Spiral El Grande FP

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Tom McMillan

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OK---I've been working on this for awhile. It's the first FP I've made in probably ten years. This is a 2 layer spiral of kingwood and maple.



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I put different photos in my album, and dedicated this pen to my Grandfather (was a Business College owner and teacher), who was a connoisseur of fountain pens---and had beautiful handwriting.
 
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Thanks guys!! Well, I've been doing quite a few spiral slimlines (making up the blanks until I can afford more kits---kits are on order now)---and Rich K. encouraged me to do some FP's---so, this is my first try since some very early FP's I made a long time ago.

To do this type of pen I first took a blank of kingwood and turned both down to an even dimension just over the busings. Then I drill maple to fit over the kingwood and glue the maple onto the kingwood. Then I lay out the spiral by drawing a straight line along the blank, and lay out how far apart I want my spirals by making a pencil mark. Then I take a thin piece of masking tape and spiral it around the blank and draw a pencil line along it. Then I take a small rasp (bastard file) and cut the spiral by hand---takes a number of times, but I am getting quicker at doing it (practice, practice, practice). Then I sand it with either rolled up sandpaper or sandpaper around a small nail. Then I turn the rest of the pen to the shape I want. On these I use CA as a finish and use a Q-Tip to apply it. I sand the CA, then use EEE Ultra Ultra Shine which works great, and then use Rennaisance Wax and buff it.
 
Shazam ! Amazing pen Tom. Good things take time. That is a real beauty. Will make some fountain pen lover very happy and a better writer. Great job.

Anthony
 
Beautiful Tom.U went to the home page to look at the red/black one and it's gone!
I checked out your album.Nice sentiment and a beauty of a pen.
Gotta do a spiral.(out of wood)
 
I can't get over how beautiful these pens are, Tom. The creativity and hard work are quite evident in unique style you've developed. A beautiful job...I think I saw the gleam of an approving smile sent down from heaven.
 
Tom that is a really neat pen. I have seen some of your other spiral pens and they all amazing!! Thank you for sharing with us how you made them. I would like to try one sometime with the hopes that it comes out half that nice. <b> Just Amazing!</b>
 
Tom,
I can see this being the thing to attempt for about the next year.
great job on a pen that is outside the box. I really like the two tone addition to the spiral work. very challenging in several ways.
I must be getting better though. I had the method figured out before I read your discription. though I was kidding myself about drilling out a 2nd blank to fit over the other one. but low and behold there it was plain as day in your own words.
mount this one it is a landmark piece of work.
 
Thanks Bruce---And yes, once I tried to do crossed grooves---not on a 2 tone---but, on a regular spiral---and it didn't work out----probably would have to use a different tool (maybe a smaller rasp---or maybe something v-shaped)----but, I'm thinking of doing something like that in the future---but, will have to spend some time thinking it through---what I'm thinking of is something similar to checkering on gunstocks---so may look into that. Always open to new ideas.
 
I'm looking into doing that on a metal pen body, and I laid out lots of variations in CAD to see what they looked like. The cross pattern looked interesting, as well as some where the pitch changes as it goes up the pen. Other options include carving an arc instead of a fixed depth, and doing different cutter diameters. The thin thickness of the wood does put some constraints on the creativity, but there are still lots of things to experiment with. So little time! I was actually caught up on my rings the other day, so I started back on my pens, but that lasted only about 15 minutes.
 
Great Bruce!! Will look forward to seeing how it comes out!! I'm sure the cross pattern would look interesting----probably a lot of variations that can be done. Without a Legacy or any other tooling to do the spirals---I'll plod on with my spirals by hand----and look into what else I might come up with too. It's always fun to think ahead!
 
The crossed pattern with an increasing pitch kinda reminds me of a pine cone. The really great effects happen on curved surfaces too.
 
I was laying it out on the computer for potential use on metal. The parts are so thin that wood for my fountain pen might be pushing the limits. I'm attempting to do the pen with no kit parts, so those parts are structural as well as decorative.
 
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