half a hundred barons

[jimr]

For those that remember, I am the one who got an order for 100 chrome barons with names engraved on each one. Well, thanks to Bill Baumbeck and Ken Nelson I am halfway there. Here are 52 Barons in hickory, locust, buckeye burl, pomelle bubinga, sappele, curly mango, curly maple, red mallee burl, spalted maple and maybe a couple of others. The rest will be other woods. This is my first "production" order of that size and you start learning time saving steps real quick. I started turning pens as a hobby for fun, I am retired and don't need a job and this order is quickly going in that direction. But, only 48 left.
By the way, I am using the Norseman bits which in my opinion are the best bits I ever used. However, the 15/32 large one leaves just a tad more slop in the top barrel than I would like. Does anyone else have this problem? If so, any fixes? I have not found a 29/64 bit of good quality, any suggestions.

I will show the last 48 pens, hopefully in the not to distant future.

Jim R

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[wdcav1952]

Dang, Man, you are over half way there!!!! Good work.

 

[leatherjunkie]

WOW!!!

that sure is a lot of barons and a lot of work.
those pens look great.

my trick to the baron top is to drill it with the 29/64 bit and then the 15/32 bit. for some reason this seams to keep the slop in the hole to a minimal amount. i have had no explosions doing it this way.
with drilling it with just the 15/32 bit i have had the wood explode off of the brass tube.

 

[shawn394]

Keep at it. Those look great. I know how you feel. I thought I would try a show next month with some family members that do the Christmas shows every year. Upon the recomendations of the members of this forum, I decided I needed an inventory of around 100 pens in various styles. I have between 40 and 50 right now with about a month to go. I hope mine look half as good as yours.

 

[louisbry]

Great looking barons. You are dedicated and I hope you can turn a few for fun when you get the rest of your work done.
[][]

 

[broitblat]

Nice work! So what is the correct term for a collection of Barons?
A Flock of Barons?
A Herd of Barons?
A Court of Barons?
A Murder of Barons?

[]

-Barry

 

[DKF]

Thanks for the update...I have been following your post/progress from the beginning.....I bet when you are done you won't be itching to turn a Baron any time soon! Great job....

 

[leehljp]

I like all of them but the 4 Poplar ones stand out with their chatoyant grain.

 

[thewishman]

Originally posted by broitblat
<br />Nice work! So what is the correct term for a collection of Barons?
A Flock of Barons?
A Herd of Barons?
A Court of Barons?
A Murder of Barons?

[]

-Barry

I believe it is a Bevy of Barons[] it is certainly a passel of pens. And they look good!

Chris

 

[alxe24]

Originally posted by jimr
<br />By the way, I am using the Norseman bits which in my opinion are the best bits I ever used. However, the 15/32 large one leaves just a tad more slop in the top barrel than I would like. Does anyone else have this problem? If so, any fixes? I have not found a 29/64 bit of good quality, any suggestions.
[/img][b

First of the pens look great. I can't think of a 100 pen order. Once I got a 50 pen order and I was getting tired of pens by the last bucnh. Never the less they pey for some new tools.
As far as the bit is concerned, unless I'm wrong but I think I'm using the 12.5mm that gives you a better fit. Double check with others or send me a PM if you wan't me to go meassure the bit I use.
Thake care and good luck. At least you broke the half mark already.
Alex

 

[Ligget]

Great order, glad you are progressing through it![]

 

[Randy_]

Hey Jim: Nice stock of pens. I bet that by the time you are done, it "WILL" seem like worke.....maybe even worse??

As to the drilling question, according to the data I have the Baron cap tube OD is 0.451" and a 15/32" drill bit is 0.469" which is 0.018" oversize. According to the pen kit measurements I have been collecting, hole sizes are generally in the range of 0.006 to 0.011" so the Baron cap hole is pretty sloppy. Unfortunately, the 29/64" bit is only 0.453" which is probably too tight to work well with the Baron cap tube as that is only 0.002" oversize. There are no other commonly available in-between sized bits so you are between a rock and a hard place.

I can think of several things you might do; but none of them are ideal solutions. Perhaps the easiest would be to have someone grind down a 15/32" drill bit to 59/128" or 0.461. This might not be an economically practical alternative for most pencrafters; but for someone making up an order of 50 pens it would probably make sense.

This link was posted in the discussion about grinding step drill bits for the Pentel pencil project.

http://www.wlfuller.com/html/step_drills.html

You could call these folks and explore the possibilities. You might even get a better deal if you bought more than just a single bit and make them available to other IAP members who make a lot of Barons.

The other thing that comes to mind is to fire off an email to PaulinOKC and see if he knows of a place where you could order a reamer that would open up a 0.453" hole to 0.460".

 

[GaryMGg]

What a beautiful set of pens.
I hope you'll post some close-ups of your work.
I'd sure like to see some of these grains in more detail.
Thanks for keeping us updated.

 

[txbatons]

That's an impressive collection. Good work. And congrats on the order.

 

[rhahnfl]

Lookin' good!!! That's a nice order. Looks like you're getting under control. I know the feeling. I'm trying to get a stock built up for a first pre-Christmas show. I put together 24 last night that I had turned and was waiting on for hardware.

 

[ed4copies]

Randy,

That was a REALLY good answer.

Link and all - VERY helpful.

Not something I will use (I RARELY make a baron), but lots of people should benefit from it - nice response!!!

 

[Randy_]

Thanks for the kind words, ED; but most of the credit should go to John Grounds(CHUCK KEY). He was the one who posted that link, originally, and got me thinking in that direction.