How it's Held in the Shirt Pocket

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mototrev

Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2013
Messages
20
Location
Melbourne
To clip or not to clip that is the question!
A pens clip is an important part of the overall atheistic of a pen.
Some time they are understated.
Often they are ornate.
Sometime there are none at all.

The quality of kit clips plating is dubious at best.
So making my own was the next step.

These clip were often use and often came with matching shirt sleeve bands.....these are from the 1940's



Now that the oxy set has had its hoses replaced, I figured it was time to make some pen clip.

I started by making several rings from naval brass on the lathe to attach to the pen cap.
The clip I used strip brass and some 2mm dia rod.
The good thing about brass is that it can be annealed and softened so shaping the clip is a lot easier.
This is done by heating the brass and quenching in H2O.
The two pieces are then silver soldered together.

Flux should only be placed on the parts to be joined....i used a tooth pick to apply the flux...The flux flows by capillary action and any where it is the silver will flow.

Its also important to hold the pieces in place so they don't move.



Heat is applied and the silver is introduced. I find that sometimes it is easiest to cut small pieces of silver and use tweezers to apply the silver.



Let the soldered work cool naturally because further quenching will anneal the work making it soft.



The item is then lightly sanded with 800g wet and dry. and a fiberglass eraser to get into any hard to reach parts.

I place the item on a piece of tapered dowel to buff it back to a good finish.
Then into the ultrasonic cleaner to remove any left over crud.
Its important not to touch the work at this stage as oils from my hand start the tarnishing process.



These are some of the test pieces and are sprayed with brass lacquer to hold the finish for a while.
Several have been taken to the gold platters for an 18k finish. The cost is a few $ each



Each clip can be an individual adornment to the pen.

 
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MIKL

Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2009
Messages
439
Location
Sale, Victoria, Australia
what a great set of clips, i like the flat one in the center of the last pickie

now i have another reason to work out this silver soldering thing

i guess its back to the homework again

MIK
 
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