greenmtnguy
Local Chapter Leader
I recently blew up two nice cap blanks- Amboyna burl and Big Leaf Maple burl. Both problems were with extremely tight fitting clips to finial. I went and visited Charlie to see how his Gent clips fit. They fit snugly, but go on. Mine doesn't go on at all. I just put the digital caliper on both Gents. The clip hole on one is 0.547 and the finial that goes in the hole is 0.555. Big into small doesn't seem to work. The second clip hole is 0.546 and the finial to goes into the hole is 0.556. Just how much does metal expand without a problem.? I have ground the Statesman finial so I suspect returning it is out of the question.The Gents are going back. Here is some of the result after I cracked the cap during assembly. I do not want to work on 19.99 pen kits to make them work. The Statesman were worse. Back they go.