Thanksgiving penmaking marathon

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jalbert

jalbert

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This past long Thanksgiving weekend ended up being somewhat of a penmaking marathon. Here are the fruits of my labor:
1. A commissioned piece in a resin that Jonathon Brooks cast, and the customer sent me. It's a three sided sculpted pen, and is fitted for a Pelikan M800 nib. I fabricated the clip from stainless steel.

2. This is another sculpted pen, which I made on a whim because I really like this material. It's "lilac water" acrylic that I bought from Beartooth Woods. It is fitted with a Jowo #6 nib. The clip on this one is stainless steel as well.

3. This pen caused me a whole lot of grief--mainly because it uses a piston filling system that I had been working on, and finally got the chance to build. After three iterations, I finally got the mechanism right. It is made from a strata gem acrylic, and "milk chocolate" acrylic. The nib is a Pelikan M800 (I really like this nib), and the cap band and clip are bronze. I had some serious vintage European vibes running around my head while building this, and I feel like they really came through. I feel that this pen is quintessentially "me," as it embodies all the design aspects that I love.
 

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Outstanding. I still can't get the inside of the barrel and transparent and scratch-free as you. I wish you would share the technique. Awesome work!
 
TonyL said:
Outstanding. I still can't get the inside of the barrel and transparent and scratch-free as you. I wish you would share the technique. Awesome work!
Click to expand...

Thank you Tony. I don't really have any secret or special technique for internal sanding. I use an aluminum rod with a slit cut in the end to hold a folded up piece of sandpaper, which is chucked in my lathe. I have a little container of water on the lathe bed under the mandrel so I can wet sand and not get water all over the place, and I just use that setup to cycle through all the grits.
 
G'Day John. I am a big fan of many of your previous works.

I have far to little experience with fountain pens, so in that aspect I'm Ill informed.

But for form, profile, colors, hues and general appearance, the third pen is very appealing. I have little exact variables to point to other than it simply looks "like a pen that is comfortable to use, and is visually distinct from most others."

All are wonderful, but the "Milk Chocolate" is a winner for me.

Cheers, Mark
 
Last edited:
mark james said:
G'Day John. I am a big fan of many of your previous works.

I have far to little experience with fountain pens, so in that aspect I'm Ill informed.

But for form, profile, colors, hues and general appearance, the third pen is very appealing. I have little exact variables to point to other than it simply looks "like a pen that is comfortable to use, and is visually distinct from most others."

All are wonderful, but the "Milk Chocolate" is a winner for me.

Cheers, Mark
Click to expand...

Thank you Mark. That last pen is my favorite too. It's the perfect length/diameter for me, and I've been using it all week at work.
 
Always look forward to opening your threads.

The knurling on the last pen. Did you actually run a knurling tool against the part or did you index it and cut it in some fashion?
 
Curly said:
Always look forward to opening your threads.

The knurling on the last pen. Did you actually run a knurling tool against the part or did you index it and cut it in some fashion?
Click to expand...

Thanks Pete. I used a cheap knurling tool I had, however I ruined the first blind cap I made because I didn't go about it in an intelligent manner. I wish I'd had a wheel for my tool with a finer, sharper knurl, so that's probably going to be a future purchase.
 
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