Great material, but what a pain...

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bgray

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Absolutely beautiful, but the melting point of this stuff is very low, and brittle regardless of temperature....took me double my normal time, but made a great pen....

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Wheaties

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I'm pretty sure that it's original Shaeffer stock. It's gone by many names, so I don't know which is actually correct, but it's usually called Jungle Moss.

Hmmm. Still don't know what it is? :confused:

But it looks really nice!
 

bgray

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Great looking material and pen . It sure seems to take threads well .

The Sierra material shown above is not the same material, but I believe that it's the same composition. I think that it's a kind of cellulose acetate, but in all honesty, I'm not sure at all. I'm not a plastics expert, by any means.

And NO NO NO...it does not take threads well at all. It's very brittle.

That barrel was my second attempt. I only advanced my cutter a couple of thou's with each pass. Cutting the threads took forever. Those threads are quad lead, and every lead probably took 15 minutes (multiply by four)...then repeat that for the cap, then do the single lead threads on the finial, internal cap finial, section, internal barrel section, and internal housing section threads....

Like I said, I should have charged more...but it is a great looking material.
 

jttheclockman

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Feb 22, 2005
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The Sierra material shown above is not the same material, but I believe that it's the same composition. I think that it's a kind of cellulose acetate, but in all honesty, I'm not sure at all. I'm not a plastics expert, by any means.

And NO NO NO...it does not take threads well at all. It's very brittle.

That barrel was my second attempt. I only advanced my cutter a couple of thou's with each pass. Cutting the threads took forever. Those threads are quad lead, and every lead probably took 15 minutes (multiply by four)...then repeat that for the cap, then do the single lead threads on the finial, internal cap finial, section, internal barrel section, and internal housing section threads....

Like I said, I should have charged more...but it is a great looking material.


Where did you get the material from .????:confused: That is some super looking stuff. That goes great on any of the higher end pen kits for sure. You did a great job with it.
 

altaciii

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corpus christi, texas, USA.
Not wanting to hijack the orignal thread but the Sierra is left over Schaffer stock and was being sold by one of our members on the site. At the time I purchased mine he had several rods in different colors available. I gotta search the site to let you know who it is. It is very difficult to work with and melts easily, but as you can see by both the pens shown, when finished, they shine. Great looking pen. One day I too may have the patience to do my own threads also.
 

mickr

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wow..what a divine pen...the material seems to interest most folks, but my eye loves the shape..cap end work..writing end..clip placement..I just like the whole gosh darn thing..bravo..fine work
 

bgray

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I know that it's an Italian material.

As for a source, I'm not sure. The client sent it to me.

Thanks, everyone....
 

OKLAHOMAN

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BEEEEEEautiful Execution, always look forward to your postings.
I belive the material is from the "1894 Mazzucchelli" Company in Castiglione Italy. They also had the Serpent, Ruby,Granite and Shaphire colors. I just turned some of them yesterday and as Brian said the melting point is the biggest problem but they sure make some awesome pens.
 

bitshird

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Aug 27, 2007
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Adamsville, TN, USA.
The material that JTclockman showed was made by Mazzucchelli 1849 and was officially called cebloplast,they called it chopped block manufacturing. The company is still on business and is still making their cebloplast materials, I still have 3 full rods of the serpent, at least that's the name attached to it here. It is an extremely difficult material to turn, I turned the two pens I've made so far by cooling the drill hole with DNA since it tends to cool faster than water, I wish I had the stones to try and thread it.
The real conundrum is it is extremely heat sensitive and soft, yet it is so brittle, it's amazing to me Brian got it to thread, there was another variety called cracked ice that was available for a while, from penmakers.com, but I don't know if they are still in business, The material on Brians pen is gorgeous, I sure would like to have some to play with.
 

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bgray

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Bob, I think I sent you a piece of that with some other blanks.
The pen looks great, how are you cleaning the threads?

I'm not sure what you mean by cleaning the threads. I use a single-point tool to cut the threads. In this case, I really had to take it slow, only advancing the cutter a thou or two with each pass.

There's no cleaning of the threads....they come off of the cutter as you see them.
 
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