A bit troublesome....

[Warren White]

My sons bought me some very nice wood for Father's Day. The piece this pen was made from was Olive Wood from Rome. Unfortunately, it was exactly 4" square, by about 3". Too small for me to turn a bowl, and I only have Slimline kits right now. I usually cut my blanks 3/4" X 5" but there was only 4" available. Looking at it, I noticed that the total length of the tubes is exactly 4", so I thought I might just go ahead, being very careful in dealing with the length. I decided to cut the blanks across the grain, thinking that might add some interest. (I rethought that after I made the cut.....perhaps some of you second guess things you have decided?).

Well here is the result, and I am pleased with it. I have enough blanks for some single tube pens, or I might just decide to do more of these.

Your thoughts are always most welcome.

 

[Kenny Durrant]

I used to turn a bunch of slimlines. I've found that there's a little wiggle room in the top half of the pen. There's room on the bottom half as well but I never played with it to find out how much. If your interested get a pen that's already assembled and take the top half off. With the ink cartridge all the way retracted check the distance from the center band to the top of the refill. Then measure the distance between the bottom of the blank to the bottom of the cap that holds the clip, from the inside. That's how much you can remove without effecting the function of the pen. The center band won't be dead center but very few people will notice or even care. I've done this to use a blank that was a hair short to go the normal route.

 

[mark james]

I actually like the grain pattern due to how you cut the blank. Very nice.

 

[TDahl]

I think the cross grain pattern turned out well.

 

[Warren White]

Tim and Mark, thank you for your reply. I am happy with it but will always wonder how it would have been the other way.

 

[Warren White]

I used to turn a bunch of slimlines. I've found that there's a little wiggle room in the top half of the pen. There's room on the bottom half as well but I never played with it to find out how much. If your interested get a pen that's already assembled and take the top half off. With the ink cartridge all the way retracted check the distance from the center band to the top of the refill. Then measure the distance between the bottom of the blank to the bottom of the cap that holds the clip, from the inside. That's how much you can remove without effecting the function of the pen. The center band won't be dead center but very few people will notice or even care. I've done this to use a blank that was a hair short to go the normal route.

Hi Kenny. I had another pen that had some serious issues with the lower half but went ahead any way. I was able to save it with a lot of work. The turning mechanism wouldn't go in far enough to allow the center band to quite seat the way it should have. I had to modify it to get it to work. This one was not nearly as bad, so it all worked out in the end. Thanks for your suggestions!

 

[Alchemist]

This slim looks wonderful! The cross grain is wonderful. You could always do a diagonal cut, but that would create more waste.

 

[studioseven]

I never would have guessed you used olivewood and that's one of my favorite woods. It looks good.

Seven

 

[Warren White]

I never would have guessed you used olivewood and that's one of my favorite woods. It looks good.

Seven

Thank you. It is one of my favorites as well. But the stuff I have had in the past has always been cut lenghtways on the grain. This gives it a whole different look.