Very nice pen Kasper!! If you dont mind, i would like to help you out with your grain alignment problem. I have a very simple way to deal with this dilemma, and it doesnt use an insert so you can save that material:biggrin:
Start with whatever length blank you need to make your full pen, with no insert, in your case with this pen it would be 3 pieces. Cap, barrel and front section. Mark it out for your Cap, Barrel, Section length. I mark my section at the end of the barrel, so the cap and barrel grain alignment stays. Take a sharpie marker and draw as strait of a line the full length of the blank, from one end to the other. Write on the different sections, Cap, Barrel, Section, so you know which piece is which and that it is facing the right way and didnt get flipped over. Now you have a guide line to keep things lined up.
1) Start with the front section first. Drill it, tap it, thread it, then put it aside for now.
2) Move on to the barrel next. Drill it, tap it, thread it. Now here is where the magic begins. I not sure what length tenon you use for your barrel threads, but i make mine .25" so what i do is make my tenon .26" and what im going to do is take my front section and screw it into the barrel and see where my guide lines line up. Sometimes you just get lucky and they line up perfectly. If not, since i made my tenon longer than i wanted for its final length, i just part off a little bit on the front of the barrel tenon. What this does is allow the front section to screw in farther, thus changing its alignment. Screw the section back in and check it. If you need to go farther, just part off a little more. Do this until the lines line up. Now you have a section the lines up with your barrel.
3) Now do your cap. Drill it and tap it. Now take your barrel and screw it into your cap. Do your lines line up? Be sure to check all three thread patterns if you are using a triple start. If not, just part off a little bit on the front of the cap. Try your barrel again. Do they line up now? If not, just do this until your lines line up. In your case this would be the end. Everything would be lined up, without an insert. If you were doing a finial as well, just do the same thing. Make your finial first, cut the tenon and thread it. Now tap the cap for the finial, and screw the finial in. If it doesnt line up, just part some of until it does.
I hope this helps
Great pen either way!!!!:biggrin:
Justin