Clip for nickel plated shell casing?

[Royce Meritt]

Hi. I have made a few of the "shell casing/antler" pens. So far, so good. I have been using .308 shell casings and they seem to work well for me. So far, all have been built on a slim line kit.

Here is my question. I would like to make a couple of "matched sets" of pens. 1 pen would be a regular brass shell casing with a typical gold nib, center band, clip and finial. The other pen would be the same except for using a nickel plated shell casing. What should I do with the nickel plated shell casing? I would like to use the gold nib because I think it would look more like the actual copper jacketed bullet. However, I think a silver colored clip, center band and finial would look better with the nickel plated shell casing. What do you think and where can I get a "mix and match" set up of a gold nib with a silver (nickel) center band, clip and finial? Any suggestions? Thanks.

 

[pastorbill1952]

Royce, nickel plating will go well with silver, chrome as a matching set. There are now copper plating (beartoothwood) & the gold platings which will be a nice contrast. Also Black & gun metal will offer a great look I know of no kit that has a mix of platings but if you are making sets then you can give or take from kits. As far as a CB, have you considered using none or using a portion of another casing for the CB look. Try searching for casing pens or bullet pens for other ideas. Looking forward to seeing your work.

 

[alamocdc]

Royce, pastorbill hit on my suggestion... just use a copper SL kit for all the parts. No mixing and matching necessary. That would give you an even more realistic copper jacketed look and the finial and clip would match. JMO

 

[ctEaglesc]

Take a look at womens jewlery, they mix a lot of platings.
Itsvirgil also suggested buffing off the gold plating of the fittings.Evidentiny the base metal has a "gun metal look"