My most unique Freedom Pen

[Joe Suelter]

That is too cool, Jerry! Man, from the first picture, I was looking real hard to see what was so different about it! From the smaller picture, it looks like a real pen! Even the tip looks authentic. Way to go, I want one!

[John Schreiber]

That is a hoot! I knew there was something funny about the clip, then I thought maybe the top cap was wood too. I figured you were really good at working with small stuff, like maybe doll furniture.

Full size never occured to me. Just looked like a really nice pen.

[Rex Davis]

Hey Jerry
Thats some peice of work,looks Good. You you should get some attention to the Project out of that one.

[Jerry Stringer]

Sorry for the delay . . . I had to go to a conference in Austin, Texas for a couple of days and just got back.

The cedar was pretty easy to turn, being a soft wood. I have almost no experience on turnings larger than pens so it was a challenge!! I do have an Ellsworth bowl gouge that I used to rough the outside (bowl gouge????!!)

Anyway, by using the side of the larger gouge, it made a pretty smooth cut (I know a skew would have been the tool but I didn't really want a bunch of holes in it from "catches").

I measured one of my slimlines and scaled the measurements up so that the diameter of the barrels would be slightly less than 3 1/2" since that was the smallest diameter I could get from a 4 x 4. That's how I came up with the length of 51".

Originally I was going to Make the pen body in 2 pieces since it wouldn't fit in my Shopsmith. The center band was going to be included on the bottom barrel. I turned the top barrel first and had the diameter I needed for the center band to be. I also made a tenon on the top barrel that would slide into a corresponding hole I was going to drill in the center band.

When I turned the bottom barrel, I was enjoying watching the chips fly and made the center band tool small in diameter to match the already turned top barrel. That lead to a design modification . . .

I went ahead and turned the bottom barrel without the band attached and made the diameter of the top the same diameter as the bottom of the top barrel (stay with me here!!!). I also added a tenon to slide into the center band.

Then I turned a center band by putting a block between centers, rounding it, and turning a tenon on one end that would fit into my supernova chuck. I moved it to the chuck and turned a "bowl" with the hole the right diameter for the tenons to slide into. The depth of the hole was about 1/4" deeper than the length of the center band. I turned the outside to the right diameters, sanded it and parted it off. When it was parted, I ended up with a wooden tube that had the proper outside diameter and a hole running all the way through it.

Then it was just a matter of gluing everything together . . . except I had no clamps long enough to clamp it. Thinking outside the box, I raised my Shopsmith into the drill press mode without the table and left 5/8" arbor shaft with nothing attached to it. Glue was put into the two joints of the pen, and the pen was stood upright, with the point on the floor, under the drill press. Pull down on the quill to put pressure on the pen and the quill lock was tightened. Basically, the "clamp" was the weight of the Shopsmith head pushing down on the pen lengthwise. An hour later it was taken out and has held ever since.

The clip was just a couple of pieces of poplar that were cut to size and glued together. Then they were shaped on a belt sander to round edges. There was a challenge in making the clip fit the barrel because the contact area of the clip had to be a compound curve. A sanding drum in a drill was all it took and it was done freehand (and the fit was suprisingly good!).

The gold was metallic spray paint from a hobby store and the red, white, and blue was pieces of vinyl contact paper from a sign shop.

That's it! Actually, it was pretty easy and only took me one afternoon to make.

If anybody wants the dimensions or close-up photos, let me know.

Thanks for the kind words! They are appreciated!

Jerry

[Daniel Yourdon]

Jerry,
I would like any further details you think would help in making one of these.
photos makeit simpler than trying to discribe. adn I know you took a whoel series while making it now didn't you?????
I was thinking what a great sign this would make. also I would love to see the look on the engravers face when it is brought in. I have a mountain of cedar 2X8s from anouther project I am doing. I was thinking of trying to laminate a couple of them into a 4X4.

[Jerry Stringer]

photos makeit simpler than trying to discribe. adn I know you took a whoel series while making it now didn't you?????

PHOTOS!!! What a GREAT idea THAT would have been!!!

No, I didn't take any photos . . . didn't even think about it!

I'm not sure what else I can tell you . . . ask any questions you want . . . just remember . . . I'm a definite ROOKIE at this!!

Jerry

[Diane Darwesh]

Hello Jerry,

What a most Impressive and Creative pen!!
Mabey I can send you a log of Bethlehem Holy Land Olive Wood and you can make us one.

[Jim Becker]

Jerry, you and Bill Grumbine should get together...your big pen and his big pencil would make a great pair!