happy find after a frustrating day

[Haynie]

The list of things going wrong today just kept growing and growing. Ever had one of those days where you weren't successful at anything? That was my day times two....Until i uncovered a whole stick of 3/4 inch 6061T6 aluminum. Some ex-employee must have stashed it after stupidly cutting it in half, over a year ago. I won't get into the fit I threw when said employee reported that someone had stolen it.

Anyway, since I do not have a wood lathe but I do have a metal lathe and tools guess what my first pen will be made out of? I figure with 2 6 foot lengths I should be able to get some practice and get it right. lets see here 12 feet divided by five inches is....a whole lot . Now to order the kits. Going for an artist's sketch pencil and a zen. They look straight forward enough in the pictures.

Any reason this would be a bad idea?

 

[crabcreekind]

Not a bad idea at all. Zen kits are easy to make.

 

[Drstrangefart]

sounds like the kind of thing I REALLY wanna play with.

 

[bitshird]

Zen is a pretty kit, but for me not a great seller. something about the grip/nib feels odd to some customers, the Electra looks close and has a more comfy front grip/nib section

 

[Haynie]

Sell? Nah. Just to successfully make a pen. Accessory kit for the zen was sold out. Pencil first.

 

[holmqer]

With the appropriate chucking reamer, you can even skip gluing in tubes and get the right press fit with the hole. I do this for re-bar pens with Sierra kits.

 

[MarkD]

I just picked up some 3/4 6061 Aluminum rod yesterday. I'm hoping to play with my new metal lathe soon so I'll be interested in seeing your results.

Good Luck and keep us posted.