Stratus pen

[Tom Wilson66]

I recently made this stratus pen with a White Oak barrel. This will be my "everyday" pen. As you can see, I added the ribbon for the Vietnam Campaign Medal. This was made from thread wrapped in a groove in the barrel, to keep the thread mostly flush with the wood. Then I applied several coats of polyurethane to protect the threads and wood.

I got the idea for the thread wrapping from seeing the decorative wrappings on fishing rods. Worked out a way to do this on spindle turnings, and have had a lot of fun coming up with ideas for things to wrap. Takes a while to do the wrapping, but I'm retired so I have a little time to do this sort of thing.

[Lloyd Keniston]

Neat idea Tom. Looks good to me. I like it. Mind if I "borrow" it? :)

[Ronald Blue]

Great looking pen! I like the thread idea and might try it myself. Just curious do you ever use super glue finish? It has become my favorite finish for wood. Seems like it could be a great finish for going over the thread. I like it because it's fast.

[Tom Wilson66]

Lloyd, go ahead and try it.

Ronald, Have not tried a CA finish on these, usually use an epoxy coating over the thread, just not on this one. I have tried the CA finsih, and am not any good at it. Always end up with a lot of ridges in the surface. Actually, I get a better finish with the epoxy, even though it takes longer for the epoxy to cure. On this one I am just wanting to see how well the polyurethane holds up.

[Randy Red Bemont]

Great idea and beautiful looking pen.

Red