Over/Under Gold Fountain

[Neil]

Nice Pen and Kit, I'd like to know where to get some of those.

You can pay the earth at PenCrafts.co.uk, or you can phone woodturning and talk to Ray or Fritz and order them. If you want to order these or anything else from PSI or Woodturningz (The orion kit is a cracker, the phoenix the most glorious non seller ever constructed!) PM me first, I'll tell you a hint that will save you money!

 

[Walter]

Off topic is fine with me, lifes too short to be serious!

To all those who want to make this kit, measure the tubes before you drill, PSI suggest using a 9/16 and a 12.5mm drill bit???

Sorry but the kits are designed around metric, so lets get the right drill bits, old hobby horse of mine. The 9/16 drill bit is too big, a 36/64 is ideal but you can make do with a 14mm. The 12.5mm should read 31/64. If you use any type of glue and lay the blank down to cure and you have used the prescribed drills you will stand a very good chance of loosing the blank, the first time I made this pen I lost the first eight blanks before I worked out that the drill bits were wrong! The glue will run down the inside of the blank and leave an air gap between wood and tube. Using CA is a non starter as your coverage would be so small that the wood would break off every time without fail.

Thanks Neil you are a gentleman.

What you say about using the wrong drill size is very true and so often the cause of failure. I never trust the sellers dimensions. I always measure the tubes using a metric drill bit gauge. If the tube isn't an exact fit to any metric size then I know it must be imperial and refer to a conversion chart to get the size. And then I check for a good sliding fit before gluing.

 

[Neil]

Re read my own post there, I meant to say that the Kits are designed around imperial tubes, not as I said metric!!! The ideal drills for this kit when using a dense hardwood are 31/64 and 35/64.

The only tubes that are used in kits that are true metric are 7mm, 8mm and 10mm, all others are imperial. If you see a drill bit for 11.5mm, 12.5mm or the like start the alarm bells ringing because its a bodge. The only reason I suggested against my own advice, of a 14mm drill, is that a 35/64 seems to be rarer than hens teeth.

Anyway, sold the pen for 49 quid plus postage.

 

[Walter]

Re read my own post there, I meant to say that the Kits are designed around imperial tubes, not as I said metric!!! The ideal drills for this kit when using a dense hardwood are 31/64 and 35/64.

The only tubes that are used in kits that are true metric are 7mm, 8mm and 10mm, all others are imperial. If you see a drill bit for 11.5mm, 12.5mm or the like start the alarm bells ringing because its a bodge. The only reason I suggested against my own advice, of a 14mm drill, is that a 35/64 seems to be rarer than hens teeth.

Anyway, sold the pen for 49 quid plus postage.

You did have me a bit confused there Neil.

I am sure you are right about the sizes of tubes as the primary market is the USA, although I think I have also come across kits with a 9mm tube that were too sloppy a fit at 23/64" which is less than 0.2mm bigger.

The reason I use a metric drill gauge is because I don't have an imperial one. Really should get one.

Edit: just ordered one off e-bay.

 

[stevenw1963]

Nicely turned pen Neil, no, don't like the kit but that's just me.

 

[paulm]

Apart from a super pen, I gained a lot of information from this post...

 

[Penpal]

Neil,

Beaut pen timber goes well with it you made a pen to be proud of.

Now I gave my Hollis twelve guage to a friend a few months age and I had not used it in a long time so being out of the loop so to speak I am not familiar with the colour of 12 vguage cartridges in your country but their are many pure colours (read reds , blacks though not a colour but a shade, ) that would hit like a hammer the imagination of shooters and create a demand you will be flat out keeping up with, then with these in display any variety of blank will sell once the impact is seen on the solids.

Just a thought friend from someone who needs a nudge sometimes then has to have.

Kind regards Peter.

 

[Jim]

Very good choice of Wood Neil, nice turned and finished pen, and a snip at £49 ....