What do you think my best pen yet? For its class and price point, yes. I have lots of beautiful pens and could pick one for every occasion, whether it be a high-quality fountain pen for fine writing or a rollerball for ease of use, or one to show off exotic wood with many more to choose from in our pen shop.
Herringbone Pen
Segmented pens come in lots of different patterns; try a search for “segmented pens”. This one is based on a herringbone pattern. The pattern is normally made of wood. The colour and arrangement all affect the pattern, such as this pin on Pinterest or the unusual pattern I am arranging in the picture below.
I have made lots of different patterns, but this one uses maple and purpleheart wood for contrast against the aluminium angle. The wood was arranged and glued to the aluminium in sections with epoxy glue. I have tried using metal in some of my segmented pen designs before, and it can be difficult.
The glue heats and softens when drilling for the pen tube. A sharp drill bit and drilling slowly to avoid heat build-up is essential. Here is another herringbone pen blank made at the same time if one failed.
Never having made this design before, I did not spot all the pitfalls. Next time It would be better to extend the wood out past the aluminium or try to cut the blank on the bandsaw.
Turning The Pen
Turning the blank on the lathe was a big challenge because of the hardness of the metal and the different density between that and the wood. Yes, we can use traditional HSS tools but are slow with lots of trips to the grinder for sharpening. So I switched over to the carbide tools above, one shop bought and the other homemade. I would not normally use these but I am glad I had them.
Working on the lathe was still slow work but with carbide so hard eliminated any more trips to the grinder 🙂 I made finishing cuts with a traditional gouge.
The finished executive rhodium ballpoint with gift box, so what do you think is it a beautiful pen? The best I have made at this price and class or just the best, yet or maybe the other with a slightly different design.
a slightly different design. You can buy these segmented pens along with my other wooden crafts from our pen shop.
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"I like to make things. I'm not a super handyman or anything, but I've always been interested in woodworking and other DIY projects. I find that if I have something in my hands, I can solve difficult problems better than if I am staring at a computer screen or reading about them on the internet." There is only so much furniture and art you can fit in a house, and giving to family and friends only lasts so long, so here we are with a crafts shop.
I enjoy writing about my projects and other topics related to crafting, like making something with your hands.
