TimS124
Member
A buddy's brother gave me some fairly large antlers to see what I could do with them. I've had the antlers for many months looking for just the right "thank you" project. Found it this week and knocked these two pens out just now.
The top pen nearly gave me heart failure though when I assembled it the first time. The antler portion was loose and wouldn't turn the transmission to extend the writing tip. It barely even stayed on the lower section.
Turns out, the underside of this kit's cap grabs onto the top of the transmission and does the turning…but since there's no cap, there was nothing to turn the transmission.
This was only the third pen I'd made with this kit and the other two were done with the prior 24 hours. So, I hadn't really studied the pen's parts closely to see that my "natural tine" design had a serious flaw waiting to bite me!
The pens are being handed over Saturday and I'll be on the road between now and then…so I had to either cut the antler short enough to be able to use the cap or beat the kit into submission. You'll notice that antler did not get cut down. :big grin:
Both pens work just fine. But I had some very tense moments between figuring out that the transmission didn't turn and proving to myself that I could actually get it to work after all.
The top pen looks like it would be heavy and awkward…but it's not! This antler is surprisingly light compared to what I'm used to working with.
The normal pen (bottom one in the pictures) weighs 1.4 ounces. I have a cigar pen made with the antler I'm used to working with that weighs 1.9oz.
I have a cigar pen made with a Genesys blank that weighs 1.9 ounces. The huge pen in the pictures below weighs only 1.7oz!
It's surprisingly well behaved in the hand (though I haven't tried writing much with it).
The top pen nearly gave me heart failure though when I assembled it the first time. The antler portion was loose and wouldn't turn the transmission to extend the writing tip. It barely even stayed on the lower section.
Turns out, the underside of this kit's cap grabs onto the top of the transmission and does the turning…but since there's no cap, there was nothing to turn the transmission.
This was only the third pen I'd made with this kit and the other two were done with the prior 24 hours. So, I hadn't really studied the pen's parts closely to see that my "natural tine" design had a serious flaw waiting to bite me!
The pens are being handed over Saturday and I'll be on the road between now and then…so I had to either cut the antler short enough to be able to use the cap or beat the kit into submission. You'll notice that antler did not get cut down. :big grin:
Both pens work just fine. But I had some very tense moments between figuring out that the transmission didn't turn and proving to myself that I could actually get it to work after all.
The top pen looks like it would be heavy and awkward…but it's not! This antler is surprisingly light compared to what I'm used to working with.
The normal pen (bottom one in the pictures) weighs 1.4 ounces. I have a cigar pen made with the antler I'm used to working with that weighs 1.9oz.
I have a cigar pen made with a Genesys blank that weighs 1.9 ounces. The huge pen in the pictures below weighs only 1.7oz!
It's surprisingly well behaved in the hand (though I haven't tried writing much with it).
