Questions about the Russ-Line pen?

[angboy]

I was looking at the write up for how to do this pen and was liking how it came out. I'm not crazy about really slim pens, so I always end up making my slimlines kind of bowed in the middle so they are bigger. But I thought this would be neat to try. I have two questions that I'm hoping someone would be able to answer. My first question is whether or not there's an alternate bushing you can use in the center, in place of thej small bushing for the ameroclassic bushing, one that fits on a 7 mm mandrel without having to adapt it by putting the 7 mm spacer underneath the ameroclassic bushing?

My next questions is help understanding conceptually how this works. I'm having trouble seeing how you can take out the center band, still turn the upper and lower tubes to the same length, since it doesn't say anything about modifying the tube lengths from the standard kit, but still have the internal parts work and come out fitting in the right place, instead og maybe being too short or long?

My final question (OK, I lied, I had 3) is how people have found that it looks at that center part where the upper and lower meet? I assume that the point of burning the lines in is that that sort of gives it the look of a center band, but I'm just wondering how thoe two different diameter tubes then meet up and look together?

Thanks very much!

 

[vick]

1. I am not big on consistency I just use the 7 mm and do not cut all the way down. It is more a spacer for me.

2. Mechanicaly the length on the top barel does not matter very much. Their is plenty of room for the tramsimission in the tube it just goes in a little higher than it would with a center band.

3. If every thing is square it looks fine where it meets. In place of the burn lines you can also laminate a different wood on the bottom to simulate the center band.

 

[DCBluesman]

Make your own center bushing. Simply take a piece of corian and drill a 1/4" hole through it. Turn it down to your favorite dimension. For small/medium sized hands, I make the bushing 7/16". For medium/large hands, I use 1/2". If you have occasion to make either very small or very large, subtract or add 1/16" to the aforementioned measurements. These seem to work fairly well.

The only critical measurements for a Russ-line pen (or any Cross-type refill pen) are 1) the tube where the transmission seats needs to be 7mm and it needs to be seated such that the distance from the top of the transmission to the tip of the nib is 3.950", and 2) the overall lenth of the top and bottom tubes must be 4.800" or longer.

There are a ton of different ways of handling the centerband issue, from turning your own (See Scott Greaves article in our "Articles" section) to burning lines, the oversizing the top barrel, etc. Your best bet is to venture though some of the photo albums.

 

[Fred in NC]

I have to agree with both Lou and Vick... The following pics are actually of Russlines I make all the time:

The top barrel is 3/32" longer than the stock tube. I cut it from a 10" tube from Woodturningz. Top is 7/16" in diameter.
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Walnut with blackwood accent. Same 7/16" diameter in the top barrel.

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I might make a steel bushing with both sizes when I have time. In the past I have used the regular 7mm bushing, and just measure the top with my calipers to 7/16".

In this image you can see that I have made a recess in the bottom of the top barrel. It is like a very shallow countersink. I cut the top of the bottom barrel a bit to match. This hides the joint.
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[its_virgil]

Those look like Fred-lines to me and nice ones at that.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

 

[alamocdc]

Angela, I don't use a center bushing except to keep the blanks separated. I keep both barrels (tubes) stock length. If I'm going to turn the barrels the same diameter at the center, I only use the stock bushing until I get the blanks turned down round and to where the barrel trimmer has cut. Then I remove it and butt the two blanks together to finish turning. Make sure you loosen the knurl nut and counter rotate the blanks every now and then to keep the two true to each other. If I'm going to make the upper barrel a bit larger (similar to a Euro), I keep the stock bushing in the middle and turn them both to the desired sizes just by eye. When I first started this type, I'd use a Cigar bushing (any stepped bushing that looks right will do) in the middle to give me something to go by for this style. I soon found that I could do it just as easily by eye. There are a number of examples of both types of these in my album. I hope this helps and wasn't too confusing.