My Latest Custom Pen

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propencity

propencity

Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2009
Messages
337
Location
Pearland, TX
Just finished this one using 12mm, 9mm tap/die combo and #5 Bock nib. Been working to keep the cap shorter (than before) and somewhat proportional to the clip and rest of the pen.

Finished pen measures right at 5.5" long , .5" diameter in the middle. Cap is about 2 1/4" long.


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Very nice. I like the no overlap cap and pearl always goes good on any pen. I don't make kitless pens but I personally think it is a big + to not seethe insides of the pen.
 
I would be interested in knowing why a pen like this wonderful pen gets no comments and others are commented out the roof. I don't make KITLESS pens but I know a nice looking pen when I see it, no matter what kind it is.
 
It does have a bunch of 'likes' though.
To me - it's a great looking pen - and I love that blank material - I just ordered something similar to that the other day. Can't wait to play with it.

A critique - to me the background takes away from the pen. It all blends together - something dark, black, would be nice. Or a low light setup over a plain white background.

Are you using a tent or a box?
 
A shorter cap is something I'm working on for my current under construction pen. It, too, is a #5 Bock. One thing I'm going to try is hiding a half cm or so of the section inside of the barrel. I havent made a #6 yet, but those sections always look shorter for some reason.
 
Some excuses.

Ruby pen turning said:
I would be interested in knowing why a pen like this wonderful pen gets no comments and others are commented out the roof. I don't make KITLESS pens but I know a nice looking pen when I see it, no matter what kind it is.
Click to expand...

When I first saw this pen it was on the smart phone. The little screen makes it hard to really see the pen the way I do on the desktop so I don't comment. I did click the like button though. :) So that is my excuse.

Now others may only skim the SOYP section or just look at what comes through on the home page. If they are looking for kitless in the title and don't see it or the title doesn't grab them it may get passed over. Custom pen may take a little while to get recognized for what it is.

Mark your pen stands tall among all the good pens.

I agree with Shawn about the background not being the best way to feature your pen.
 
Guys, thank you for the kind words and constructive critique. I probably should have titled the thread, "My Latest Pen". The going back and forth about what to call "it" has been well documented on another thread. I really enjoyed making this pen and the likes because of the challenges it presents... and in the process you learn. I think that's why many of us are hooked.

Shawn, thanks for advice. I thought the same about a darker background... didnt' realize it until after first looking at the pics on the computer. I used to use a tent but I get too lazy sometimes to set it up.

Lyle, I know the challenge you refer to. Things I have tried are longer threaded 9mm tenon of the section, shorter area of the section where you hold the pen, and if needed, drill a hole on the finial's tenon to allow a bit of space for the nib.

Brian, many thanks. I have seen your work and that of Shawn and many others that have inspired me to try.

Keep Turning!
Mark
 
Nice looking pen. I have found that.300" tennon on the section and section length of .787" (20 mm), along with a recess in the finial, let's me make a cap about 2.250".
 
Looks really nice Mark. Very classy. And with keeping the cap as short as possible the ball clip looks good. On a longer cap those clips are too short. I need a few purple pens for my stock...some of this material would be perfect.
 
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Looks awesome on a black background - as for a light box, I'm lazy too (you have no idea how lazy and I'm too lazy to tell you), here's my setup. Takes 2 seconds to set up as I keep it stored on the floor next to my desk.

First the setup is just a swivel desk lamp squashed over a cardboard box. The box has been cut to nothing with cheap copy paper masking taped over the outside of it. I need to get a whiter light bulb instead of this yellowy thing.
You can also see I have some white copy paper inside the box as the background. I need to get a larger piece of paper so there's no line behind the pen in some photos... I'm just kinda lazy. :)

No tripod either. I just hold it there on auto usually. Sometimes I put it on "P" with these settings...
tungsten lighting
sometimes exposure at +2
never use flash
and that's it really...

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Inside of the box...

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