Invisivue

[bgray]

This is a new material that is being distributed by Berea Hardwoods.

It is COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY opaque. No need to paint the interior of the material, or tubes.

The material thickness at the cap is only .060". That's impressive with a light colored material. I experimented with the white shade of this material, and I kept turning it thinner and thinner until it basically fell apart. No brass would show at all even up until it shattered from being so thin.

I'm very impressed with it.

If I use brass on my pens, I try to minimize how much I use. Usually only enough to house the fittings. Or I many times just eliminate the brass.

Either way, I always found that lighter colors never lent themselves to my designs due to the transparency. If there were brass, it would show through, or if I'm making a section, I don't like the housing to show through.

So now I have a lot of avenues for some light colored designs that never really existed for me previously.

It has a low melting temperature, so you have to peck drill and watch heat, but other than that it turns beautifully and takes a fantastic shine.

I was also impressed with how it took threads. I thought that maybe it would be too brittle, but for kitless pens, I found it to hold threads beautifully.

Good stuff. I was going to link the page at Berea Hardwoods, but the website is down right now.

I think that Baumbeck and many others will be distributing this stuff, but for now, you can find it at Berea.

 

[sparhawk]

bgray i made a pen a little while ago using these blanks. They do seem to work well and have noticed them at woodcraft too now. Your pen looks awesome. Nice match with the color and kit.http://www.penturners.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=37197

 

[csb333]

That is a very handsome pen. Very clean!- Chris

 

[ahoiberg]

she's a beaut. nice work.

 

[desertyellow]

Thanks for the tip.
I've been looking for those very qualities in a pen blank.
Thank you for bring it to my attention.

Great looking pen.
Elegant.

 

[Ligget]

Classy pen indeed![]

 

[hilltopper46]

Interesting stuff. I'm not a big yellow fan, but some of the other colors look interesting.

Good stuff. I was going to link the page at Berea Hardwoods, but the website is down right now.

I think that Baumbeck and many others will be distributing this stuff, but for now, you can find it at Berea.

For what it's worth Ernie at Beartooth Woods is listing this stuff on his site. http://www.beartoothwoods.com/catalog/

 

[OldYankee]

Low Melting Point

You're right about the low melting point! I toasted one earlier tonight. I even drilled a smaller pilot hole for the big tube for a Baron/Sedona kit. Then, when I switched to the big 15/32" drill bit, it just refused to start descending into the pilot hole and ended up melting an odd-shaped hole. That big bit has given me trouble in wood before too - it likes to chatter and make the entrance oblong. I ruined 3 cocobolo blanks and one bocote blank this past weekend with that same bit. Maybe I need to get a newer one -- even though I've only used it 4-5 times total. Bought it online and, if I remember correctly, I paid a pretty penny too. Any suggestions? Do they even make brad-point bits that big? Maybe a Forstner?

 

[Skye]

What kit is that?

The blank kinda reminds me of the peas.

 

[Mikey]

I bought a few of these blanks when I was at Berea a few weeks ago. I saw them on display but did not know how they would look on my own pens. Thanks for showing.

 

[Blind_Squirrel]

You're right about the low melting point! I toasted one earlier tonight. I even drilled a smaller pilot hole for the big tube for a Baron/Sedona kit. Then, when I switched to the big 15/32" drill bit, it just refused to start descending into the pilot hole and ended up melting an odd-shaped hole. That big bit has given me trouble in wood before too - it likes to chatter and make the entrance oblong. I ruined 3 cocobolo blanks and one bocote blank this past weekend with that same bit. Maybe I need to get a newer one -- even though I've only used it 4-5 times total. Bought it online and, if I remember correctly, I paid a pretty penny too. Any suggestions? Do they even make brad-point bits that big? Maybe a Forstner?

Get a Drill Doctor and sharpen it.

 

[toolcrazy]

Very cool pen. Gotta look at some of those blanks.

 

[MobilMan]

Thanks for the picture. Just bought one from Woodcraft & hoped it'd turn nice. Got all my questions answered.
Old Yankee-Does it do the same without predrilling? If your pilot hole is very small, the coarser bit will have a hard time finding center. You'd be better off doing the step-drill in stages, getting larger a little at a time. Then use the next size smaller just before the final size. That way the 15/32 is just cutting a very small amount of material. Use 3/8 then 7/16 then 15/32.

 

[Rick_G]

Nice job on the pen. penblanks.ca (William Woodwrite) also carries that blank in Canada. I got a couple from them a while ago. Had a chunk come off the end while turning it and haven't tried the second one yet.

 

[rickstef]

Not a big fan of the stuff, had two of them, one blew apart drilling, and the second was a bear to turn, even with sharp tools, and the plastic is very sensitive to any kinda of solvent

I won't be going back to this stuff in a hurry

Rick

 

[bgray]

What kit is that?

The blank kinda reminds me of the peas.

It really isn't a kit. I use the nib coupler and centerband from an El Grande/Churchill, and then design the rest of the pen around that. There's only two kit parts.

It's actually my homage of a Parker Duofold.

 

[redfishsc]

Maybe I need to get a newer one -- even though I've only used it 4-5 times total. Bought it online and, if I remember correctly, I paid a pretty penny too. Any suggestions? Do they even make brad-point bits that big? Maybe a Forstner?

I'm not a big fan of drilling with the Forstners, they seem to generate a LOT of heat on my. I drilled a 5/8" hole through a 12" long 1.5" wide block of lignum for a fishing rod butt, and it really made some heat.

I think I actually HAVE a 15/32" brad point that I bought for drilling the head, I think, for the Havana. I can't recall but I think it came from Woodcraft.

I only kinda like brad points. They do drill straight, but no straighter than a good 135* split point. I drill on the lathe and ALWAYS shoot a pilot hole with a 7mm split point I got from Woodcraft, it's the best drill bit I've ever used. This bit has drilled over 100 holes in hard stuff like acrylics, blackwood, lignum, and is still sharp as necessary.

 

[curlyjoe]

If I my put my $0.02 in here is what works for me. Depending on the pen kit and the hole size I drill with the parabolic bits I kind of pecker it in and out so it doesn't heat up too much.If I need to I use a pilot hole around the size of the O-bit use a small rat tail file to clean it out glue them up and turn aggressively with a sharp skew or gouge until I get close to the bushings and wet sand the rest of the way. Then polish them up.

 

[livertrans]

You're right about the low melting point! I toasted one earlier tonight. I even drilled a smaller pilot hole for the big tube for a Baron/Sedona kit. Then, when I switched to the big 15/32" drill bit, it just refused to start descending into the pilot hole and ended up melting an odd-shaped hole. That big bit has given me trouble in wood before too - it likes to chatter and make the entrance oblong. I ruined 3 cocobolo blanks and one bocote blank this past weekend with that same bit. Maybe I need to get a newer one -- even though I've only used it 4-5 times total. Bought it online and, if I remember correctly, I paid a pretty penny too. Any suggestions? Do they even make brad-point bits that big? Maybe a Forstner?

I had that problem with a couple of large diameter drill bits when they were brand new and my solution was to re sharpen them on my drill doctor. they work fine now