My first couple pens I used ebonite, which despite the smell is wonderful to work with (PSA: if you burn ebonite while drilling it out, your wife makes you sleep in the garage with the stink you made). I picked up some really pretty "Conway Colors" acrylic, so now I tried out using acrylic. Definitely not as nice to work with, but at least the smell isn't quite as bad. It is easier to get a high gloss polish.
The first one I made using "Blue Cerulean", black ebonite finials and I made silver accent rings and clip for it. This one was my first attempt at swaging the rings on. It worked well, but I won't say much about it because I already created a post about it. I am particularly proud of the cap on this one because I managed to make it only 13.8mm at the widest point with M12 threads to attach to the barrel. I wanted the cap to taper down and "flow" into the barrel, but it meant getting the cap walls pretty thin.
The second one I made using "Vintage Port" with brass accent rings and a purchased brass clip. I cut off the steel ring the clip came on (wrong size and didn't look good) and I attached it to a brass ring. No pictures of the section yet because I want to make it out of the same "Vintage Port" acrylic, but I didn't buy enough to do that, so I'm waiting on another order of it. The plan is to do it the same as the blue one except with a brass accent ring and a gold nib. The brass band on this cap I added using the tenon and ring method. The cap on this one isn't quite as thin as the one above. It is 14mm at its widest point, but that is because that was the size of brass pipe I used for the ring. Pictures don't do this acrylic justice. It is so beautiful. I swear I can sit and look at it all day. I'm trying to think of what else I can make out of it. Heck, I might just turn a piece of it, polish it up and keep it in my pocket to use as a "fidget" or "worry stone" that I can pull out and admire at random (ok, that might be strange).
The first one I made using "Blue Cerulean", black ebonite finials and I made silver accent rings and clip for it. This one was my first attempt at swaging the rings on. It worked well, but I won't say much about it because I already created a post about it. I am particularly proud of the cap on this one because I managed to make it only 13.8mm at the widest point with M12 threads to attach to the barrel. I wanted the cap to taper down and "flow" into the barrel, but it meant getting the cap walls pretty thin.
The second one I made using "Vintage Port" with brass accent rings and a purchased brass clip. I cut off the steel ring the clip came on (wrong size and didn't look good) and I attached it to a brass ring. No pictures of the section yet because I want to make it out of the same "Vintage Port" acrylic, but I didn't buy enough to do that, so I'm waiting on another order of it. The plan is to do it the same as the blue one except with a brass accent ring and a gold nib. The brass band on this cap I added using the tenon and ring method. The cap on this one isn't quite as thin as the one above. It is 14mm at its widest point, but that is because that was the size of brass pipe I used for the ring. Pictures don't do this acrylic justice. It is so beautiful. I swear I can sit and look at it all day. I'm trying to think of what else I can make out of it. Heck, I might just turn a piece of it, polish it up and keep it in my pocket to use as a "fidget" or "worry stone" that I can pull out and admire at random (ok, that might be strange).