"Casing" Pen Contest Entries

[Sylvanite]

The "Casing" Pen Contest allowed up to three entries this time, so I decided to toss in a few of the ideas I've been experimenting with.

Rifled Cartridge Pen - A Bullet Pen with a Twist
This pen features a hexagonal spiral cut into the brass shellcase and echoed in the cocobolo upper barrel. It's meant to portray the rifling of a gun barrel.

Gunpowder Pen
Don't try to take this pen through airport security :biggrin:. It's made with real gunpowder.

30-30-30-30-30 Pen
I've been wanting to make a shellcase fountain pen for a long time, and this is my first try. It's constructed from cases in 5 different calibers, all of which take a 30-cal bullet. It's relatively thin for a kitless pen, so I tied embellishments on instead of turning them.

These were all learning experiences, which is the true prize for entering the contest. I enjoyed making them. I hope you enjoyed viewing.

Regards,
Eric

 

[stoneman]

Eric,

The twisted design is awesome. Great work!

 

[TurnaPen]

Very inventive, great going, Amos

 

[Dalecamino]

Yep, you're in there Eric. Great looking pens !

 

[Dai Sensei]

Certainly different and with great results

I love the rope one, been thinking of something similar, but the black makes the difference.

 

[boxerman]

Wow 3 very nice pens. I really the fountain pen.

 

[ToddMR]

Wow on all of them! You did a great job on each one. I doubt I would have the skills to try anything like that and have it turn out so great. I love all of them!

 

[bluwolf]

Eric, don't know what to say that hasn't been said already. Those are definitely a fresh angle on an old idea. Well done!

 

[BigShed]

Like all 3, very inventive.

Must admit the FP is my favourite.

Great photography as well.

 

[Sylvanite]

Some Assembly Details

There were a few questions on how the pieces went together, so here are some pictures.

First of all, the centerband sections (made from 300 WinMag cartridges) are threaded (12mmx0.8mm triple-start) on the inside.


I cut a short piece of a 30-06 case at the head and threaded it to match on the outside, and 3/8"-20 on the inside of the case web.


The nib section grip is made from a 7.62x39mm case, turned down at the head, drilled out, and threaded to screw into the above coupler.


This is what they look like together.


Finally, both pieces screw into the lower centerband, and the coupler section is held with loctite. That way, it stays in place when unscrewing the cap or grip. The grip can be unscrewed to replace an ink cartridge, and there's room for a spare in the lower barrel.


I hope that was interesting,
Eric

 

[TomW]

Great pens... Now please tell me that's not a real primer on the real gunpowder pen!

Tom

 

[minus459]

They are bloody cool pens:good::good:

undies

 

[ctubbs]

Your imagination on these three wonderful works of art is one of the things that help make this site what it truly is. Thanks for sharing. The quality of your work is top shelf.
Charles

 

[Sylvanite]

... please tell me that's not a real primer on the real gunpowder pen!

Sorry, I can't do that. That is a real (albeit fired) primer.

Regards,
Eric

 

[bitshird]

Eric, all three are great, but my favorite is the Fountain pen, absolutely wonderful.

 

[Sylvanite]

That is a real (albeit fired) primer.

To forestall additional questions, here is what a live primer looks like. It consists of a brass cup, anvil, and priming compound (which in this case is red colored). When fired, the priming compound is crushed against the anvil, which causes it to ignite.


This is an empty primer cup. The anvil and priming compound have been removed. It looks the same on the outside, but is completely inert.


All my pens with an unfired primer look contain empty primer cups.

Regards,
Eric

 

[Sylvanite]

Well, it appears that the rifiled twist pen and the 30-cal fountain pen didn't make the finals, so here's a little more info on the gunpowder pen. It is built around a cigar kit mechanism with some omitted and some additional parts.

I bored out and turned down a cigar centerband, and used it to marry the 2 cigar tubes into a single piece. I painted it black and glued gunpowder to it to make the barrel of the pen. When it was built up enough, I turned it smooth and then put on a CA finish.

I drilled out a 338 caliber solid copper bullet to accomodate a Parker-style refill, and a 7mm tube. I bored out a cigar kit center coupler to fit the other end of the 7mm tube and turned it down to match the outside diameter of the transmission. These three parts are glued together at the correct length.

I cut a slot in the 338 WinMag case head finial, and did a hidden clip using a modified cigar pen clip. It is held in place with the cigar kit finial coupler. I didn't have the right tap for its threads, so I recut the coupler threads with something similar and tapped the inside of the case head to match.

The transmission is fully inserted into the 8mm tube that attaches to the finial coupler (so it won't push in during operation), and the barrel sized for proper bullet seating depth when a refill is inserted.

Both brass ends are glued to the barrel tube. The refill extends and retracts by twisting the bullet. The bullet (along with its attached 7mm tube and modified coupler) unscrew from the transmission and pull out through the case mouth in order to change the refill.

And yes, I did use real gunpowder. In fact, I used a powder that is commonly loaded in 338 WinMag caliber cartridges.

As mentioned already, the primer in the case head finial is a real (but empty) primer cup.

I hope that was interesting,
Eric

 

[pfde4]

Very interesting. The Twist was my favorite

 

[Rangertrek]

I really like all the pens. Great thinking out of the box! I believe the spiral is my favorite.

 

[Sylvanite]

In some ways, I think that the rifled pen is the prettiest. It is the one I am actually carrying. It's built on a slimline kit and is basically just a regular rifle cartridge pen. The only thing that's new is the twist.

I did that on a Beall Pen Wizard with a small sanding drum mounted in a Dremel tool. I set the drum such that it sanded on the side of the case, and took repeated passes until the hexagonal pattern emerged. I sanded through the first few cases, and there's very little metal left in the middle of the spirals on this one. The dremel left a heavily scored look on the brass, so there was a lot of hand-sanding required.

The cocobolo upper barrel was done the same way.

I expected the fountain pen to be the most popular of the three, so I was surprised to see the gunpowder pen selected. I think it fell short, however, because of the fancywork. The turk's head knots are a bit too bulky, and the french hitching isn't enough of a spiral. If I had it to do over, I'd drill holes in the brass to start and end the hitching, and tie a pattern with three interleaved smaller spirals, instead of the single large one. If I make another, I'll probably skip the knotwork altogether and use a different material for the barrels. In retrospect, I should have done that anyway.

Regards,
Eric

 

[PaulDoug]

I don't know why they all didn't make the finals, other than you would have received 3 out of my four votes. I like them all. Very imaginative, all of them. I would really like to know how you de-cap the primers, but understand if you don't explain it. I'll figure out how. Great pens all of them.

 

[workinforwood]

Awesome pens Eric..you make amazing casing pens!

 

[patmurris]

Very inventive work! I usually don't care much about ammunition pens, but i love them all!

Can't help but think about the real gun powder blank blowing on you while turning... scary!

 

[Alejanders]

Gunpowder pen is wonderful!

 

[Turned Around]

let me know if you decide on selling any of the gun powder blanks at some point