...a friend offered me some old military Nickel plated 50 Cal. cases . He was going to toss em'. Yep, I'll give em' a go! I checked the library and I was more confused about building a pen out of one. I just went to garage, grabbed a refill and a slimline tranny and in about 45 minutes I had the first one completed! I used .5" Aluminum round stock and proceeded from there.! Nothing too fancy but it was fun! I cleaned the cases a bit w/.0000 steel wool and that is good enough for me. Be well.....Jan