| Project by MarkWilk | posted 775 days ago | 287 views | 0 times favorited | 6 comments |  |
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I’ve done about 25 pens so far, a mix of Slimline, Slimline Pro, Polaris, and Comfort for the most part, but my Classic and Cigar pens have been favorites at the office. I’m finally getting my shapes well defined, and my assembly gets better with each pen.
The 4 Cigar pens listed represent my first 4 attempts. From the top down in order of completion:
Chrome Cigar Pen with unknown wood – started out with a wood blank from a Woodcraft grab bag that looked almost orange. Turning was a breeze and the fit of the kit was great. This is my only PennState kit directly, as the rest come from resellers. Great heft to the pen, and the figuring and grain looks cool open or closed.
Black Titanium on Zebrawood – again from a Woodcraft grab bag. I really like the grain lines of this wood, and it turns great. Tougher to drill well, though. Polish is a PPP low lustre finished with Liquid wax finish.
My only 24kt Gold on Rosewood has been blogged about on this site. I made a rookie mistake and crimped the tip in the pen press during assembly. Now I remove unscrew the tip during assembly.
Latest pen is Maple with great figures on a Chrome pen kit. I’ve gotten such great reaction from this pen that I don’t think I can give it up. Really a great look and the wood comes alive with 6 coats of low then high lustre PPP.
I usually put genuine Parker refills in these pens prior to finish because the kit ink-refil just doesn’t have the smooth flow of the real Parker ink. I recommend that extra expense if you are selling or gifting these pens, too. It’s a bummer to ruin a great looking pen with a lousy writing experience.
-- Mark, Florida, http://penturner.wordpress.com/
6 comments so far
WayneC
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6061 posts in 996 days
posted 775 days ago
Great pens Mark. Thanks for the tip on the Parker ink.
-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov
mot
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4904 posts in 935 days
posted 775 days ago
Great looking pens!
-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)
Kerux
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513 posts in 783 days
posted 774 days ago
Those look great. I love those Polaris pens.
-- http://inhisgrip1.blogspot.com/
Karson
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25811 posts in 1299 days
posted 774 days ago
Great Looking Pens.
-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †
MarkWilk
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183 posts in 775 days
posted 773 days ago
I just completed a new Cigar pen in Brazillian Ironwood, and it was a real challenge. Ironwood has the fiberous structure of rattan, so the fiber channels run parallel with very little grain irregularity, but the fibers are extremely tight, so it’s dense. Don’t get a splinter from it, either. Hurts like blazes.
My next project is a matching Polaris pen and pencil set. Then, I’m ready to tackle a highline pen kit like the Majestic.
-- Mark, Florida, http://penturner.wordpress.com/
Nils
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138 posts in 763 days
posted 743 days ago
These look really beautiful. It’s great to get the good advice on the Parker refills!
Was the maple part of the Woodcraft grab bag? I also got the Woodcraft grab bag. I think my first pen (see my projects) is Bocote, but I’m not sure. There’s a bunch of it in the bag.
I’m going to make a bunch of pens for Christmas presents, and I think I’ll just make up names for the woods that I can’t figure out – although on my side of the family they’ll have hours of amusement trying to figure out which wood is which. It’ll be reference book, website, encyclopedia-city.
-- Nils Davis, Menlo Park, CA