Thanks for the kind words everyone.
Originally posted by jthompson1995
<br />Very nice, I like all three. What kit is the center one?
The kit is a CSU Americana rollerball, many people just call it a snap cap since the pen snaps in the cap as aposed to threading in. It is not a very popular kit and some have reported problems with them but I have made about 40 of them and never had any problems.
Gerry - as stated above it is a CSU kit.
Bill - I still have not tried you method yet for the invisible clip. The snap cap is the only kit I currently do it on and have just been sticking with what I am confortable with. Lately I have been enamored with custom finals for any of the kits that have the hole in the clip the same size as the caps tube. I think it looks just as good when done right and is easier and faster to produce and I have a smaller failure rate then I have on the invisible clips. If I get back to removeing the centerbands on the Barons and El Toros I will give your method a try since without the centerband the additional metal showing at the clip would probably look unbalanced.
Lately on the few pens that I have made I have been trying to simlify my work while still keeping the custom look to them. This is also one of the reason I have gone away from the rounded ends on the solid body to a tapered flatter end. I like the way they look and I they are alot easier for me to get to look good than the rouded ends. This is the reason I particuliarly like the Baron, with the laminated black acrylic on the botton on the body, the custom turned final and two of the center band rings eliminated I think it has a very nice non kit look to it without being a huge amount of work.
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