Wooden Center Band

[Angelo49]

Hi,
I've noticed that some pens are made without using the center band that comes with the kit and replacing it with a wooden band.
Is this band glued to the blank first?
If so does it need to be about 1/16" passed the brass tube so that you can turn a slight recessed bevel to go over the lower barrel?
That would mean that you need to "trim" the wood up to the tube but only at a dia. a little larger than the bushing and leave that slight extension of wood to turn the recessed bevel.
Am I on the right track here ?
Thanks, Angelo

 

[clthayer]

I will usually cut the blanks a little shore, glue the centerband piece on to the short blank to make a blank that is long enough then drill. Of course I have only made a few and have had some with crooked glue joints, but most come out ok.

 

[its_virgil]

Take a look at this article (which is in our IAP library) and look half way down at "Revisit the Slimline". []
http://content.penturners.org/articles/2004/aaw-winter03-36-41pens.pdf
Do a good turn daily!
Don

Originally posted by Angelo49
<br />Hi,
I've noticed that some pens are made without using the center band that comes with the kit and replacing it with a wooden band.
Is this band glued to the blank first?
If so does it need to be about 1/16" passed the brass tube so that you can turn a slight recessed bevel to go over the lower barrel?
That would mean that you need to "trim" the wood up to the tube but only at a dia. a little larger than the bushing and leave that slight extension of wood to turn the recessed bevel.
Am I on the right track here ?
Thanks, Angelo

 

[airrat]

Great article to read but incase you miss it for a custom CB on a slimline you drill it with 1/4" bit.

 

[ahoiberg]

that is a good article.

what i usually do is glue a piece, it doesn't have to be any specific size, to the bottom of the upper blank (clip end). the upper blank is usually cut to size for the tube and then you add the centerband piece. again, you've got a lot of play with most kits. euro and slimline are two good ones for custom CBs.

add a little bigger CB than you think you'll need and then drill it. you can barrel trim it down as far as you want the final CB to be. not having any tube in the CB piece is OK so long as it's glued to the upper blank. this hasn't negatively affected any pens i've made this way because the transmission part will fit into the upper blank no matter what. unless you make a 3 inch centerband! []

 

[DocRon]

I have made some out of blanks that were already mounted on the brass tube. I had a blank on which the end had blown out while turning, so I just cut small sections of that. I used a Testor's model saw, and cleaned up the brass as needed with sand paper. I then had a free-floating CB, just like a metal one.

 

[jedgerton]

Thats a good article! I stumbled into the method I use when I took a little too much wood off near the center bushing on a standard slimline setup. I used a parting tool and took all the wood off of the tube leaving about 1/2" exposed. I then drilled and squared off a piece of contrasting scrap wood that I had and glued that on the exposed tube. I then square off the remaining end using a pen mill and then put it back on the lathe. When I turn the glued up piece, I use a European style center bushing just because I like those proportions but you can use practically anything.

One other suprising thing I found was that if there is a small gap between the existing wood and the new scrap piece that you add, it actually makes a nice looking detail band if you are using gap filling CA. It may not be for everyone but I like it.


John