Thanks for the comments everyone - I'll try to answer all questions in this post...
The material comes from American Art Plastics.
It has a low melting point. Also - it's highly flammable. Keep the shaving's cleaned up. Don't let a large mound of shavings accumulate on your lathe.
Actually, I usually take handfuls of it to my driveway and light it. I don't want this stuff in my trashcan. It's not real volatile in bar form, but wispy shavings will go up SCARY fast.....
The longer finial is reminiscent of vintage designs - Wahl writers series, etc...
And the break in the finial - I'm not a fan of a clip method that can't be removed, and I'm also not a fan of post clips.
Ringed clips will resist lateral pressure, and are much better. They necessitate a finial.
If I did a hook clip, then the clip could never be removed. When doing pens on a production scale, I don't want to do anything that wouldn't allow me to replace parts.
Post clips don't resist lateral pressure, and I've seen them fail a lot.
Thanks