Another Pentel conversion

[BHuij]

I wanted a pencil to keep in my darkroom for writing notes on the backs of silver gelatin test strips and prints I make with my enlarger. I also have been watching Richard Raffan videos on the skew and wanting to get some practice in, so I turned this entire pen from square with only the skew (the only exception being the narrower bit for the clip, where I used a parting tool). It went pretty well. I'm a long ways off from being as fast and comfortable with the skew as Mr. Raffan, but I had no catches, and was able to save myself some sanding thanks to the excellent surface the skew leaves behind. I also think working a bit slower helped me end up with an overall profile that was more balanced-feeling and aesthetically pleasing than some of the Pentel conversions I've done in the past.

King cocobolo and olivewood, with some silver faux-metal silk PLA as an accent. I'm getting less and less sold on 3D printed accents. They seem to start going pretty translucent when they're thinner than about a full millimeter. Might just pick up some aluminum flashing for when I want a line of something shiny and contrasting. I could also have put more care into making sure the ends of the wood pieces were square before I glued up. Lessons learned, I suppose.

All in all I'm happy with the pencil though. I love having a 0.9mm option, and I'm finding I like these Pentel conversions better than any of the 7 or 8 different pencil kits I've tried, at least for smaller leads. Clutch pencils are a bit of a different category.

Low quality phone pic below.

 

[its_virgil]

Nice pencil and finish. The pentel conversion is a favorite of mine. I made my first using different drill bits. Then I had step drills made and used a special mandrel made by a member here. Now I make them using this method. The easiest way I've found. No special tooling required. Thanks for sharing.
Pentel conversion

 

[BHuij]

Honestly I think it looks better than 75% of the pencil kits out there, and works better than about 99% of them due to the battle-tested mechanism and excellent precision lead sleeve. They're fun to make, they're super inexpensive, they're reliable, they feel great in the hand, and they're a joy to actually use. Win/win/win/win/win. And of course I've harped on it enough, but I really do love 0.9mm lead haha.

Now I need to see if I can work out a process to turn wooden bodies for other mech pencil mechanisms. I've had interest from a couple of people who really like the Orenz line, and one person asking about re-skinning a Kuru Toga.