How to fix a broken centerband

The pen I featured in my previous post "The Penmakers Dilemma" had one problem, the golden ring in the centerband was loose. Upon calling my supplier I found out that it was a common problem they had with this run of kits and were happy to replace it for free. The problem being that I had already assembled it and didn't want to disassemble the entire pen just to get that out. I went down and visited my good friend Roger at Craft Supplies USA and he gave me this idea for how to remove the centerband without disassembly. WARNING following this will destroy the center band. DO NOT do this if you need to preserve the original centerband.


First thing you need is a hacksaw blade. I bought this mini hacksaw for 4 dollars at wallyworld. If you look closely you can where I used a grinder to make the end smaller so it would fit in the pen barrel.


Next use the saw inside of the centerband and gently hold the barrel while you saw through to the copper barrel. I did this in two different spots to give it more flexibility when I remove it.


After I had two clean lines cut through on the inside I gently pulled the metal centerband out with needlenose pliers.



Next do the same thing with the plastic insert that is left inside of the barrel.



Now you can reinstall the new centerband after cleaning out all of the plastic and metal bits. I did this with compressed air.


Hopefully in the future I won't ever have to do this because I will always check the centerband, but on the off chance one comes loose on a customer after the fact I now have this in my arsenal to solve it.

Casting and such

Ever since my eyes were opened to the world of penmaking beyond the slimline kit (everyones first kit) I've been fascinated by all things you can do with pens. Casting in particular has been something I've been wanting to get into, but have lacked the motivation / project to use it for. Well the casting card has been pulled. A buddy of mine has been helping me with making some metal "sleeves" to help perfect my pen turning even more and when asking him how I could repay him the subject of a pen came up. Knowing that he is a fella who likes cars I asked if he would like me to make him a pen from carbon fiber. He thought it was a neat idea, but wasn't sold. I then sent him a picture of a pen I'd seen elsewhere made of it and his response was more what I expected the first time. He was sold, now I just needed to either find someone who would sell me a premade carbon fiber blank or... OR make one myself !

I decided to start my research and found out that doing clear casting is fairly simple. My biggest nemesis will be air bubbles. Since I don't have a pressure/vacuum pot I will have to make sure to eradicate all air bubbles from the resin before it sets, otherwise I could run the risk of having a trapped air bubble between my cast and carbon fiber, which of course would be a deal breaker. So to get started I need to get all the materials and something to cast it in. In any case it should be fun AND a learning experience. And if it works out I could make more in the future, but I'd also really love to experiment with color casting, which would be making entire pen blanks from scratch!

The PenMakers Dilemma

As a pen maker it is very common for my best work to be sold, sort of a hazard of the trade you could say. Typically it is a little painful to let said treasures go but extra cash lining my pockets help ease the pain. This is not to say I don't carry nice pens myself, just maybe not as nice as some of the ones I've made for others.

I've had a particularly nice 2 toned piece of Amboyna laying around for a year or so now and finally decided it was time to turn it into a Gentlemens Kit to sell to get some more money for new tools ect... Well I finished it a weekend or two ago and have been having a serious issue deciding whether or not to sell it. It is a larger kit designed and weighted specifically to be a desk pen. The cap does not post (screw on to the end of the pen) so it isn't realistic to carry it around, it would have to sit at my desk at work where it would see much use. I don't know why but something about the combination of sapwood and heartwood here really does it for me. I forgot to take pictures of the back because I am so drawn towards the front. The back is all heartwood (non-white) and is also gorgeous, but its truely the front I'm fixated with.

Most people who do some type of craft will keep a showcase of their best work. I feel this would be a great first piece to add to that but I also feel I'm early enough in my career that more like it will come.


On the side note of my inlay kit I started a while back, I am waiting on a good friend to complete some metal "sleeves" for me in order to help get it perfect. Once the sleeves are complete I will post about what they are and how they work and why they are neccesary for someone as anal about getting things right as I am.

The (old) pen process.

Last Christmas I made lots of pens for people as gifts. One client in particular asked that I take pictures of the whole process from wood to pen as the person he was giving this gift to would appreciate it more with this background. I went to the trouble of photo documenting the process for him and my wife made a neat little scrapbook for him to have to show all the steps. Well I am going to go through the process with you now (with pictures) to show how I made a pen back then. I have definitely changed things but want to document how I did it for the history books.


First things first, I cut my blank into the appropriate length and drill out the correct size hole all the way through for the brass tube to glue into(not shown).


Next I take my brass tube and use Gorilla Glue to glue the tube into the pen blank. This is done to give the wood something to stick to to add support while turning (helps prevent against pieces breaking off if you catch your tool on the wood wrong) and also is the basis for most of the insides of the kit to stick to. Most kits are a pressure fit on all the parts so the metal inside gives a good fit for these parts.


After the glue cures (I give 24 hours for gorilla glue) I take a rather imprecise barrel trimmer and use it to "square" the blank to the inside of the brass tube. What I mean by square is you want the outside of each of the long ends of the barrel to be 90 degrees to the inside of the pen so all of the metal parts sit perfectly against the wood when done. Why square is in quotes is because I really hate barrel trimmers and feel they do a poor job of getting it squared properly. I do it as a first step to get it mostly square and also to remove all of the excess material quickly.


Now for the "meat" of the job. Taking off most of the material to expose the juicy underbelly of the wood. This is my favorite part because no matter what the wood looks like on the outside (with some exceptions of course) it rarely looks the same inside, most of the time looking a lot better. First I will take and mount the wood between bushings. These are made to go inside of the brass tubes and the bigger part of the bushing outside serves as a guide to how thick you need the barrel to make the wood match up nicely with the hardware upon assembly. I then mount my wood/bushings between centers. There are different ways to turn pen barrels. I used to turn with a mandrel that was basically a long rod that held the pieces together and allowed for turning multiple barrels at a time. I have since switched to turning between my 60 degree live and dead centers. By eliminating the mandrel I lose some convenience, but am able to keep my barrels more in "round". When I was using my mandrel often times I'd finish and the barrel itself would not be the same all the way around, developing sort of an oval shape. While not noticeable on the pen itself it was drastically noticeable on the ends where the hardware lined up. Anyone who knows me knows this type of imperfection WILL NOT STAND! I made the switch and have never looked back, its a great way to add more precision to my pens. Then I am using my chisel to take the bulk of the wood off and get the tube mostly round. I will do this until I get about 1/8" over my bushing.


The reason I left 1/8" in the previous step is so I can now use my handmade squaring jigger to get these barrels as square as I can. I made this to combat the not quite squaring job the barrel trimmer gave. I use little sleeves in the brass barrel and insert them onto my mandrel and square it up using the sandpaper that is taped to the jig. I have found this increases my accuracy on my barrels a considerable amount.


Now I am making my final passes on the wood with a skew (don't use the skew as much these days) to get it down to the mandrels. I can add a shape if desired, but for the most part I really hate obese looking pens, or ones that bulge out in the center.


Now comes the sanding. I usually do a good enough job cutting that I can start with my 320 grit. I always sand on the lathe, then stop the lathe and sand in the horizontal to remove any scratches made from the rotational sanding. I will typically go up to 400 or 600 on the wood itself. I've found with my typical finish, the sanding of the wood isn't as important as the sanding of the finish.


Now for the fun stuff. I am applying my Cyanacrolate (CA) finish, which is essentially super glue. I add several thin coats, sometimes sanding inbetween if a "sealer" coat needs to be applied. And once I have a few layers on there I go straight to the micromesh pads. I start with the 3rd pad in the series and go up through the 12000 pad. This produces a very nice shine that I quite enjoy, and I believe brings out alot of color and depth in the wood without altering the natural beauty. I have other more "natural" finishes that leave your hand touching wood, which I also do on occasion depending on the wood, or the customer.


Once its done I take it to assembly. Pictured here is my 3 dollar clamp from harbor frieght that is ghetto as hell, but got the job done. I now have a proper pen assembly vise that I use and enjoy alot more than this one. But the point remains, you have to apply pressure to the hardware in the tube to get them to all line up. Depending on the kit you may have to do it in an order, this Sierra on the other hand is easy peasy.


Lastly is my final product. I'm still working on the photography to get it looking like a proper product shot, but these will do for now.

Blog is such an ugly word...

Bloooog. Blog. Blooog. Such a gross sounding word. I've fought it for too long. I've decided I have too much to say and show concerning the art of pen making (and other misc wood projects) that I need to start a new blog and keep track of my thoughts and progress here. Mostly it will be new ideas, experiments, and a place to show off (and maybe sell) some of my handiwork. The main idea here is to keep record of all my goings on, but if someone else out there in the world can benefit from it somehow its a win-win. Oh, and on the topic of default templates; I know this one sucks but I plan to update it time permitting....

This weekend I have a couple pens lined up. One is a new kit that is fairly pricey that will be my first try at inlays... I will post pictures and a small write-up once finished, assuming I don't blow it up. My second pen is an absolutely gorgeous sampling of Amboyna (a wood from southeast Asia that is quite unique) that I have been holding onto for about 6 months trying to decide what to make with it. That one should turn out either way so I should end up with at least one pen to show off from the weekend. I have dozens of pens I've made/sold in the past that I might sprinkle in as filler on those days where I don't have anything particularly good to add.