A Couple of Commissioned Items

[James Combs]

Commissioned probably doesn't apply to pens and birdhouses but I like the sound of it. :D

What ever you might call it these are the results of customer requests. First we have two 277 Remington Magnum bullet pens. Both the cartridge and the antler were supplied by the customer. The cases are nickel plated, the upper barrel hardware is cigar style satin nickel and chrome.

I am including some in process photos.

I had to take a little extra time with one of the antler blanks. I noticed a hole in the sawed off end of one of them, at first I thought maybe it was natural but that didn't make a lot of since so I blew it out with my air hose and to my surprise there was a broken piece of drill bit down inside it. Apparently someone had tried to drill it to mount it on something. Sure glad I looked, would have been a big surprise to hit that with my drill press. I drilled extremely slow from the other end until I could just detect my drill hitting the broke piece then pull out my drill and took a punch and drove the broken piece out then finish drilling. That's the broken piece of drill bit to the right in the first photo. Thought I would give it back to the customer.;)

Here you see the antlers drilled, tubes are in the back ground. The cases and bullets have all been drilled and sub-assembled, the cases will be polished later.
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Here the tubes have been installed, the blanks squared and loaded on a mandrel ready to turn.
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Here they have been turned and sub-assembled with the cigar style hardware. I have them laid out with there internal components while I polish the cases.
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The first two photos are the same pen showing good views of the antler and hardware. The third photo is the 2nd pen.
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These are the antlers I was provide, they were very small which is actually good for pens. The small diameter makes it easy to turn with lots of original antler surface showing.
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This was a special order mini birdhouse requested by a customer. She liked all the wormholes in a previous one I had made but she let it get away from her at the craft store.

Material = NE Bradford Pear on Wormy Bitternut.
Finish = 3 Coats of Deft Lacquer
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[Harry Robinette]

Real nice work. I'm not into pens much but I know what I like an I really like these. Cute bird house to.

[Scott Hackler]

Nice work James.

[John Keeton]

JD, lot of work put into those! Very nice work, and while I am not much into pens either, being a deer hunter makes me like these!

[Donny Lawson]

Those are some very nice pens. They are "HOT" sellers this time of year. I've been making pens solid for the past month or so. I just recieved another shipment of bullet pens yesterday. I got orders for them today. I like the way your antlers turned out. What did you polish them with? I've been using CA for mine.
Donny

[James Combs]

Real nice work. I'm not into pens much but I know what I like an I really like these. Cute bird house to.
Thanks Harry, I have a couple of firsts in these. They are the first 277mags and the first nickel plated cases. The 277 slugs are so small that when drilling for the pen spring the wall thickness was like foil in places so I had to drop a drill size compared to 30cal slugs.:( The spring an pen refill barely fit in the reduced size.


Nice work James.
Thanks Scott, always appreciate all of you guys/gals comments.:)


JD, lot of work put into those! Very nice work, and while I am not much into pens either, being a deer hunter makes me like these!
Thanks John, yes they require work on both my metal lathe and the wood lathe but I get a good price for them. BTW save me a case and some antler after your next hunt(assuming you bag something;)) and I will make you one at cost.


Those are some very nice pens. They are "HOT" sellers this time of year. I've been making pens solid for the past month or so. I just recieved another shipment of bullet pens yesterday. I got orders for them today. I like the way your antlers turned out. What did you polish them with? I've been using CA for mine.
Donny
Thanks Donny, not so sure about them being a "HOT" item but I do sell a few, more by order then by speculation. You mention receiving an order of bullet pens, what are you using, the kit type bullet pens?

I also use CA on mine. After the antler is turned to size I clean it, especially the natural surfaces with some 3m artificial steel wool(forgot actual name) then apply the first coat. The first coat is thin CA which I apply(flood it) straight from the bottle and let it soak for 15-20 seconds the wipe off excess with a paper towel. If there are any rough spots I will sand lightly with 320g then comes 10 coats of minimum 700cps CA. Each coat is applied with a 8 thick corner of paper towel with an occasional shot of accelerator. Then it is just a matter of wet(water) sanding to 12000 with MM.

[jared herbert]

I have made several things from white tail antler, candle holders, pens, bottle openers, etc. People really like them. I just used my beal buffing wheels on them and they come out with a really nice shiny surface that wears and ages nicely JAred

[Tim Rinehart]

Nice James, really nice. I may have to go combing the woods behind us to look for antlers. We have a pretty good population back there, I know I stir them up in the evenings when I come out of my shop...I can hear them scamper away while I'm walking in dark. At least...I hope that's what I hear!
I do have a pair of antlers that are probably 30some years old, that I've just carried around and sit on a bookshelf. Not big, but big enough to cut some blanks from if I wanted. Are there any 'age' issues with antlers for blanks that you know of?

[James Combs]

Nice James, really nice. I may have to go combing the woods behind us to look for antlers. We have a pretty good population back there, I know I stir them up in the evenings when I come out of my shop...I can hear them scamper away while I'm walking in dark. At least...I hope that's what I hear!
I do have a pair of antlers that are probably 30some years old, that I've just carried around and sit on a bookshelf. Not big, but big enough to cut some blanks from if I wanted. Are there any 'age' issues with antlers for blanks that you know of?

Thanks Tim. I am not aware of any age related issues for using antlers other then one and that is that they are kind of like wood in that they must be dry before use. Fresh harvested antlers will still be wet, they were growing after all, so they need to "season" for a year or so before they are used. You may even see traces of fluid still oozing out of fresh ones especially ones cut real close to the skull. My customer had originally provide me with a fresh set but I told him he would have to wait a year for his pens so he found a several years old set which are the ones I used. He let me keep the fresh set and I just tossed them up in my attic until next year. I am by no means an expert on antlers but I don't see how longer aging would hurt anything about them.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I do like the pens but the birdhouse is just cool. Well done.

[Jim Burr]

Of course Commission applies!! Nice work on both. I haven't done a pen on the big one yet...just doesn't seem right!

[jared herbert]

there are a lot of antlers for sale on ebay,some quite reasonable

[Steve Schlumpf]

Very nice work James! Sharp looking pens! I would have to think that they would be great sellers! I really like the birdhouse ornament! Very whimsical and I can see why she commissioned another!

Nice work! Thanks for sharing!

[James Combs]

I have made several things from white tail antler, candle holders, pens, bottle openers, etc. People really like them. I just used my beal buffing wheels on them and they come out with a really nice shiny surface that wears and ages nicely JAred
Thanks for the info Jared. I use CA mainly because that is what I have noted being used on most antler items I have read about here(SMC) and on the IAP site. Knowing there is an alternative means I will have to give it a try, love to do different things.


I do like the pens but the birdhouse is just cool. Well done.
Thanks Bernie, the customer liked it also. It is a little different then the first one in that she requested the NE roof on it. The original did not have that. The best part about birdhouses is that they are easy and a lot of fun to make although the recent 20 for my Sister got a little old but a week or two break from them will fix that.;)


Of course Commission applies!! Nice work on both. I haven't done a pen on the big one yet...just doesn't seem right!
Thanks Jim, I only mentioned whether it qualified as a commission because to me the connotation of a commission work is a "larger" art work.:). As far as doing "a pen on the big one", I use which ever one I get that already has the closest setup already on it, although lately I have tended to use the Jet due to its ability to get down to much lower speeds. I typically use about 125rpm to apply my first coat of thin CA then go up to about 425 for the remaining coats of medium/thick CA.


there are a lot of antlers for sale on ebay,some quite reasonable
Thanks Jared, I will check them out.


Very nice work James! Sharp looking pens! I would have to think that they would be great sellers! I really like the birdhouse ornament! Very whimsical and I can see why she commissioned another! Nice work! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Steve, sales of the pens as commission items are doing real good:D but ones I made on speculation as shown in Bringing Out the BIG Guns (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?175946-Bringing-Out-the-BIG-Guns&highlight=) aren't going at all as yet.:confused: Glad you like the bird house, birdhouses and tree ornaments in general are also doing pretty good sales wise, both commission and spec.