Author Topic: Bic based pen  (Read 1199 times)

Offline willstewart

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Bic based pen
« on: November 02, 2021, 08:24:08 AM »
Another club (Tudor Rose) competition piece.  A ballpoint using the core from a cheap Bic pen (also pictured).  Made from a sandwich of 4 layers of thin pewter and 5 of blackwood with blackwood ends.  Note that the main part of the (quite long) pen is 7mm drilled but the separate nib end is 4mm drilled to match the 'refill'.

Possibly useful info! - The pewter was sanded and the initial assembly was glued with epoxy.  This was a mistake - it separated a couple of times during drilling and machining and was reassembled with Titebond PVA which seems more secure (on the pewter).

The holder is a square piece of blackwood - I originally intended to round this but was short of wood to retain enough mass to balance it (the pewter makes the pen fairly heavy - nice to feel but harder to hold upright!)
« Last Edit: November 02, 2021, 08:26:33 AM by willstewart »

Offline willstewart

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Re: Bic based pen
« Reply #1 on: November 16, 2021, 10:17:08 AM »
These have made the Christmas present slot for this year amongst my kids and their cousins (10 units).  All in different mixed woods from wood and veneer I had around, and with varying designs such as deliberate slanting.  All of these have 7mm brass tube (Turners Retreat 10") cores with ends with 12mm turned extensions glued into the barrel tubes, with a 4mm hole in the writing end to accommodate the Bic 'refill'.  It is surprisingly easy to cut (with a sharp parting tool) the cylinder extension on the pen end even though the resulting walls are only 1mm thick (that is 6mm dia  12mm long extension with a 4mm hole drilled before turning).

Boxes are low-cost (£18 for 24) pen boxes from Amazon ('Emartbuy Set of 24 Brown Cardboard Jewellery Pendant Boxes, Pen Boxes').

Offline Mike313

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Re: Bic based pen
« Reply #2 on: November 16, 2021, 12:15:55 PM »
Nice work. I'm sure the recipients will be very happy with them :)