Question on the sift grip pens

[Fay Prozora]

I'm working on one of those soft grip pens and it is the Rhodium Soft Grip pen kit. In the instructions it says to narrow the pen on the end where the nib goes about 1" up from the bushing to shave it down to the brass tube being careful not to cut the tube.. What is the best way to do this? This is the first time doing this type of pen. My sister like this kind of a pen so I'm making it for her. So far it is looking good. Thanks in advance... In the mean time I will look for a video on this.. Fay

 

[Smitty37]

I'm working on one of those soft grip pens and it is the Rhodium Soft Grip pen kit. In the instructions it says to narrow the pen on the end where the nib goes about 1" up from the bushing to shave it down to the brass tube being careful not to cut the tube.. What is the best way to do this? This is the first time doing this type of pen. My sister like this kind of a pen so I'm making it for her. So far it is looking good. Thanks in advance... In the mean time I will look for a video on this.. Fay

mark where you should make the cut and remove the wood with a parting tool...keep the cut as square as possible.

 

[Brian G]

I used a skew the one time I made a comfort grip pen.

Next time you make one, consider using a shorter piece of stock so that you only have to trim a little off the end that abuts the soft grip.

 

[TonyL]

I actually had better results with my square carbide tool than I did with my parting tool. Despite measuring and marking the grip length on the barrel several times, I did test fit the rubber grip at least 3 times and erred on the side of cutting off less material.

 

[Fay Prozora]

Thanks every one. I appreciate this.. will give the parting tool a try. It's not quite ready to get to this point as yet as I'm still in the shaping stage. I measured with the calipers and will do a dry fir before adding any glue or any thing of the like and before the final assembly of the pen. Will post a picture of it when I get it done.

 

[oneleggimp]

Next time you make one, consider using a shorter piece of stock so that you only have to trim a little off the end that abuts the soft grip.

Just to make sure I'm understanding you. Are you saying make the the blank the one inch shorter when you cut it to size then glue it so one end of the tube is flush with the tube and then there is 1" of bare tube showing and just turn it that way? I have wondered if that was feasible. Thanks for the information!

 

[sbell111]

My preferred way of handling this issue is to throw the rubber thing in the trash and ignore the whole 'part down to the tube' craziness.

 

[eranox]

I just use a regular carpentry chisel for this. I'm sure that's somehow a no-no, but it works great. I just use it bevel side down, and go straight in like a scraper. It takes off very fine shavings, and I never have any problems with going too deep and damaging the tube.

 

[Brian G]

Just to make sure I'm understanding you. Are you saying make the the blank the one inch shorter when you cut it to size then glue it so one end of the tube is flush with the tube and then there is 1" of bare tube showing and just turn it that way? I have wondered if that was feasible. Thanks for the information!

Yes, you understood what I meant. If I was planning to use the soft grip, I'd make sure there was a little less than 1" of the bare tube showing, just to make sure I have enough to pare away if there's any chipping.

I didn't plan to use the soft grip on the one I made. It came about because I had mis-skew that caused a severe digger and I blew the end of the acrylic I was turning.

 

[oneleggimp]

Thanks for the tip. I'm turning one now for a friend who has arthritic fingers. I'll get out a wood chisel, hone it on the bench stone and have at it.