Bitzer Bullet Fountain Pen

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BigShed

BigShed

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Joined
Feb 14, 2008
Messages
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Location
Adelaide, SA, Australia.
At the art show on Sunday a lady asked whether I could make my bullet pens as a fountain pen.

After initially answering no, she asked me whether I could add a rifle clip to a Baron or Jr Gent fountain pen I had on display.

I thought I might be able to do that with a Baron and promised her I would have a go (as you do!)

When I started measuring the Baron I felt that the slimline rifle clip would create problems with that kit and I started looking through the other FP kits I had to hand.

The Executive fountain pen looked promising, but again the finial end was rather large.

I then had a brain f*rt and thought that a 308 primer end might be worth a crack.

Cut the primer end off, drilled a 1/4" hole (same as inside of slimline tube) recessed the end and milled a slot to take the rifle clip. That looked promising, but I didn't like the slimline finial cap on top of that, looked out of place.

So, got out some 10mm brass rod, turned a 1/4" spigot on the end, parted off and turned a curved end to make a solid brass cap (first time I have done curved ends on my metal lathe, woohoo!)

So, that looked OK, but now the standard Executive end cap at the other end looked out of place. So repeated the above process, minus the rifle clip and hey presto now we have matching ends.

All that remained now was to glue up a couple of Executive tubes with Red Ironbark (her choice), turn them to size, turn a tenon on end to take the custom caps and assmble the pen.

Here's the end result, a Bitzer Bullet Fountain Pen

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Now, ain't you just a clever penmaker?...great thinking..great creativity..thanks for sharing
 
A great case of when less is more, much more. this has got to be in the top three favorite uses of casings for me. very nice.
 
Very innovative design. You should think about publishing a tutorial here on the site. Great work. I hope you customer likes it. If she doesn't send it to me. :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:
 
workinforwood said:
That's a winner Fred. I think that's the first pen with a rifle clip that actually looks good. That wood is really great too. What is red ironbark and where does someone find that?
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Red Ironbark is Eucalyptus sideroxylon, it is found in Australia especially in the area where I live, Central Victoria.

The particular piece of bark was collected close to Bendigo, the forests are called Box-Ironbark forests as they are primarily made up of Ironbark and Box species, eg Red, Yellow and Grey Box. The forest where I collect this wood is our primary source of firewood. Each year we buy a firewood licence from the Dept of Sustainability and Environment, who manage the forests, usually we collect about 8 cubic metres of wood.

The Red Ironbark has a very thick layer of bark, up to 3 to 4 inches, which is quite hard, but somewhat brittle and needs a fair bit of CA applied whilst you are turning it. I collect this bark and have made quite a few pens with it, the first one a Cigar for a pen swap with Dalecamino, see here.
 
Absolutely marvelous! Tasteful, beautifully creative.

And I never thought I'd say that about a pen made using anything from a bullet.
 
arjudy said:
Very innovative design. You should think about publishing a tutorial here on the site. Great work. I hope you customer likes it. If she doesn't send it to me. :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:
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WoodenInk said:
Fred, this looks too good, you MUST do a step by step guide by photos, a TUTORIAL, and post it here and back home. Amos
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Now listen here you guys, does that mean I have to make another one? Otherwise I can't take photos, and then it isn't unique anymore:eek:

When I was assembling the pen I actually thought I should have taken photos of this process, but was way too involved in puzzling out what to do to even think of that.

You're in luck though, have shown it to the customer (couldn't wait for the second pen to be ready) and told her there was a matching roller ball kit for the fountain pen.

You guessed it, she wants a set now:wink:
 
BigShed said:
Now listen here you guys, does that mean I have to make another one? Otherwise I can't take photos, and then it isn't unique anymore:eek:

When I was assembling the pen I actually thought I should have taken photos of this process, but was way too involved in puzzling out what to do to even think of that.

You're in luck though, have shown it to the customer (couldn't wait for the second pen to be ready) and told her there was a matching roller ball kit for the fountain pen.

You guessed it, she wants a set now:wink:
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I DO hope you remembered how you did the first one Fred ! :wink: Great job friend . :good:
 
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