Atlas Pens

[Joe Melton]

Here are five Atlas pens I made today. The kits came from Arizona Silhouette. This is my first attempt to post a picture. I hope is shows up.
This pen is very simple to make, probably the simplest I've tried. The bushings I used included two of the same size, and they should have been different, so the top end would be .050" larger in diameter. I discovered this after crafting one of the pens. The other four I made with the same bushings, but I made the top larger and checked it, as I proceeded, with calipers. I think the variety is interesting, no?
Joe

[Steve Stube]

They look great to me.

[Dick Parr]

Nice looking pens Joe, what is the pink one made of?

I have made a couple and they are fun. Good job.

[Tom Mullane]

Nice job on the pens, They are great kits.. Bill B did himself proud with these.... I was a little reluctant at first because for some reason I did not like the way they look in the pictures.. but once I turned one and wrote with it I found out just how comfortable they are... definately part of my inventory now..

[Jake Byrd]

I like them a lot. Nice photography as well.


Thanks,

[Joe Melton]

Jake, thanks for the nice comment on the photography. Actually, I just laid them on the scanner, laid a piece of typing paper over them, and scanned them.
Here are two more Atlas pens I made yesterday, also photographed on the scanner. The material is banksia pods. Weird stuff to work with. My wife liked the first one (top) so much she asked for one a bit slimmer for herself. So, always looking for ways to keep her content, I turned the one on the bottom. The finish is CA and BLO. Every pore in the pod is empty to the brass tube, and has to be filled with sawdust and thick CA. It takes about an hour to do one of these pens. I don't know why they are such different colors.
Joe

[Tom Mullane]

OK where can I find banksia pods thin enough to turn into pens... those are just too neat...
Instead of sawdust, try coffee grounds and you will be pleasantly surprised.

[Jeff Skory]

Joe, very cool pens. I'm just getting started in this hobby since Christmas when I received a Jet mini. And I'm looking forward to making lots and lots of pens to give away. Not too many people that wouldn't want one.

Tom, what do the coffee grounds do different than the sawdust.

[Joe Melton]

After I made the first one, I decided to try to put some color into the pores. So, I turned a slimline from some light bocote and saved the gold sawdust. When I made the second banksia Atlas pen, I used this sawdust instead of the banksia dust to fill the pores. The pores turned black, actually blacker than they did with the banksia dust. Go figure. Maybe the CA reacts with the bocote strangely.
I think I'll try one with some bloodwood dust and see what happens.
The pods I started with were about 5" long and 2" in diameter. I nipped off the ends on my RA saw, exposing the "stem". This is a light core that runs through the pod, and is about 3/16" in diameter. I chucked up the pod between centers and turned it into a cylinder. Then I drilled the cylinder in my pen vise. This way, the brass tubes were pretty much in the centers of the pods. To drill a pod without first turning it to a cylinder would be hit or miss, I think.
Joe

[Tom Mullane]

The coffee grounds don't do much different than sawdust... but I have found they have a nice deep brown color when set with thin CA and they turn real nice... also have a larger grain so they have a kind of crushed brown stone look...
I have used them to fix voids in bowls and on some burl pens that had bad voids.. made a nice effect... and best of all if you are a coffee junkie like me they are free... just save and dry the ones from your morning coffee... LOL