Vic started it!!

[Pierre]

Well he did with his dip pen question!! So then he posted a link and I just had to have a go!!

Coincidentally I got invited by a winery to go and exhibit and demonstrate at an open doors season in their place, the theme being their barrels, their barrel staves, or their vine pickets. So I agreed and the nice lady gave me some of her barrel staves yesterday.

So today I made my first ever dip pen. It was an experiment and I am not happy with the front end of the form, mainly because I was having trouble working out the holding with a 6mm hole drilled in the middle. Now I know you are all going to say 'closed end mandrel ' but I don't have a 6mm one so I opted for a between centres backwards finial solution, turning it at the end to jam it on a 6mm jam chuck made of the end of the blank (hence the grotty front end, one step too far). Even then I had to hold the whole piece to finish the end one handed (not an elegant solution). What's worse was that I was surrounded with Malbec wine fumes the whole time :wink:

I'm happy with the finish and despite the ugly front end I have to say that it is very tactile in the hand, the wooden bit is 150 mm long, what is not immediately obvious is that I have managed to retain some of the wine stain in the grain.





PS could the moderators stop Fingwe seeing the picture I don't want her laughing her socks off..... she'll get cold feet up north!!

PG

 

[fingwe]

PS could the moderators stop Fingwe seeing the picture I don't want her laughing her socks off..... she'll get cold feet up north!!

PG

Too late!

 

[fingwe]

Pierre, I'm a bit confused - what do you mean by a 6mm jam chuck? Do you have a photo of your set up?

 

[Bill Mooney]

Very nice pens Pierre.

 

[wm460]

Great looking pen Clement.

 

[Penpal]

6mm dowel inserted in the nib end to hold it in the chuck maybe.

Peter.

 

[Walter]

Could the moderators stop Fingwe seeing the picture I don't want her laughing her socks off..... she'll get cold feet up north!!

PG

Too late!

Sorry Pierre, Fingwe was too quick for me.

Nice work for a first attempt at dip pens. Must resist the temptation to try it.

 

[Pierre]

Great looking pen Clement.

Who is Clement?

 

[clement]

Who is Clement?

It's me

 

[wm460]

Who is Clement?

Sorry.

 

[wm460]

Great looking pen Pierre.

 

[Vic Perrin]

Ive done one of the dip pens but not posted it yet as it is part of a project including an inkwell stand. I drilled the blank out at 7mm and used a slimline tube. You can the use your standard mandrel for most of the turning and finishing.The ferrules for the nibs fit perfectly inside the 7mm tube. To complete the pen I used my collet chuck.

 

[Pierre]

Ive done one of the dip pens but not posted it yet as it is part of a project including an inkwell stand. I drilled the blank out at 7mm and used a slimline tube. You can the use your standard mandrel for most of the turning and finishing.The ferrules for the nibs fit perfectly inside the 7mm tube. To complete the pen I used my collet chuck.

OK I see everything bar the collet chuck bit, does that mean that you put a bar in it as a closed end mandrel? and how much of the 7mm tube do you use?

PG

 

[iandel]

Nice pen, Pierre. I use a dip pen for calligraphy and it looks like a nice grip.

 

[Graham_C]

Looks good to me Pierre

I have the bits, so I suppose I should make one!

 

[Vic Perrin]

OK I see everything bar the collet chuck bit, does that mean that you put a bar in it as a closed end mandrel? and how much of the 7mm tube do you use?

PG

I use the full length of a 7mm tube from a slimline and then put it on the mandrel similar to doing a closed end pen. The collet chuck I use to finish the end of the pen is like this set

 

[Pierre]

Well I made a second one with a tube in as you said, not having a collet chuck, I stuck on a wooden jam chuck and finished it BUT when the nib is in the holder, the holder pulls out of the tube very easily if you want to change the nib. Whereas the wooden only one with a 6mm hole stays put when changing the nib. I'm loathe to glue the nib holder because the glue will seep around the join and stop the nib going in properly.

PG

 

[fortress]

That's a good first effort Pierre.

 

[Vic Perrin]

Well I made a second one with a tube in as you said, not having a collet chuck, I stuck on a wooden jam chuck and finished it BUT when the nib is in the holder, the holder pulls out of the tube very easily if you want to change the nib. Whereas the wooden only one with a 6mm hole stays put when changing the nib. I'm loathe to glue the nib holder because the glue will seep around the join and stop the nib going in properly.

PG

Never had that issue. The ferrules have always been a tight fit into the 7mm tube and never had to glue the ferrule in

 

[fingwe]

I glued mine in. I just used a little bit of epoxy on the end of a toothpick to coat the inside of the hole - but no more. I left it a few minutes to get tacky, then pushed the ferrule in. Didn't seem to have a problem with the glue seeping in (I tried a nib in it in a few positions and it seemed fine).