Kitless Wooden Clicker

[Cwalker935]

This is a proof of concept pen. It's a Kitless clicker with a Parker refill. I wanted to see if I could do this type of pen with a Celtic knot. The knot had to be reinforced with a tube which complicated things significantly. I also wanted to see if I could use wood with the threaded clicker. Finally, I used some experimental segmenting materials. The African Blackwood worked well for the threading but muddied up my segmenting. Additionally, my experimental segmenting material did not work out the way I had hoped. Finally, the six strand knot is too busy for a smaller diameter barrel. All that aside, I consider the concept proven and one that has promise with some tweaking.

 

[KenV]

Being on the right hand side, you should be able to find hop hornbeam in the wild. Got some on a trip years ago and found it held threads well in boxes. Lovely cream color.

Nice effort

 

[lhowell]

Nice proof of concept! I've been studying up a lot on kitless pens especially rollerballs since I am left handed and smear fountain pen ink all over the paper when I try to write with them. the wood ones I have seen usually involve an ebonite or acrylic insert to which the threads are tapped into. That way you still get the look of wood but have a reliable material that holds threads well.

 

[mark james]

While the knot segments are not uniform in thickness (you knew that), for me the more important feature is that the top and bottom of the knots within the blank are VERY accurate (left to right). You can now tweak your inlays/inserts, but the measurements within the blank are great!

Great "Proof" pen!

 

[Brian G]

I appreciate your willingness to try stuff.

I think the pen has a good shape. I suggest maybe thinning the lower barrel a little.

Good work on the knot. Maybe consider an angle around 50° to make the top and bottom of the loops a little thinner, and the knot a little longer. Sometimes this means running the kerfs past the ends of the stock. That can seem wrong, wrong, wrong, but knot "tightens" as the diameter reduces. The cross bands are in the right spot and look balanced.

One thing I've been doing when I make knots is to measure from the end of the blank the distance of the upper and lower loop kerfs before turning. Then I measure again after I've turned to final diameter. This gives me an idea how far down the blank the knot "tightens" so that I can adjust where I cut the kerfs for the cross bands. My goal is to find the spot where the cross bands just kiss the upper and lower loops of the knot.

If you use thin brass shim stock and black styrene sheet plastic for the knot matieral, I think you'll have a fantastic pen. Even better if you use all chrome hardware and use aluminum for the knot.

Good proof of concept.

 

[Cwalker935]

I appreciate your willingness to try stuff.

I think the pen has a good shape. I suggest maybe thinning the lower barrel a little.

Good work on the knot. Maybe consider an angle around 50° to make the top and bottom of the loops a little thinner, and the knot a little longer. Sometimes this means running the kerfs past the ends of the stock. That can seem wrong, wrong, wrong, but knot "tightens" as the diameter reduces. The cross bands are in the right spot and look balanced.

One thing I've been doing when I make knots is to measure from the end of the blank the distance of the upper and lower loop kerfs before turning. Then I measure again after I've turned to final diameter. This gives me an idea how far down the blank the knot "tightens" so that I can adjust where I cut the kerfs for the cross bands. My goal is to find the spot where the cross bands just kiss the upper and lower loops of the knot.

If you use thin brass shim stock and black styrene sheet plastic for the knot matieral, I think you'll have a fantastic pen. Even better if you use all chrome hardware and use aluminum for the knot.

Good proof of concept.

Thanks for the tips. I really appreciate it.