Two Graduate Magnetic pens in HEX-section bodies.

Two Graduate Magnetic pens in HEX-section bodies.

 

Here are two hex-section pens I completed today on Graduate magnetic cap kit, Gold and Chrome trim.

The wood chosen is  of high quality, supplied as file handle.

The final look on the wood is kept in the natural colour. I had to restrain myself from dying the wood.

Finished in 6 coats of CA and hand polish up to 12000 grit, the pens look quite spartan.

I had earlier made one pen using this kit and had chosen to add some deviations.

The present ones look a little drab in comparison.

 Pens from this kit are never much comfortable and practical to write with, but they have a look of their own.

Now it is for the viewers to comment.

Churchill Chrome Kit pen with minor deviations :

 

Churchill Chrome Kit pen with minor deviations :

 

 

This is my first pen using a Churchil kit. I like the barrel end finial!

I used a previously turned semi-finished pen body and modified it to accept the hardware.

 

I have tried to give this pen a short and stubby look, so reduced the cap length by about 11 mm. To my surprize the final shape looks alright.

 

The finial edges should perhaps been rounded off, but in absence of a lathe, I did not risk it and left it the same way.

Hope this is not much of a grammar violation!

Curious to know how the viewers find it. Here are some photos.

 

 

 

 

 

Vertex Magnetic Metal Cap Gold Kit Rollerball pen in Hex Section barrel.

Vertex Magnetic Metal Cap Gold Kit Rollerball pen in  Hex Section barrel:

 

This is another Hex-section pen I completed today. The kit chosen is Vertex Magnetic Metal Cap Gold Kit Rollerball.

 

As explained earlier , I used a previously turned and stabilized blank from stock and sanded it into a hex shape, the internal hole was expanded to fit the brass tube using a hand reamer.

 

This blank has three experiments done into it.

 

a) The hex shape was given a right handed skew to impart a twisted took.

 

b) Just prior applying the CA, I dyed the wood using fountain pen ink of pink colour.

 

c) A segmentation attempt with two wood types

 

 

 

Overall looks are not too bad, but the CA finish would have to be taken up again in future.
Admit I had run out of patience!

 

Here are some photos. Please let me have your comments.

 

 

 

Add caption

 

 



Four Hex- Section Kit pens- lathe not required,.

Making kit pens without lathe machine !

I had made these blanks on the ship using various scrap woods, all turned to 25 to 28 mm diameter and drilled through with 9 mm drill. These were put in a makeshift vaccum chamber and stabilized at 1 atmosphere vaccum using general wood varnish. Later these were soaked in linseed oil for days and dried.
I had turned a few of these on board, and noted these were much better than usual dry wood, ie no splinters and smooth turning, even the dust was very smooth between fingers, almost like talcum powder.

The blanks :

These were lying at home un-used as I do not have a lathe here. I had managed to buy some kits during this vacation, but could not use them.

Finally I got the idea of making hexagonal section pen bodies, where i would not need a lathe.

The wooden tubes were cut to correct length and the internal diameter was matched with the brass tubes using a hand reamer.

The hexagonal shape was made by grinding starting with  rough emery paper [ grit 80, 320 and lastly 600 and 1200].Then 4 to 5 coats of CA glue and polish using micromesh stick up to grit 12000.

I was very happy with the results. Though the freedom of  having a lathe machine is not there, with a little tedious work, the results were quite  good. With more practice I can make the pens quite good looking.

I used the following economy range kits

a) Traditional
b) Reinhert Gold Trim
c) Pressimo
d) Vertex magnetic Steel cap chrome trim.

Hope viewers like the photos. Request your comments.

Traditional kit :

 

 

 

 

 

Reinhert Gold Kit :

 

 

 

 

 

Pressimo Kit :

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vertex Magnetic Chrome Kit :

 

 

 





 

All brass Kit-less Hooded Nib pen.

All brass Kit-less Hooded Nib pen.

 

 

 

Just complteted this pen today. This is the third and last of the semi-finished brass pens I had brought home from the ship.

This is the semi-finished body I started with. The jobs done were : a) Fitting a nib / feeder set b) Fitting a clip  c) Adjusting all fits and finish and d) Fine surface polish.

 

The conical section of the nib hood was drilled to 8 mm due to my ignorance, ideally all chinise pens are fitted with 4 mm diameter nibs [ with of course a separate conical acrylic feeder], pity I did not know at time of machining!.

Now this was a damage control job.  I used a regular open type nib and feeder sourced locally, and that combo went in loose, being 6.3 mm. To make up for the left over 1.7 mm I wrapped around strips of cellotape, taking measurement in between.

Once the combination was fitted tight inside the section , I fitted the converter at the other end of the section. Water-tightness tested with water, found working normal.

 

The excess part of the feeder protuding at the back side of the section , along with slight protrsions at the shoulders of the nib , were ground off using a carbide cutter in a die grinder to match the contour at the reverse side of the section. I liked the final look.

 

For the clip , I had some part finished brass clips without the ring. To fit this at top of the cap, I toyed with many ideas, but finally settled for this! Using the die grinder a recess same in size as the butt of the clip was made and then filled up with CA and the clip butt press fitted into the recess.

 

To my surpize the bonding was strong and the brass clip even has a little spring action.

 

The body had many machine marks and small dents. Tried to remove those as best I could using filing, sanding , smooth sanding up to grit 12000 and finally brasso polish.
No the surface finish is not perfect, meaning I would not dare to try selling this pen.!!

 

Happy to see  the way this regular sized pen finally turned out, I would preserve it as a memento and a prototype.

 

Hope the viewers like this pen. Please let me have your comments / ctritiques.

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Details of the Section part :

 

 

 

Brass Hexagon section Kit-less Pen with WingSung 233 Nib.

Brass Hexagon section Kit-less Pen with WingSung 233 Nib.

This is once again a completion job on a semi-finished kit-less I had made on the ships lathe machine.

This is the semi-finished kit, it was lying like this for a long time.  I worked for two days at home and competed this pen.

 

 

 

 

 

The pen body is made from a hexagon section brass rod, end finials are black plastic [ same  material as Diabolo pen detailed earlier ] with several coats of CA. The clip is from  some unknown pen I found in the drawer, matching well with the finials.

The nib section on the original pen body was made to fit open type nib, but I wanted to use WingSung 233 nib [ I have purchased 10 pcs from ebay  for $ 1.0 each] and I had an old usable 233 feeder from an old pen shop.

To fit the nib to the section I cut a 15 mm tube piece from a gel pen. After good smoothing the plastic tube was reduced to correct diameter for attaching to the nib thread . The full nib unit with nib, feeder and the holder tube complete was press fitted onto the section. A Jinhao converter  fitted to the section completed the pen body.

 

This work really gave me a lot of satisfaction!!

The remaining work was mainly fitting the clip and polishing the pen.

The pen is made  postable  using the exposed threads at the barrel end.  Posted, this pen about 19 cm long and capped , about 15 cm.

 

 The barrel is a little heavy because it was not fully hollowed out, having about 1.5 mm wall thickness, while the cap is fully hollowed out and light.

So the working balance of this pen does not vary much posted or un-posted.

Grip section is comfortable and there is an added notch turned to provide better grip.

 

I am yet to carry out a writing test on this pen.

 

 As of now I am very happy with the way this pen turned out.

These are the various photos .  Welcome your comments and critique.  

 

 

 

 The nib section : Please note the black plastic tube visible between the nib and the section. This is purposely kept to give contrast look and allow slight flexibility. I had to use an old and used feeder, not getting new WingSung 233 feeders in Kolkata!

 

 

Three Indian Pilot pens

Three Vintage Indian Pilot Pens

Paid a visit to Pen Hospital yesterday, there were some fine vintage pens including one Eversharp  marbled celluloid with missing nib and filler lever. And there were these Indian pilot pens from 1970’s. I picked up three for just Rs. 300/-, these are almost in mint condition. All these are eyedropper filled pens, I clearly remember having seen these pens with some of our fellow students-definitely 1970’s.

The pens had minor scratch marks on the body and required a  mild polish with grit 12000. Ink test was good, the medium fine nibs write very smooth.

Here are the photos for lovers of Indian Pilot. Please could anyone remember the model numbers ?

 The nibs :