A few recent fountain pens

I wanted to share a few of my recent pens. Clearly, I am getting inspiration from Ash (Valleyboy) right now with my pens. Who wouldn't? My goal on these was to hone my buffing and improve my photos. I think I have decided that outdoor photos come out much better than my lightbox photos. Always open to input and tips to improve.

The tortoise is the first pen that I have sanded and polished the inside and outside. It is entirely transparent, and the polishing came out very well. I made an internal polishing jig/mandrel, as shown in an Edison pen video someone posted a few weeks ago. That method worked very well for me.

Jowo #6
Amber Tortoise Acrylic - Vermont Freehand
Simplicita jet black accents - Beaufort Ink







Jowo #6
"Vintage Italian acrylic" - purchased on IAP
Simplicita acrylic red accents and section - Beaufort Ink








Jowo #6
Light Horn Swirl Acrylic - Vermont Freehand
Simplicita acrylic accents - Beaufort Ink

Wow! Those are amazing, that Tortoise is incredible.

Wow, fantastic. Someday I am going to have to buy some sets of taps and dies. Gorgeous pens! - Dave

Awesome work.

Incredible work.

Thanks for the inspiration!

Absolutely Beautiful. I tried to figure out which one was my favorite, but I kept changing my mind. The cap bands on the last two are outstanding. Well done!

Lovely work.

Beautiful. Thank you for sharing. I've recently gone down this road and am taking inspiration here.

Tell us about how the 5 layer bands on the caps were done. Seems like that's where the cap threads are and I wonder how well the glue held and how the metal (aluminum?) threaded. Any special tactic?

Also would like to know about your clip. Source? Ring diameter?

Beautifully done, Mark!

Todd in PA said:

Beautiful. Thank you for sharing. I've recently gone down this road and am taking inspiration here.

Tell us about how the 5 layer bands on the caps were done. Seems like that's where the cap threads are and I wonder how well the glue held and how the metal (aluminum?) threaded. Any special tactic?

Also would like to know about your clip. Source? Ring diameter?

Beautifully done, Mark!

Click to expand...

Thank you to everyone for the nice comments.

Well, I will tell you how I got it done, but I do things the way they make sense to me, and it may not be the right way.

Basically, for the cap in this case, I drilled out about 3/8" with a 14mm end mill in my cap. It is somewhat similar to the way I do an acrylic sleeve for a wooden pen, except that the insert goes all the way through. I turn another piece with a 14mm tenon to epoxy into the cap opening. I build my rings on that tenon and trim/size it all up before I glue. Glue it all together and clamp for 2-3 hours. I use System Three 5-minute epoxy to glue everything up and have never had a failure that way. I used to use CA and had occasional failures. Once it is all set, I drill it out like normal to build out the cap. There is no drilling or tapping through the metal.

As for the clips, I prefer to use a J3, G3, Q3, T3 clip from Beaufort ink. I use the size with the 12mm/10mm ring because I am using an M13 tap/die. Beaufort actually has ten clip styles available with this ring. Turners Warehouse sells the size J3 clip, and that might be a good way to try them out before ordering different styles from Beaufort. I use a 12mm end mill on the cap, and the clip ring sits in the channel perfectly. The interior 10mm fits perfectly around my finial tenon.

Those look great, really nice, I call the fountain pen the "Pen of the Elite", I must admit I would love to make some but don't know enough about the details to get results as you, going to read over again until I understand what the process is, thanks for sharing not only the pictures but the wisdom of how too., joe