Patriotic Custom Ballpoint

[workinforwood]

Made this patriotic custom finial twist pen over the last few days. I really wanted to push it right to the edge, spinning it crazy thin without removing any of the inlays. If you have a sharp drill bit and a properly set up lathe you can really push the limits. I never really plan a pen much, just kinda see where it takes me. After gluing both rods together end to end on my supertube i decided the proportion blue to red was wrong for this pen so i simply parted off the 4th row of stars. If i had foresight then i woulda had the acrylic section more centered thus longer nib shorter finial but i am still very happy with it. The clip is just a piece of 1/16 brass bent then folded over and clamped overnight with jb weld in between the fold, makes the clip nice and strong and ridged and only takes an hour or less to hammer one out. Unfortunately i have a bible load of medical issues including ulnar neuropathy so it takes me several hours to complete simple tasks. Fortunately life is no hurry.
If your interested in this blank you will find it at exoticblanks.com in the guest artist section, usa flag rotacrylic.


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[magpens]

Nice work, Jeff !!!!!

Did you use 10 mm tube(s) and Cigar twist mechanism ?

 

[workinforwood]

Yes sir, i use several parts, the centerpiece with mechanism plus the activator tube, and i used the mail threads that press into the nib end, so i only needed to tap the brass nib. Made all the brass and the plastic on my metal lathe. Thinking about getting rid of my wood lathe, just a waste of space, a good spot to set a beer. But yea, i like ballpoint pens because they are practical, and as you see you can take any old $4 pen kit and make it special without to much effort. all you need is a bit of imagination

 

[Jim15]

Great job.