toolcrazy
Member
This all started when I ordered a baron pen mandrel from AS. Bill generously included a couple blanks precut for a closed end baron. I thought great, perfect blank to try the mandrel out. He sent what looked to be box elder burl. I easily drilled the main barrel and started to do the cap, well it blew out on me. I was !@#$@ off, big time. When I calmed down, I thought I could get away with a piece of Flaming box elder. This drilled great and it is the cap you see in the pic. I easily finished off both pieces and the pen looked great. The next mishap was when the roller ball cartridge started leaking. No biggie, replace it, went to remove it and found it glued in. Tried everything to remove it, wasn't moving. Finally took it to the shop and trimmed the closed end off to remove the stuck cartridge. I trimmed it down so I could put it back on the lathe to turn it to a regular baron. I carefully trued it up with my barrel trimmer and I guess I wasn't careful enough, I blew it up again. By this time, I wasn't giving in. I put the blank on the lathe trimmed off the broken part getting it ready for a patch. This is the finished pic you see below. And to finish this off, when I took the pictures, I noticed a crack in the add on section. It has cracked clear to the seam. I guess it's the pen that don't want to be. I don't know if I want to repair it again, or chuck it in the things I learned file.
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