A Rat's Tale

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Ok guys, please forgive me for bumping my own thread. :redface:

As many cool 'older' pens have been bumped recently to hopefully inspire people to make and enter pens in the upcoming Bash, I thought I'd bump this one. Not because it's my favourite ( which it is :biggrin: ) but because it can be made without any metal lathe or mill or CNC etc.
Granted, I did use my metal lathe to drill the cores, but they could just as easily be done on a wood lathe. All the metal shaping was done with files. The resin was also hand cut to fit the metal shapes.

So brush up on your hand tool skills and have a go. :biggrin:

I double dog dare you !!:tongue::biggrin:
 
:hypnotized:Talk about imagination!!!!!! Shoot a Mile, that is one beautiful instrument. Combining wood and stainless, hmmmmm.
 
skiprat said:
Ok guys, please forgive me for bumping my own thread. :redface:

As many cool 'older' pens have been bumped recently to hopefully inspire people to make and enter pens in the upcoming Bash, I thought I'd bump this one. Not because it's my favourite ( which it is :biggrin: ) but because it can be made without any metal lathe or mill or CNC etc.
Granted, I did use my metal lathe to drill the cores, but they could just as easily be done on a wood lathe. All the metal shaping was done with files. The resin was also hand cut to fit the metal shapes.

So brush up on your hand tool skills and have a go. :biggrin:

I double dog dare you !!:tongue::biggrin:
Click to expand...

Okay, but how do you get the metal soooo smooth?? I can see cutting, filing, Dremel to a point but how to get the nice finish has me perplexed. You have inspired me to try a entry into the BASH. My equipment includes a wood lathe, hack saw, band saw, chop saw, drill press, plug-in Dremel, battery Dremel, steel wook, tiny files 9round and flat), Brasso and jewelry cloth. How close am I to doing what you did?:cool:
 
John, you have everything. Take the deep scratches out of the metal before doing the shaping. It's a lot easier, trust me..:wink:
Use lots of wet n dry without skipping grades. I start at 400 and go to 1200.
When your fingers are raw, you should be nice and smooth. :biggrin:
Slow and steady wins the race. Forget the Dremel, use clean files.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.:biggrin:

John, there's a lot more detail on this on my site. Look in the ctips and tricks pages.:wink:
 
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I don't make metal pens but I do make a fair number of little things in my small machine shop. One of the things I use for finishing is 3-M mesh pads. They come in various coarseness.
 
skiprat said:
John, you have everything. Take the deep scratches out of the metal before doing the shaping. It's a lot easier, trust me..:wink:
Use lots of wet n dry without skipping grades. I start at 400 and go to 1200.
When your fingers are raw, you should be nice and smooth. :biggrin:
Slow and steady wins the race. Forget the Dremel, use clean files.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.:biggrin:

John, there's a lot more detail on this on my site. Look in the ctips and tricks pages.:wink:
Click to expand...

Okay, I checked it out. Got an idea. Now I need brass. To find brass rods or bolts is my next adventure.

Thank you.
 
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