A Copper PEN? You Bet!

[Bruce Shiverdecker]

I have been playing around with this since I heard that someone had made a pen using copper wire.

It was difficult to do. The wire I used was #12 guage solid electrical wire.

First, you have to bend the wire around the brass tube without collapsing it. The original plan used solder to keep it in place. I chose CA instead. Appears to have worked well. After the CA hardened, I turned the ends of the copper flush and square.

Next was adding the Walnut. That wasn't hard. Just make sure the end mating to the copper is square. Turned the Walnut down to the level of the Copper, then finish turned the whole thing to the dimentions I wanted.

Sanded through 12,000 and finished with 8 coats of French Polish.

Your comments appreciated,

Bruce

[Greg Tatum]

Bruce, that is excellent....only one problem; the picture needs to be bigger to show it off better :)

Regards,
Greg

[Ken Salisbury]

Bruce, that is excellent....only one problem; the picture needs to be bigger to show it off better :)

Regards,
Greg

How is this:

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Boy, they really have thought of everything! I have an electriction friend and I was thinking of doing this same thing, didn't know it had already been done!

That is a great looking pen, the hard work was worth it!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Bruce.....great idea and craftsmanship!

[Bruce Shiverdecker]

Thanks for the comments, folks and a Special thank you to Ken for enlarging it. I try to keep things small, so they load easily.

Bruce

[Michael Stafford]

Bruce that is incredibly creative and most outstanding!!! :D I would love to attempt to duplicate that pen for my son's pen collection with your permission.
I have one question; did you use flexible CA or regular? I would have a little concern that the brittle CA might fracture the first time you dropped the pen on the floor. :eek: Any thoughts?

Very attractive, I suppose the same could be done with aluminum wire....

[Bruce Shiverdecker]

Evenin" Mike. Not being one who looks to "license" that which pleasures me, you honor me with your request. You are more that welcome to duplicate or improve on my efforts.

I did use Regular thick CA, but I would think that the "flexible" version would work.... maybe even better.

As far as using Aluminum wire, I would be afraid that the "galvanic" action of it, when it comes in contact with other metals would be a problem.

Be sure and post your pen, when it's done.

I would love to see it.

Also, Thanks to the rest of you for your comments.

Bruce

[Jim Stastny]

Bruce,

That's an outstanding piece of craftsmanship as well as an example of great creativity. Way to go!!!

[Bruce Shiverdecker]

Over at IAP some folks had concerns about the gold colored centerband. To be honest, I did too, but didn't know what I wanted to do.

I think that any centerband other than one made from Walnut detracts from the overal effect by breaking the pen into too many pieces.

Sooooooooooooooo, this morning, I turned Walnut centerband. I think it's better.

How about you folks? What do you think?

Bruce ;)

[Kurt Aebi]

Bruce, Great workmanship and what a great design!

You know what else might work for a centerband? - Copper! Make one from some small copper tubing, brass might be an idea as well.

Fantastic work!

[Jim Young]

I agree, the walnut band makes the pen look more pleasing.

[Randy Meijer]

How is this:
It's a little too big for my computer!! Anything bigger than about 650 pixels wide means I have to scroll left and right to see the full picture......not the end of the world; but a minor annoyance.

One of my pet peeves with message boards is that when people post large pictures, it "distorts" the thread and you have to scroll left/right to read every post. That is a royal PIA. Just noticed that this board's software has fixed that problem!!!!! While I did have to scroll to see Ken's big picture, none of the other posts were affected!!! I wish the software at other boards was as sophisticated. A big --thumbs up-- for Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. and to SMC for using this particular software.