Kitless Fountain Pen - Mackay Cedar

[Ironwood]

This is my first kitless FP ( I did make a rollerball recently though ) , also my first using wood.

My pen output has slowed considerably, hopefully the speed will pick up once I get all the mandrels and jigs made for this type of work.
At the moment, I am making them as I need them.

This one is made from Mackay Cedar, and some Acrylic Acetate, fitted with an extra fine #6 Jowo nib.
The Mackay Cedar was given one coat of thin CA and some Ubeaut Traditional wax, nice to hold.
The pen is 155mm long capped, the pen barrel is 15mm diameter.
It has a homemade stainless steel clip.

Unfortunately I didn't do a good job on the 14mm thread on the pen body, I was slightly over 14mm and the threads chipped a bit. Live and learn.

 

[Teodor]

Wow, really nice.
This pen will gladly accept raw Urushi to protect the wood.

Sent from my Redmi Note 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Ironwood]

Wow, really nice.
This pen will gladly accept raw Urushi to protect the wood.

Sent from my Redmi Note 5 using Tapatalk

Thanks Teodor.
Is the raw Urushi clear ?

 

[TonyL]

Outstanding!

 

[TonyL]

Thanks Teodor.
Is the raw Urushi clear ?

Beautiful pen. Did you thread the inside of the barrel? How is the section secured to the barrel? Thank you!

 

[Teodor]

Thanks Teodor.
Is the raw Urushi clear ?

Raw Urushi.


Sent from my Redmi Note 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Ironwood]

Beautiful pen. Did you thread the inside of the barrel? How is the section secured to the barrel? Thank you!

Thanks Tony.
The acrylic at the business end of the pen is in two sections, the first one has a spigot machined on it, and is epoxied into the timber barrel, the 2nd section which holds the nib housing, is threaded into the first one with a 10x0.8mm thread.

 

[Jim15]

Great work.

 

[OZturner]

Excellent Pen Brad,
Nice Profile and Proportions,Love your Stainless Steel Clip, and the Epoxy Finial, as well as Section.
Good Low Sheen Finish,
Congratulations,
Brian.

 

[TonyL]

Thanks Tony.
The acrylic at the business end of the pen is in two sections, the first one has a spigot machined on it, and is epoxied into the timber barrel, the 2nd section which holds the nib housing, is threaded into the first one with a 10x0.8mm thread.

Thank you very much.

 

[Alan Morrison]

Good looking pen, lovely piece of timber

 

[mark james]

Beautiful pen. I really like the minimal finish - I suspect if has a great feel.

 

[Dalecamino]

You did very well on your first FP. Really like the stainless clip as well.

 

[Ironwood]

Thank you very much.

No problems Tony.
I am unsure of a better way to attach the resin to the timber at this stage. I started with a brass tube glued into the timber, and left 8mm of the tube protruding from the timber blank. Was going to drill the acrylic to suit the brass tube and glue in place, but this would have interfered with the 10mm thread for the section. So I changed my plan, and drilled an 11mm hole, about 10mm deep, into the end of the timber blank, I then turned the spigot/step on the acrylic part to fit snugly into the hole, and glued in place.

I don't think the raw timber would accept the threads well, and I would be worried about it cracking. I do have plans to start stabilising my timber blanks, this may make them more friendly to threading, but I will have to experiment to see how it goes.

 

[duncsuss]

Great looking pen, congratulations!

... drilled an 11mm hole, about 10mm deep, into the end of the timber blank, I then turned the spigot/step on the acrylic part to fit snugly into the hole, and glued in place.

I don't think the raw timber would accept the threads well, and I would be worried about it cracking. I do have plans to start stabilising my timber blanks, this may make them more friendly to threading, but I will have to experiment to see how it goes.

Exactly how I (and many other pen makers) have done it. I like to line the cap fully, it reduces the rate at which the ink in the nib dries out and makes for a better writing experience when the pen "starts first time". Also it gives you something to cut threads in at both ends -- for the barrel at one end, and the finial which holds the clip in place at the other. And it protects against ink leaks inside the cap soaking through the wood.

Stabilising the blanks improved the threading ability a little, but I never found it to be good enough and I always use plugs of resin or ebonite (hard rubber) which I know machine nicely.

 

[Ironwood]

Beautiful pen. I really like the minimal finish - I suspect if has a great feel.

Cheers Mark. It does have a nice feel to it. I wanted to keep the open grain look of this timber, so used the extra thin BSI CA, this really soaked into the timber and will help to seal and protect, but left an unfinished texture, which was what I wanted. The wax was put on to give it a Silky feel, this will wear off with use, and the timber will develop a nice patina over time . Well that's the plan anyway.

 

[Ironwood]

Great looking pen, congratulations!


Exactly how I (and many other pen makers) have done it. I like to line the cap fully, it reduces the rate at which the ink in the nib dries out and makes for a better writing experience when the pen "starts first time". Also it gives you something to cut threads in at both ends -- for the barrel at one end, and the finial which holds the clip in place at the other. And it protects against ink leaks inside the cap soaking through the wood.

Stabilising the blanks improved the threading ability a little, but I never found it to be good enough and I always use plugs of resin or ebonite (hard rubber) which I know machine nicely.

Thanks for the tips Duncan. I did as you suggested, the cap has an acrylic resin sleeve right the way through it, with the threads cut into the resin, rather than the timber.
I have stepped the drilling's in the cap to minimise the airspace inside. From my research online, I gather that the less air inside the cap will help to slow the drying of the ink as well.

 

[Pierre---]

A very nice pen, Brad.
So the end of the section rests against a step in the cap, I am right ? Isn't it difficult to align the wood grain then ?

 

[duncsuss]

... I have stepped the drilling's in the cap to minimise the airspace inside. From my research online, I gather that the less air inside the cap will help to slow the drying of the ink as well.

Another benefit - if one of the steps allows the nib to enter but not the nose of the grip section, it stops the advance right there. It's still possible for somebody to twist too hard and strip the threads (or split the cap), but at least they won't be able to screw the business end of the nib into the end of the cap.

 

[duncsuss]

A very nice pen, Brad.
So the end of the section rests against a step in the cap, I am right ? Isn't it difficult to align the wood grain then ?

If you are using multi-start threading, this becomes less of an issue (since 2 out of 3 starts are guaranteed non-aligned )

 

[Ironwood]

A very nice pen, Brad.
So the end of the section rests against a step in the cap, I am right ? Isn't it difficult to align the wood grain then ?

Thanks Pierre.
No, I didn't do it that way, I just drilled to give minimal clearance for the nib and section. Though I will look at doing it that way for future pens. To align the grain, I think you could trim the end off the section until the grain aligned, I am using double start threads, so not much will need to be removed.

 

[Ironwood]

Another benefit - if one of the steps allows the nib to enter but not the nose of the grip section, it stops the advance right there. It's still possible for somebody to twist too hard and strip the threads (or split the cap), but at least they won't be able to screw the business end of the nib into the end of the cap.

Sounds like a good plan. I will look at incorporating that into future pens.

 

[Pierre---]

So the end of the section rests against a step in the cap, I am right ?

No, I didn't do it that way, I just drilled to give minimal clearance for the nib and section.

So, if I understand well, there is no rest to stop the section screwing in ?

 

[Ironwood]

So, if I understand well, there is no rest to stop the section screwing in ?

The plan was to use the small step before the 14mm thread as a stop, using a bottom tap to thread the cap right up to that step. In practice, I don't know how well this has worked, I suspect the threads are binding before the shoulders meet. This is something that I will change on my next pen.

 

[PenPal]

Hi Brad et al I want you to know how much I appreciate with this pen and others your willingness to reply to queries and that you promote extreme quality in your presentation pictures and willingness to accept useful thoughts as expressed and answered by both yourself and others,this quality is to be treasured mate.

Kind regards my friend a couple of thousand Kms from where I live.The better of the best of people.

Peter.

 

[johncrane]

Well done Brad your pen and work looks very good