself, so I used sizes that fit the design better than standard sizes.

 

[airrat]

Very nice.

 

[Jerryconn]

Totally Awesome!! Love it!

 

[PenTurnerJohn]

Bruce,

Absolutely stunning. What a work of art and yet practical. Well thought out and executed. Wow! []

 

[dfurlano]

Outstanding. How much are you selling it for?

Without a doubt the best looking 'custom' pen I have ever seen.

 

[gerryr]

Every time you put one of your creations up for us to see, you out do yourself. This one is really amazing, but I know the next one will be even more amazing.

 

[OKLAHOMAN]

Very well thought out and creative,a work of art thats functional. It never ceases to amaze me your creativity and workmanship

 

[btboone]

Thanks guys. This one will be a tough one to top. It was a ton of work. I tried to make it manufacturable, but the finishing time is what kills me. Before I can nail down a price, I'll need to see how efficiently I can finish it or see if a partner might want to take on that part of things. I have the option of paying for special runs of other colors of acrylic, but they are in pretty big minimum quantities, so I'll need to know whether to expect to make lots of them or not. I want to get people's feedback next weekend at the Southeastern get together as to what they think it might realistically sell for. I would like feedback on that here as well.

 

[btboone]

Here's a few of the parts that it took to get to a final version. The design was laid out in 2D CAD, and the coordinates were gathered and written into 4th axis G Code by hand. It took 7 iterations of refining the shape to get to the final version. (8 if the clip scoop out version is counted.) Lots of bushing and barrel configurations were tried before getting them dialed in. The wood version has a nice look and should finish faster than the acrylic. I have the option of keeping the edges squared or rounding them. I am concerned about cracking on the thin parts though.

 

[twoofakind]

Bruce,
Absolutley amazing. The way it all flows together, I am not sure to stare in awe or beg to hold it. I cannot wait to see the pen in person next Saturday.
Andy

 

[Jim15]

I don't know what to say, that is one of the most inovative pens I've seen. Great work.

 

[alamocdc]

Just picture me with my mouth hanging open, Bruce. My favorite is still Spyra, though.

 

[SteveRoberts]

THAT does it, I am scraping my lathe and getting a magic wand.

Stunning work Sir.

 

[btboone]

I'm with you Billy. I like Spyra too. It's my first really tough one and first attempt to combine wood and metal. I do cringe when I think about how much time that takes to make and the fact that it doesn't have a clip. I've had a lot of people ask about a version with a clip and it won't be easy to make that. Although this one looks tough to make, really it's not so bad. I don't have the deep drilling in titanium that kills the tools and takes so long. I keep thinking in terms of metal when programming these, and I'm not used to running things around 10 times faster. It's downright scary for me to watch! Many of the parts have a cycle time of around a minute and others take only a few. The clip and the body are the longest programs, and both can run without me having to babysit the machine anymore. It did take something like 5 hours to finish though. There was some learning curve, so the next one shouldn't be quite so bad. I know a few things NOT to do next time.

I'm pretty torn about picking a favorite. This one is much lighter and feels really nice in the hand. I think I'll try an African Olivewood one tomorrow.

 

[Thumbs]

Yeah, I'd have to say stunning, but I can't imagine anyone carrying this around in their pocket..????... It is a beautiful piece of work though and weirdly appealing. I thought you could leave the clip off, but it certainly helps identify this as a pen. Otherwise it might just be mistaken for an art piece on the owner's desk! [)]But then, as so many others have said what do I know?![:I]

 

[btboone]

That's what I thought when I designed Spyra, Bob. It didn't need a clip. I then heard from some of the high end pen sellers that had the opinion that when you spend a lot on a pen, you like to carry it around to be seen with it. It makes a lot of sense. They also said, a lot of executives wouldn't feel comfortable leaving it at their desk at night. I wanted to see if I could bridge the gap between a desk pen and one that would get carried around. It had to not have the clip intrude or otherwise ruin the look. Clips are notoriously difficult to make, so that was a big concern. The cap had to support the pen without tipping over and also look as nonintrusive as possible. It's certainly a tough thing to try and do both.

 

[emackrell]

My golly, Bruce, that is simply astonishing. It does indeed look like it would feel great to hold and use but it also looks like it belongs in an art gallery. Quit the day job and go work for NASA!

cheers Eileen [8D]

 

[Ligget]

Fantastic work Bruce, amazing!!![:0][]

 

[Rudy Vey]

Bruce, as always - superb!!

 

[Paul in OKC]

It's just not fair[] Absolutely outstanding, Bruce. Do you make your own threads at the nib as well, or is that the one thing that is used with what it comes with.

 

[chitswood]

Excellent!

 

[wood-of-1kind]

Bruce,
Are you defining art or functionality? Either way that is an amazing instrument.

-Peter-

 

[btboone]

Thanks guys. Peter, this is one of the first pens that I'm really happy about both.

Paul, the plastic nib section has those fine metric threads. I think they are M8 x .75 or something. I made a tap that does the threads in a bronze nut that holds it in. All the other threads were custom. The cap has a 4 start thread that corresponds with the 25/64ths drill I do the cap with. My first ones used a 1/2" drill, and the cap just looked too bulky. I did the threads so that they work with that size hole without an extra boring operation. The same thing applies in the inside where the titanium barrel screws into a bronze bushing. In order to keep the bushing very thin so that the pen thickness was not too big, the threads were very fine both on the inside and outside of the bushing. The outer threads are what holds the clip and centerband in place. They are both .026" pitch, or around 38.5 threads per inch. I use one point of a carbide 4 sided thread mill as a single point tool for internal threading. Seems to work great.

 

[Penmonkey]

Very very nice!!! You make my work look like young'uns play.

 

[its_virgil]

Bruce,
I just read about and looked at your newest pen. I can't think of another adjctive to describe the pen or your work. Both are fantastic. Great concept and follow through.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

 

[bca1313]

Amazing....

Ben

 

[kkwall]

Bruce,


You really push the envelope when you make a pen!


Excellent work as always.

 

[PenWorks]

[:0] [:0] [:0]
Why should I not be surprised you would come up with a beauty like that [:0]
I like the choice of material and the combo with the Ti. Also the engraving
or Makumaninu or whatever, is real classy. Good luck with sales.

 

[chigdon]

You finally pulled it off. I saw the prototype a year ago and this one is far superior. Great design on the clip and cap. I think acrylics are the way to go.

 

[Dario]

WOW!!!! [:0]

I love it!!! [^][^][^]