Iwo Jima Sand, a Lazer Linz and my son's first...

[Florida Marine]

All in one post. (plus the KOA PIA pen)

The Iwo Jima looks better in person, its not depicting well in photo's. It has an amazing 3d quality that is very neat. This is the 2nd one, already gave the first to the gent who gave me the sand, it was for his dad's retirement.

2nd is a Lazer linz kit I messed up a few stars on - first fountain pen I have done, its a PSI Tycoon. I knocked a few stars out and tried to glue the spares back in. All in all it looks decent and will be mine anyway...so not really caring about the flaws. Next try will be better. Not sure what to think about the fountain, not sure what a good one is or isn't.

3rd is my 9 year old son's first ever pen - he did as much as possible, I just guided the tools and did the fine/detail work. No clue what type of wood it is, was in my blank collection. Its a PSI or Rockler slim line.

4th is the KOA PIA pen... This was for the XO of my command, he gave me the KOA. I also did the same pen with my command logo with wood from a Garand to donate for the ball fund this year - no pics. Love the 30.06 kits from Ken.

 

[tim self]

Awesome job on the Iwo sand Jarhead! keep up the good work. Semper Fi

 

[Balasharc]

Nice pens, the 3rd looks like Cumuru to me.

 

[t001xa22]

IMHO, you have done the Corps proud with those pens, and your son has done himself proud with his creation. Great work, Marine.

 

[TheRealSmith]

Amazing pen! great idea.....how did you get the sand to stick prior to casting?

 

[Florida Marine]

Amazing pen! great idea.....how did you get the sand to stick prior to casting?

I used silver hi temp on the tube, let that dry, then would run a bead of med CA, drizzle sand, more ca, more sand and so on until I had pretty good coverage. I left some voids to ensure it would have different levels to the sand.

I did some practice runs with some sand I bought at Michaels, that was a great idea and gave me the practice I needed to get the final pretty good.

I am pretty happy with the turn out. I heated and ultrasounded the PR, and it came out with very few bubbles. I also set the pours on my band saw to get more bubbles out. All ideas I got from the library or posts.

 

[t001xa22]

"Adapt, Improvise, and Overcome".

 

[76winger]

Very nice looking pens - All of them!

The one made by your son should give him some great memories working with dad to create such a beauty. And although it might me a more exotic wood, it looks a lot like some mahogany that I've got sitting in the shop.

To help identify wood types I've used this site once I've gathered a few suggestions to narrow my focus: http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/indextotal.htm
Several variations of mahogany are listed and most look more alike than different. The Cumaru looks very similar as well.