Troop pens -serious for a change

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ed4copies

ed4copies

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I am looking forward to turning some pens to send to our troops.

So, I have glued up some corian, will have red and white lower tube and blue upper with a white corian centerband. NOW, there have been some coments lately about the uniform having a tight pen pocket, where the cigar does not fit comfortably. I have no problem with turning these the size of a comfort pen, the problem is, the slimline/comfort clip is weak. Used by a young military man or woman, I give it under a week.

So, what have you guys used that lasts?
 
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Ed I think the tight pocket issue is on field gear, I think cigars and larger pens are still OK for fatigues and using around the barracks.
 
Ed,

The Euro series fits in our pockets (if you don't turn barrels that look like a snake that swallowed a pig, like I do), and has decent clips.

It's what I carry in my combat uniform (Canadian "BDU") - which is inflicted with a similarly small pen-pocket.

Cheers!

Gary
 
Would you like some of my "not-so-good-sellers" to put in your package for the troops? The pens are all good pens but just haven't sold. I need to thin my inventory and the troops is a good idea. How are you sending them? And where? Let me know if an extra 10 non-patriotic pens would be useful.

George
 
Truthfully when I was in the Army we were not allowed to carry pens in a way that was visible on the outside of the uniform. Why they made a place for a pen and not let us use never made sense to me. We always clipped them on the fold where we buttoned the blouse up at. Keep in mind this was on the old uniform. The new ones were just coming in when I was getting out but I think the new ones had a place on the sleeve for pens. You would need to get advice from those that are currently serving to see if they are allowed to have pens showing on the outside of their uniforms. If not then any size would work.
 
I have taken to turning two identical pens and then give them both to the spouse or family member of a local serviceman or woman and let them mail the other pen to their spouse. This helps to add a bit of connection to home for those deployed. I also use local woods, especially if I can get some from something in their home towns. If I find out that those deployed are deer hunters, I use antler along with or just wood from their favorite hunting ground. Again just another option to help make pens with a bit more meaning and connection to home. Most all the pens I have done this way are Euro styled ones.
 
Pocket Pens for Army ACU Uniform

Hello all,
The new uniform for the U.S. Army has a smaller sleeve pocket that will fit any slim line version. You might get a European model into it, but removing it is difficult. A cigar style is out of the questions unless the pocket is modified.

Retired U.S. Army Master Sergeant
 
It's the same for the Marine uniform. Though I carry one of my pens in the button liner on the blouse which works for pretty much any pen size. It does have a pen sleeve in the pockets but even a slimline could barely fit and would break pretty fast. If you went with a cigar, hart or something similar most others could follow my trick. However in any other uniform besides cammies there is no place to keep a pen so it would be hand carried (as most do anyways) Awesome idea Ed.

As to lasts the one pen I bought that has lasted through all the abuses is one of those space pens. I can't imagine turning aircraft aluminum would be cheap.
 
Like the others have said, only a "slim" slimline will fit in the shirt sleave pocket. I have a special on my site where someone buys a freedom pen, I donate a second one to a soldier overseas in their name through the Freedom Project. The last I looked there have been nearly 200 thousand pens donated. Here's the design I use:
 

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Hey Rob (I think)

I LIKE your design, mine will have a white centerband where yours is black.

Also, I will use chrome hardware - I would think the black enamel would scratch off too easily. THIS IS NOT A CRITICISM, merely an observation.

Thanks for showing your design, I'll show mine next week, when I get to turning.
 
Another side note Ed, you mentioned the clip on the slimlines being weak. I have found that the clip on the standard flat clip SL to be weaker than the Premium SL like Rob (you think) has pictured. The beaded clip to me seems to be at least twice as strong as the standard SL. They hold much tighter to the pen IMO. This may be something to consider when making them also. Jimmy at Woodpenpro has Gold, Copper, Chrome, and Black Ti on sale for $1.55 right now. I use these and love them. The CB fits way better than the standard flat CB of the regular SL too. I will probably not order any more of the regular ones, and just use the Premiums from now on. You can see some examples of what I have done with the Premiums if you check my posts. HTH
 
ed4copies said:
Hey Rob (I think)

I LIKE your design, mine will have a white centerband where yours is black.

Also, I will use chrome hardware - I would think the black enamel would scratch off too easily. THIS IS NOT A CRITICISM, merely an observation.

Thanks for showing your design, I'll show mine next week, when I get to turning.
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Hey Ed, it's Richard, not Rob...no harm no foul

You're right about the black enamel wearing off. I also have some satin ones; they don't hold up much better. Once I run out of the ones I have, I'm switching to chrome. As you can imagine, the stripes are a bit tricky to drill dead center, so I might start using red and white color bands. They look nice too, and I can get more of them made and given away.
 
On clips, weak or otherwise: I often make pens, especially for myself, without them.

My uniforms (flying suits and combats) all have dedicated pen pockets that render a clip superfluous. And, while wearing flying clothing, a clip is just something that gets snagged and breaks off - that's why we all (at least everyone I know) usually just carries a Bic style.

Just thinkin' out loud :)

Cheers!

Gary
 
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Sorry, Richard!!

Long week, names are not my strong suit anyhow, but with about 150 emails a day, I am getting very foggy on ANYTHING I write.

(you COULD add it to your signature and make my life easier:wink::wink: call it your "good deed:present::present: for the aged":handshake:)
 
Ed , I have just recently made some Designer pens from PSI for my cousin who sent me the kits . I believe the clips will hold up , because the round top finial is threaded . These are Gunmetal (Blk.TI) plated and look nicer than other SL . They do however require a tenon and take a little longer to make . Which to me , would be nothing compared to what the troops have to do EVERY day .

Question ; Might you have some extra blanks for sale ? I would be interested in helping out . Please let me know . I would love to be involved . Thanks .
 
I figured I would chime in here. I was the recipient of a freedom pen and one of the first things that did happen was the clip was removed, not by itself. I also just checked my BDU and could easily fit a cigar or a baron. There are different size pen sleeves on different uniforms, but they should all hold a cigar, short of the dress uniform, which would show anything bigger than a slimline. This is how my USMC uniform is cut, others may be different. I personally carried a freedom slimline and a cigar that my father made for me.
George, any pens are gladly accepted and are well used. Any pen is welcome except for a fountain pen which hopefully is obvious. I have never seen a soldier look at a pen and say they wouldn't want it.
Ed, if you want, I have a bunch of mini euros that I can send you. I'm not going to use these.
 
dalecamino said:
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Question ; Might you have some extra blanks for sale ? I would be interested in helping out . Please let me know . I would love to be involved . Thanks .
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Chuck, I can send you out some corian, but it is not in blank form, just pieces.
If anyone else would like some, I can send you out and envelope of it, I am asking for shipping only.
 
From my personal experience...

Nothing shiny is not allowed to be visible on the outside of the uniform; be it the Cammies, coveralls, or any of the variations of the dress uniform, other than medals, ribbons or badges the Marine rates. My suggestion would be flat black metal hardware. In some circumstances (specific to my job, Aviation Ordnance) nothing metallic was allowed to be on your person (i.e. watches with metal, wedding rings, necklaces), so a plastic or other material clip/tube would be needed for a pen that is to be used. Of course the ball point is metallic, but keeping it to a minimum meant there was less of a chance of electrostatic discharge.This is just my personal experience though. Other services/jobs uniform standards are different. But I'm definitely down with sending a few pens along for this. Let me know what to do.
 
wolftat said:
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Ed, if you want, I have a bunch of mini euros that I can send you. I'm not going to use these.
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As you know, Neil, I have a few pen kits (several hundred).

IF anyone else would use these to make "freedom pens", take advantage of Neil's offer - just ship the finished pens back to him. Honor system.

Neil sent me one of those boxes of cut-offs. A little sanding on the ol' belt sander, some CA and BINGO ---- BLANKS!!! Yes, this is more work than I would do for pens I sell --but I agree completely with the sentiment - "These guys are willing to put their lives on the line for ME, for Pete's sake I CAN do some glue-ups and slower production. The first pen is shaping up, should be able to turn tonight.

Thanks for reading and thanks to anyone who chooses to add to the pens going to Wolftat!!
 
Neil , please do send me some of that corian . I would be honored to create some pens for the troops . PM what I need to do . Thanks ! And thanks to Ed for starting this thread . Glad I caught it !
 
I made a couple slim lines in forest green for a guy at work before he went back to active duty for him to use. he said they needed to be dark colors with either black or tactile hardware. He passed a few around to some of his unit buddies for them to use. I was a little uneasy about them being slim-lines so I offered to fix them if he broke it.
 
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