Say Hello to my little friend

[davinci27]

So I thought I would practice a couple of different things and get ready for the upcoming bash contests. I started with a sedona kit and this is where I ended up. Its a short little closed end fountain. I call him stubs. The pen is ebony and Afzalia burl with a CA finish.

Over all I was pleased with the different things I tired. I've been trying to get a stepped barrel since I saw oobak's pens. This is the first time I've gotten close to getting it work. This is also the first time I've turned a grip. I had to shorten the grip just slightly to get it to the size I wanted.

I included a couple of pictures next to a standard sierra so you can get a size comparison.

All good, bad, and ugly comments welcome.

 

[jimm1]

Sharp. Beautiful.

 

[Rarest wood]

hello little freind?

 

[VisExp]

Very nicely done Ben! I to have been inspired by Glen's stepped barrel. I think your pen looks very nice. I'm especially impressed with the grip.

My only negative comment would be that the ebony overpowers the Afzalia somewhat. Uncapped the combination works, but when the pen is capped the ebony is to overpowering.

 

[bitshird]

NICE job, I really like the grip, it looks beautiful, Keith has a point, closed the Ebony over shadows the Afzilia, but I wouldn't mind owning it.

 

[davinci27]

Thanks everybody.

Yeah I think it would have been better if I'd reversed the woods. Originally I was going to do a band of the afzalia just above the chrome ring. I think it would have broken the ebony up enough to make it work. After I got started, I realized the lower barrel was going to be too short, and I needed to remove the 2 rings from the upper barrel just to keep it in proportion.

 

[papaturner]

Ben That is awesome( you can deliver it to me at the next mtg.:biggrin: ). It appears to me you need to do the demo.BTW it`s a beautiful pen.

 

[kirkfranks]

very nice work there.
I am always impressed to see those step designs, but what really makes it for me is the finial. I really like the size you made there.

 

[sparhawk]

Really nice. Have been wanting to make a grip for some barons (even have a replacement nib in the shop just for that) but havent actually worked on it. Still havent figured out what the two threads are for the grip. The one to screw the grip to the nib and the one to screw the grip on the body.Maybe a tutorial is in the works?

 

[davinci27]

Still havent figured out what the two threads are for the grip. The one to screw the grip to the nib and the one to screw the grip on the body.Maybe a tutorial is in the works?

For the threads on the nib, I didn't do any. The wood sleeve is pretty snug, and dosen't leave much room for threading. For the threads to go into the body, I used the threads from the post . On the sedona, the post comes in 2 pieces the actual metal cap and the threads. I just glued the threads into the grip sleeve.

On the next one, I'm thinking about taking the grip that actually came with the pen, and turning it town to an insert so I will have the threads on both the inside and outside of the new wood grip sleeve.

I've just got to throw in, I love my collet chuck. It has opened up so many possibilities. If anybody is trying to decide if they should get one, I say 110% yes.

 

[thewishman]

Very nice work! Beautiful design and nice woods. I think it works well.

 

[toolcrazy]

Very, very cool design. I like it. Nice work.

 

[workinforwood]

I am feeling quite inspired by this pen too...and since it's February now...I'll send you back to the top of the list with a big

BUMP !!!!

 

[Ligget]

Ben that is lovely, I have a collet chuck too and love it, the pen is inspirational!

 

[chriselle]

Ben. That is beautiful and really cool. I'm adding that stepped design to my list of things to try.

 

[davinci27]

Just an FYI, I made this closed end using a 7mm mandrel and some shims. I've mentioned this before in another post, but I changed my shims and the new one works better than the original shims. You can see what I'm talking about at this thread.
http://www.penturners.org/forum/showthread.php?p=799654#post799654

Scroll down to the last post to see my newer shim.