How it's made

[dale]

I believe it was on the science channel the other night during the show How its made they showed a person (could only see the hands) making a slimline type pen. It looked like he was using gorilla glue to glue the brass tube in.
Now the question he put grooves in the pen blank and darkened them with another piece of wood then (tadah question ahead) used a sanding cord. Never heard of them. Are they any good?
And where can they be found?
Dale

 

[JBCustomPens]

You can get them at Rockler. They come in spools.

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=9926&filter=sanding cord

 

[bitshird]

You can get them at Rockler. They come in spools.

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=9926&filter=sanding cord

And they are handy as pockets on pants.

 

[Jmhoff10500]

Here is the Youtube link... So do you guys glue the kit parts into the tube like they do?

 

[nava1uni]

I use an old guitar string to burn marks into wood. I first make a grove with either a parting tool or the end of the skew upside down then use the guitar string to burn the grove.

Here is the Youtube link... So do you guys glue the kit parts into the tube like they do?

I don't glue parts in, unless they are too loose. CA off gases and discolors the metal and if you want to disassemble it then it is more difficult.

 

[ed4copies]

I use an old guitar string to burn marks into wood. I first make a grove with either a parting tool or the end of the skew upside down then use the guitar string to burn the grove.


I don't glue parts in, unless they are too loose. CA off gases and discolors the metal and if you want to disassemble it then it is more difficult.

Ditto!

But the wire can be any wire (picture hanging) 14 gauge to 32 gauge

 

[Jason Swanson]

I believe it was on the science channel the other night during the show How its made they showed a person (could only see the hands) making a slimline type pen. It looked like he was using gorilla glue to glue the brass tube in.
Now the question he put grooves in the pen blank and darkened them with another piece of wood then (tadah question ahead) used a sanding cord. Never heard of them. Are they any good?
And where can they be found?
Dale

I epoxy my brass tubes in. A piece of picture hanging wire works great. Starting the groove with a skew is a sure fire way for the wire not to "wander" - you get the burned line exactly where you want it. Jason

 

[alphageek]

FYI - There is MANY ways to put burn rings into pens. If you want to try it not only will just about any wire work, there is other materials that would work well too...

For example - Take a laminate sample and press it into the groove you started Just remember that if you use wires, use CAUTION. You don't want to do anything that can wrap!

 

[Dave_M]

I take a long wire twist tie and strip all the paper off then securely wrap each end of the wire around a short piece of 7mm pen tube to use as handles.

 

[theturningcircle]

A bit of confusion here. Did Dale refer to a burning wire or as JBCustomPens suggests a sanding cord. Two different things here.

 

[Mr Vic]

Just watched the video. They used a beading tool to cut grooves and then a piece of wood, cut at an angle, to burnish/burn the grooves dark. Just happend to be a dark wood but any wood will work. After burning they smoothed/cleaned the grooves with sanding cord (not really necessary). They probably used wood instead of wire due to the width of the groove. I just happen to use an old spool of trip wire....

Safety blurb....neer, never wrap the wire around your fingers. Wrap it around a couple dowels or thread through a wooden ball.....falure to follow warning could result in the inability to count to ten...

 

[dale]

I knew about the using wood to burn in a grove. But hadnt ever seen or heard of sanding cord

I thank you for the link for the sanding cord.

I think it would be great for using on my scroll saw items that need a little touch up


dale

 

[snyiper]

I would think extra caution would be in order using wire even threaded through wood or pen tubes. The thought of that getting hung up and getting spun around could impair your ability to count at all!!!

 

[lazyguy]

Here is the Youtube link... So do you guys glue the kit parts into the tube like they do?

Seems like I saw that episode before I knew about or got into pen turning. It is kinda of cool seeing it again with a different mind set. I actually got some ideas. I like the way they decribe what we do as "the Cadillac of pens". :biggrin:

 

[Rfturner]

It is not all that impressive when you make pens but it is interesting to see a different take on things

 

[jtrusselle]

I use a piece of thin wire attached to two wooden handles to burnish wood (and yes, I'm very careful and still have 10 digits!). I've found that when burnishing wood that is both hard and soft - heart wood and pulp wood - you can get uneven grooves. That is, the pulp will burn faster than the harder heartwood. Noted in Mr Vic's reply, I'm thinking that the beading tool cut grooves and then a piece of wood, cut at an angle, to burnish/burn the grooves dark, is a better technique for mixed hard/soft wood. What do you think?