Very special piece of wood

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I'm asking for some help with a decision I need to make. Here's the story.
In 2016 my wife and I were on a trip to Hawaii and spent two weeks on Kauai. While we were there we took a tour of the Coco Palms Resort. This is the resort where the movie "Blue Hawaii" starring Elvis Presley was shot. The wedding scene as well as the bungalow scene (and many others) were shot at the Coco Palms. The Resort was bought by a Japanese firm and after hurricane Iniki the resort was vacated and left to waste away. It later caught fire and most of the hotel part was ruined but the grounds and bungalows didn't suffer from the fire. During the tour we were taken to what is called the "Elvis Bungalow" (from Blue Hawaii) where I saw the wooden shutters that I found were made of Brazilian Rosewood. I made a deal with the tour guide, Bob, for a shutter off the Elvis Bungalow for one of my knives, which he agreed to.
I now have in my possession a shutter from the Elvis Bungalow and just found out that the bungalow has been destroyed during the renovation and also that the renovations have come to a complete halt and there is no time frame of when the resort will reopen, if ever. My shutter is the last remaining piece of the Elvis Bungalow. I've kept in touch with Bob and he likes the idea of turning the shutter into pens so that many people can have a piece of the Elvis Bungalow. I've got written documents from Bob stating that this shutter is in fact off the Elvis Bungalow and I've also have a picture that shows the shutter from the tour my wife and I took. The shutter is 3/4" think probably 6" wide and 4.5' long. Some of you may mention the CITES restrictions on Brazilian Rosewood which I'm very familiar with, but this is pre-ban and I don't sell outside the U.S.

Here's where your help comes in. I'm looking at a pen kit design that will work well with this shutter. I want to make sure the pen design is equal to the status of this piece of wood. I've had several people contact me this year, after taking the tour and Bob telling them about my knife, so I know people know I have the shutter.
Thanks for your help and ideas and I look forward to hearing them.
 
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magpens

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So you are asking us to recommend an appropriate pen kit ?

I would suggest the Lotus Jr., or the Emperor Jr. ....... unfortunately, I do not know of a pen kit called "The King Jr." !!!

The Statesman Jr. would be a third possibility ( but I would definitely not use the Majestic Jr. ).
 

Dalecamino

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Cool story Tom! My first thought for a pen kit, is Mike Redburns (mredburn) Sterling Silver kits. See some at silverpenparts.com
Then there is the Statesman Jr. as Mal suggested. One of my very favorites. Also, I demand to see photos 😁
 

acmaclaren

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Since it's from Elvis' bungalow, why not try making a Music rollerball kit from PSI?
 
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Cool story Tom! My first thought for a pen kit, is Mike Redburns (mredburn) Sterling Silver kits. See some at silverpenparts.com
Then there is the Statesman Jr. as Mal suggested. One of my very favorites. Also, I demand to see photos 😁
Hey Chuck, your demand will be met soon. I took photo's of the shutter today so I'll get them posted here very soon. You'll also get to see where I live and a bit of the Big Sky Country here in Montana.
 
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Cool story Tom! My first thought for a pen kit, is Mike Redburns (mredburn) Sterling Silver kits. See some at silverpenparts.com
Then there is the Statesman Jr. as Mal suggested. One of my very favorites. Also, I demand to see photos 😁
So you are asking us to recommend an appropriate pen kit ?

I would suggest the Lotus Jr., or the Emperor Jr. ....... unfortunately, I do not know of a pen kit called "The King Jr." !!!

The Statesman Jr. would be a third possibility ( but I would definitely not use the Majestic Jr. ).
What about one of the stainless steel rollerballs from Lazerlinez.
Availability might be an issue though.


I like the suggestions you've all come up with here, very impressive pens. Do any of you have any experience with the Hawaiian Spring pen kit shown on the Turners Warehouse site? They are showing a Hawaiian themed pen that looks nice, on the site, but never having ordered anything from them do you have any comments about the quality?
 
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Since it's from Elvis' bungalow, why not try making a Music rollerball kit from PSI?

I thought about this one but after really looking at it I'm not sure it's the right fit. I'm going more for a Hawaiian themed pen but this is a good idea. Thanks.
 

magpens

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@wolf creek knives

This is the first time that I have seen that Hawaiian Spring pen kit. . I kinda don't go for the words on the pen. It seems to have a floral them.

The sort of floral theme is what I like about the Lotus Jr. pen kit that I suggested above ... it is a really classy pen ...
... it costs about double but it is definitely a very good quality pen (Dayacom, I think).
 
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@wolf creek knives

This is the first time that I have seen that Hawaiian Spring pen kit. . I kinda don't go for the words on the pen. It seems to have a floral them.

The sort of floral theme is what I like about the Lotus Jr. pen kit that I suggested above ... it is a really classy pen ...
... it costs about double but it is definitely a very good quality pen (Dayacom, I think).
Gotta agree with your comment Mal. Very nice looking pen and probably would look great with the Brazilian Rosewood. I looked at the kit on Exotic Blanks but the instructions don't indicate the size of the blank to drill. According to what I can see it looks like one of the blanks needs to be drilled to almost 1/2 and inch. That leaves me with just a 1/4" of wood outside the hole and I'm not sure that gives me enough meat to really shape the pen to the desired shape. If you know the actual blank size that would be a great help, Dayacom doesn't have any info either other than how many, WOW, I need to order.
 

magpens

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@wolf creek knives

Tom,
I am measuring the Lotus Jr kit tubes now, as we speak ... LOL ...
Cap tube OD is 0.481" and length is 1.853" ... my tables show Jr Gent 2 as 0.483" and 1.89" ... Drill size 12.5mm or 0.492" ... Finished size (which is bushing size) is 0.567".
Body tube OD is 0.399" and length is 1.891" ... my tables show Jr Gent 2 as 0.400" and 2.09" ... Drill size 10.5 mm or 13/32" ... Finished size (which is bushing size) is 0.512".

So, basically same diameters as the very common Jr Gent 2; slight difference in lengths is of no consequence at all.

You should be able to handle the cap drilling with a blank size of 3/4" ... you will have (0.750 - 0.492)/2 = 0.129" wall thickness after drilling ... just over 1/8" ... quite tight but doable ... I have done. The drilling has to be accurately centered; so first you accurately make just barely round on lathe & drill on lathe.

You say that your shutter is 3/4" thick ( = 0.750") so if that is correct you should be OK.

BTW, I never use bushings ... turn between centers using calipers all the time now.

When you do the initial rounding on the lathe, try to start with an accurately square blank and do the turning between centers. . You don't have to do the rounding completely ... you can leave 4 partially flat faces and then grip the rounded parts in your 4-jaw lathe head chuck to do the drilling. Sh be OK.

You then glue in the tube, trim the blank ends for correct blank length, and then complete the rounding and correct sizing by turning between centers (with a cone in headstock and a 60* live center in tailstock; the cone can be a 60* dead center. When you are doing this turning, the blank should have the correct length and have squared/trimmed ends so that the cone and live center are both bearing on the ends of the brass tube.)

I hope you get my meaning in all this ... if not then please ask some more.
 
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Thanks Mal for the great info. I'll be ordering the kits in a bit as I'm waiting for some feedback from someone who will have a vested interest in this. but I will remember what you've written here and refer back to it when I get started on this project. Looks like it will work just fine so I'll be posting photo's later.
 
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Here you go Chuck. The first shutter on the the right of the door is the one I have. The person you see in the Elvis Bungalow doorway is Bob the tour guide. I'm not sure how all these will post but the rundown building is the Elvis Bungalow as it was in 2016. There is an inside picture of the bungalow that shows what the inside looks like in 2016, a picture of Elvis inside the bungalow back in the day and a picture of the shutter at my home. That's a view out my front door. Hope you like them. Elvis slat.JPGElvis slat.JPGIMG_20190625_160510.jpgelvisbungalowfull.jpgbungalowliving2.JPG
Elvis slat.JPG
Elvis slat.JPG
 
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Anytime you want to stop by feel free. If you fish be sure to bring your favorite rod and reel as I live 12 miles away from some of the best fishing in the country. And the view you see there is out my front door. I'm actually standing on our driveway with the shutter perched on an old milk can.
 

Dalecamino

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Anytime you want to stop by feel free. If you fish be sure to bring your favorite rod and reel as I live 12 miles away from some of the best fishing in the country. And the view you see there is out my front door. I'm actually standing on our driveway with the shutter perched on an old milk can.
Thanks Tom. I doubt I'll ever get there, but I'll keep it in mind. So what I thought was your backyard, is actually your front yard. Beautiful view from any angle.
 
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