Need advice for engraving turned wooden pen

[Larry Browning]

I am researching a project I am thinking of doing and I need a little advice. I just returned from my high school 45th class reunion (which was great!) and the call went out for much better door prize donations for the 50th. (You may have seen my other thread abut it) It was suggested that I turn some pens for this project and engrave them with stuff about the 50th reunion. I have 2 obstacles to the plan. 1) I have never turned a pen and 2) I know nothing about engraving. However, I believe these 2 problems can be a learning experience rather than a roadblock. I think I have a path plan for the pen turning, so now I am "turning" my attention to the engraving.
My feeling is that adding text and possibly a simple logo design to the body of these pens is a simple task for someone with the right equipment and skills. Is this true? And what kind of cost is involved in getting this done? My budget is somewhat limited, as these will be at my expense and donated.

Thanks,

[Bert Kemp]

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Larry remember Pen shafts are small so logos would need to be small. and probably require someone with a rotary attachment Names how ever can sometime be done with out the rotary . School name and Year might be good or if you know the names of the attendee's that would be even cooler. How many pens would you be looking to do?

[Larry Browning]

Larry remember Pen shafts are small so logos would need to be small. and probably require someone with a rotary attachment Names how ever can sometime be done with out the rotary . School name and Year might be good or if you know the names of the attendee's that would be even cooler. How many pens would you be looking to do?
Bert,
There were almost 900 in my graduating class, and almost 200 attended the 45th, so I am not making one for everyone! I am planning on making 4 or 5 for door prizes.
Also, the logo commonly used is very simple it looks something like this:
...____
./.......\
.\...... /
./.......\
/.........\ (ignore the dots. The editor seems to want to remove spaces before posting)
It is called a dog Iron and is supposed to represent the cattle brand used at the Dog Iron Ranch where Will Rogers was born. I thought I could put the year 2020 underneath it. I didn't think that would be too hard to do.
But like I said in my original post I know just about zero when it comes to engraving. So what to me might seem easy, could easily be hard.

[Mike DeRegnaucourt]

Hi Larry,

I am a pen turner as well as an engraver. If you have a good quality file of the school logo, I can take a look at it and see if I can vectorize it for engraving. If you want to PM me the file I can take a look at it for you and see if it is something I can do for you.

[Bert Kemp]

316095So would this be something like what your looking for

[Kev Williams]

aw, c'mon, give these machines a little credit! :)

http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/pen.jpg

[Bert Kemp]

Kev this logo is not fancy its a brand they put on cattle that is the exact brand what I did, hey we all can do fancy


aw, c'mon, give these machines a little credit! :)

http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/pen.jpg316111

[Larry Browning]

Hi Larry,

I am a pen turner as well as an engraver. If you have a good quality file of the school logo, I can take a look at it and see if I can vectorize it for engraving. If you want to PM me the file I can take a look at it for you and see if it is something I can do for you.
Thanks so much Mike! I'm not sure what the definition of a good quality file is, But if I could draw it with SketchUp, would that do? I have been searching the internet for a picture or drawing of it and have not found it yet. I haven't found the magic Google phrase yet. I do have some examples in my yearbook and also on a T-shirt I have, so I should be able to reproduce it pretty close.

I do have a 5 year lead time on this so at this point I am in no real hurry. But I do have to learn how to turn pens, and I am planning on getting started with that pretty soon. I am putting some feelers to try and track down some wood taken for the school building or even a tree on campus to make these pens from. I also have an idea to make a keepsake box or 2 with inlay work as well and I need to learn how to do that too!
I am always looking for projects that I can learn a new skill from and I think this is a really good one for me.

[Larry Browning]

316095So would this be something like what your looking for
Very good Bert! That is the actual Dog Iron Ranch cattle brand. However when it was converted to the school logo it got changed to look more like my keyboard graphic. It sort of looks like a diamond profile with legs. I want to stick with the school logo.

[Larry Browning]

http://tulsaornament.com/web-content/Images/WRHS-14.jpg

The dog iron logo is at the bottom right portion of this image. I am still trying to track down something better.

[Bert Kemp]

Looks different then whats on the Dog Iron Ranches website but hey it can be done how ever you like it.



http://tulsaornament.com/web-content/Images/WRHS-14.jpg

The dog iron logo is at the bottom right portion of this image. I am still trying to track down something better.

[Larry Browning]

http://ts3.mm.bing.net/th?id=JN.FpLAHGhhhMxQOqHhgvaMCQ&pid=15.1

This is a better one. This is actually what the top of the traditional class ring looks like. Mine got stolen from my house a few years ago. I was sick about it.
You can see the actual brands influence on this. I think this looks better. The real one looks more like a stick figure of a girl.

[Bert Kemp]

I agree this is much nicer and very easy to reproduce to engrave.

http://ts3.mm.bing.net/th?id=JN.FpLAHGhhhMxQOqHhgvaMCQ&pid=15.1

This is a better one. This is actually what the top of the traditional class ring looks like. Mine got stolen from my house a few years ago. I was sick about it.
You can see the actual brands influence on this. I think this looks better. The real one looks more like a stick figure of a girl.

[Mike DeRegnaucourt]

http://ts3.mm.bing.net/th?id=JN.FpLAHGhhhMxQOqHhgvaMCQ&pid=15.1

This is a better one. This is actually what the top of the traditional class ring looks like. Mine got stolen from my house a few years ago. I was sick about it.
You can see the actual brands influence on this. I think this looks better. The real one looks more like a stick figure of a girl.

That looks like it would be easy to create a vector image of for engraving.

[Nicolas Silva]

That should be pretty straight forward to do. I do this fairly regularly. You need to decide whether
you want to run it vertically like this pict, or horizontally. I personally like it vertically since you can
make the figure larger. cheers!



316185

[Larry Browning]

That should be pretty straight forward to do. I do this fairly regularly. You need to decide whether
you want to run it vertically like this pict, or horizontally. I personally like it vertically since you can
make the figure larger. cheers!



316185

I will try to describe my "vision" of the engraving on the pen.
On the lower portion of the pen I would like to engrave on 2 sides. On one side I want it to say:
Will Rogers High School
Class of 1970
(that's 2 lines running horizontally)
On the opposite side of the lower portion I want it to say:
50 Year Reunion (or maybe spell out Fifty)

On the upper section and opposite of the clip I want the logo placed vertically with "2020" placed perpendicular to the logo between the 2 "legs" or just below them. I would like this to be at least 1/2" tall or maybe even taller. I just want it large enough to be easily seen and recognized as the logo.

Is this doable?

[Larry Browning]

One more question about the engraving. Should the engraving be done before or after putting on the finish?
Ok, maybe two more. Should the engraving be done before or after assembly?

[Dan Hintz]

One more question about the engraving. Should the engraving be done before or after putting on the finish?
Ok, maybe two more. Should the engraving be done before or after assembly?

Always easier to engrave before assembly...

Finishing before engraving allows for easy cleanup of smoke damage from the lasering process, but it requires secondary finishing if you don't want to leave the engraving exposed. Probably not a huge deal on a pen, but I prefer to completely seal mine. In that case, I would put on a single coat or two of thin CA to seal the grain, engrave, colorfill, then do my normal CA coat routine before sanding/buffing to final sheen.

[Larry Browning]

.....then do my normal CA coat routine before sanding/buffing to final sheen.
Dan, I don't have a "normal" finishing routine for pens. I have never turned a pen in my life.:p This is a learning experience for me. Maybe by the time I am ready to get some engraving done I will have turned enough pens that I will have a "normal" finishing routine. The main purpose of this thread is for me to get a small understanding about getting some engraving done on a pen and if my "vision" is doable. I am sure it will be several months and test pens before I am ready to have anything engraved.

Oh, and BTW: Thanks to everyone of you guys who are taking the time to answer my basic questions. Hopefully there is not too much eye rolling going on!

[Keith Outten]

Larry,

Pen Turning and engraving are very simple tasks generally speaking. There are advanced techniques but they won't be a concern for your job. Turn your pen and put a couple coats of CA finish on the pen barrel as Dan suggested and then ship or take your pen to a local engraver with the graphic. Once the engraving is done you can put the blank back on your lathe and add more coats of CA glue and polish if that is the finish you prefer.

For your engraving I suggest you find someone who has a rotary attachment for their laser engraver. This makes it easier to get the logo sized properly for the pen without having to adjust the size to small so it can be engraved without a rotary, i.e. it can wrap around the pen barrel as necessary. My rotary attachment is capable of engraving pens before or after final assembly but in your case it would be easier for you to do the final finishing if you wait to assemble the pen.

If you need assistance preparing the graphic just about anyone here can do that for you, its a very simple task that takes just a few minutes and they can email you the finished vector file so you can provide it to your engraver.

You will find literally hundreds of excellent pen turning videos on You Tube that will help you get started and plenty of advice here at SawMill Creek from some of the best pen turners anywhere. Search the engravers forum and take a look at some of the engraved pens here, they will knock your socks off......
.

[Larry Browning]

Larry,

Pen Turning and engraving are very simple tasks generally speaking. There are advanced techniques but they won't be a concern for your job. Turn your pen and put a couple coats of CA finish on the pen barrel as Dan suggested and then ship or take your pen to a local engraver with the graphic. Once the engraving is done you can put the blank back on your lathe and add more coats of CA glue and polish if that is the finish you prefer.

For your engraving I suggest you find someone who has a rotary attachment for their laser engraver. This makes it easier to get the logo sized properly for the pen without having to adjust the size to small so it can be engraved without a rotary, i.e. it can wrap around the pen barrel as necessary. My rotary attachment is capable of engraving pens before or after final assembly but in your case it would be easier for you to do the final finishing if you wait to assemble the pen.

If you need assistance preparing the graphic just about anyone here can do that for you, its a very simple task that takes just a few minutes and they can email you the finished vector file so you can provide it to your engraver.

You will find literally hundreds of excellent pen turning videos on You Tube that will help you get started and plenty of advice here at SawMill Creek from some of the best pen turners anywhere. Search the engravers forum and take a look at some of the engraved pens here, they will knock your socks off......
.
Thank you Keith for summing it up for me so well! At this point I think this is all I really need to know. I think I am now confident that my vision of the engraving should be easily doable. I also think that I would rather trust a fellow creeker to do this work rather that someone local. (I had a baseball bat that I had turned engraved locally and they pretty much ruined it) So when the time comes, I will want to work with an SMCer to get it done right!

[Dan Hintz]

Dan, I don't have a "normal" finishing routine for pens.

Not counting the thin CA layers, I typically put on 10 layers of medium CA. Each coat is put on while slowly spinning on the lathe (a few hundred RPM), wiped on with a paper towel folded multiple times and then cut into small, finger-sized strips. Each coat is followed by a light spritz of accelerator. Once done, sand as any other project... still on the lathe.