Another domestic wood fountain pen

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Fred Bruche

Fred Bruche

Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2018
Messages
987
Location
Philadelphia 19146
This time straight grain Arizona desert ironwood, the blank was cut from a small log I got a few years ago.
I'm always impressed by the chatoyance of that wood, really unique.
My usual M13x0.8t for cap/body junction, M10x1 for section/body, liquid diamonds epoxy with mica pigments.
C&C welcome.

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@Fred Bruche

VERY NICE indeed !!!

B*E*A*U*T*I*F*U*L , in fact !!!!

Just a minor question . . . In picture #3, there seems to be a bit of blue (acrylic) peeking out at the far end of the section.
I don't think that specific piece of blue shows when the pen is assembled.
That would suggest to me that you used that blue acrylic as a liner for the DIW of the section . . . is that right ? . . Just curious.
 
magpens said:
@Fred Bruche

VERY NICE indeed !!!

B*E*A*U*T*I*F*U*L , in fact !!!!

Just a minor question . . . In picture #3, there seems to be a bit of blue (acrylic) peeking out at the far end of the section.
I don't think that specific piece of blue shows when the pen is assembled.
That would suggest to me that you used that blue acrylic as a liner for the DIW of the section . . . is that right ? . . Just curious.
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Thanks Mal!
Yes, the section is lined with blue resin. The resin blank I was going to use to make the section showed limited "figure". So a design modification was in order and it was used to make only the "guts of the section", inner lining and the threaded tenon.

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Beautiful pen! Love the blue/golden brown color contrasts there. Ironwood was an excellent choice! I also like the design of the pen, with that little bump at the top of the cap.
 
Fred Bruche said:
Thanks Mal!
Yes, the section is lined with blue resin. The resin blank I was going to use to make the section showed limited "figure". So a design modification was in order and it was used to make only the "guts of the section", inner lining and the threaded tenon.

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I love that center band! The straight grain suits it well as a "texture" contrast to the band. The wood section is something I don't recall seeing before, but it really makes this stand out from the other kitless pens I've seen for that uniqueness. Outstanding!
 
Roly said:
Beautiful. Do you actually sleeve the the whole cap and body with acrylic and if so, do you turn it down insert it and then drill for the threading and such.
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Thank you Roelant.
Both the cap and the body are fully sleeved with resin, possibly not necessary for the body but for the cap it will significantly slow/prevent the ink from drying in the section feed. I had limited success inserting sleeve material in the blank, some gluing issues, and I also saw that the material to make the sleeve (ultimately hidden!) could become the more expensive part of the pen (depending on the material). So I thought of an alternative and it's been working for me on the fountain pens I've posted here in the past few weeks. What I do now is to drill the wood blank a few mm larger than the inside of the finished pen, pour liquid epoxy resin (I use liquid diamonds dyed with mica pigments usually) to fill the hole and some extra that will become the center band or the tenon for the body/cap junction. Let the resin cure for at least a few days before turning it. And as they say, a picture is worth a picture... here are parts that are ready to be drilled and turned (the extra on the cap could be less material but I guess I was feeling generous while pouring it). They are labeled because the inside is drilled differently of course. Here the body wood piece was drilled with a 27/64" bit, and the inside of the pen body will be drilled with a 9mm bit.

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Very nice pen. As others have said, I love the center band, with the contrasting blue, and the lighter orange-ish rings. Wonderful color combination. Thanks also for explaining your process - I plan to do a lot of reading on how to make kitless pens, because of pens like yours and some others I have seen lately, I think this will be my next area to focus on. Thanks for the inspiration.
 
Fred Bruche said:
Thank you Roelant.
Both the cap and the body are fully sleeved with resin, possibly not necessary for the body but for the cap it will significantly slow/prevent the ink from drying in the section feed. I had limited success inserting sleeve material in the blank, some gluing issues, and I also saw that the material to make the sleeve (ultimately hidden!) could become the more expensive part of the pen (depending on the material). So I thought of an alternative and it's been working for me on the fountain pens I've posted here in the past few weeks. What I do now is to drill the wood blank a few mm larger than the inside of the finished pen, pour liquid epoxy resin (I use liquid diamonds dyed with mica pigments usually) to fill the hole and some extra that will become the center band or the tenon for the body/cap junction. Let the resin cure for at least a few days before turning it. And as they say, a picture is worth a picture... here are parts that are ready to be drilled and turned (the extra on the cap could be less material but I guess I was feeling generous while pouring it). They are labeled because the inside is drilled differently of course. Here the body wood piece was drilled with a 27/64" bit, and the inside of the pen body will be drilled with a 9mm bit.

View attachment 320596
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Another great looking pen Fred!
I'm going to try this process soon.
How do you align the grain? My guess is by removing threading on the cap until it matches but maybe you have a better method?
Thanks.
 
PatrickR said:
Another great looking pen Fred!
I'm going to try this process soon.
How do you align the grain? My guess is by removing threading on the cap until it matches but maybe you have a better method?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Same here, removing cap threads has worked for me, nothing better to offer. Since I use a triple start, on one hand there isn't much to remove generally but on the other hand it will only work with one of the three grooves. For the ones I have made so far I also don't find that a perfect grain alignment is aesthetically required (or at least it hasn't bothered me). Feel free to reach out with questions, glad to share what I've learned so far.
 
Fred Bruche said:
Same here, removing cap threads has worked for me, nothing better to offer. Since I use a triple start, on one hand there isn't much to remove generally but on the other hand it will only work with one of the three grooves. For the ones I have made so far I also don't find that a perfect grain alignment is aesthetically required (or at least it hasn't bothered me). Feel free to reach out with questions, glad to share what I've learned so far.
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Thanks. I'll be doing some casting soon so I'll drill a couple blanks to try this out. Sometimes I end up doing things the hard way and wanted to check.
 
Really nice pen Fred! I truly appreciated your explanation of how you did the sleeve pour. I am just getting into my own custom built pens and initial issues I have had were with sleeving. I want to continue to produce natural wood bodied pens versus 100% resin casting bodies, but know that the threading and stress of use require some support to the thin woods. One quick question - are you still putting the pour under pressure like a normal resin pour, or do you just leave it go since most isn't seen anyway?
 
NJturner said:
Really nice pen Fred! I truly appreciated your explanation of how you did the sleeve pour. I am just getting into my own custom built pens and initial issues I have had were with sleeving. I want to continue to produce natural wood bodied pens versus 100% resin casting bodies, but know that the threading and stress of use require some support to the thin woods. One quick question - are you still putting the pour under pressure like a normal resin pour, or do you just leave it go since most isn't seen anyway?
Click to expand...
I use liquid diamond epoxy resin that doesn't require pressure to cure (mostly) bubble-free. But if you resin you are planning to use is typically cured under pressure then you should probably use it. No bubbles in the areas that will be threaded is always a goal.
If the wood you use is porous/open grain or not stabilized I would suggest sealing the inside with thin CA before pouring the resin.
 
Fred Bruche said:
I use liquid diamond epoxy resin that doesn't require pressure to cure (mostly) bubble-free. But if you resin you are planning to use is typically cured under pressure then you should probably use it. No bubbles in the areas that will be threaded is always a goal.
If the wood you use is porous/open grain or not stabilized I would suggest sealing the inside with thin CA before pouring the resin.
Click to expand...
Thanks Fred!
I typically cast with Alumilite and do use a pressure pot to eliminate bubbles. Sealing pores beforehand with a thin CA is a good idea. Once again, thank you for the tips and info!! Hopefully, I'll have one up for show soon!
Kevin
 
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