Can you help me make a baseball bat pen?

[Rusty Hughes, Indy]

Hello,

In a group of pen blanks I bought there was an Ash blank and this got me thinking of making a pen into the shape of a bat. My brother-in-law is a big Cubs fan and I would like to make this for him for Christmas.

Do I need the center band on the 7mm Slimline pen? I would cut the blank in half to insert the mechanism but I would like for the whole thing to be wood.

Would you put the knob of the bat at the bottom?

How would you do this?

Thanks

[Ken Salisbury]

Hello,

In a group of pen blanks I bought there was an Ash blank and this got me thinking of making a pen into the shape of a bat. My brother-in-law is a big Cubs fan and I would like to make this for him for Christmas.

Do I need the center band on the 7mm Slimline pen? I would cut the blank in half to insert the mechanism but I would like for the whole thing to be wood.

Would you put the knob of the bat at the bottom?

How would you do this?

Thanks

Simply use a 7mm slimline kit without the center band. Using two blanks (upper & lower turn the shape and assemble without the band - piece of cake - I have made some in the past - but haven't any pics - sorry.

[Rusty Hughes, Indy]

Thanks, Ken.

I'll be giving it a try shortly.

[Gary Hern]

Hi Rusty,

I could see doing this with a couple of twists from a normal pen. May not be as easy as what you may be thinking, but, the outcome may be worth it.

Measure the center band and make the lower blank longer by that length. Glue in the bottom brass tube from the end you will be inserting the writing tip into, leaving the top with no brass sleeve. Assemble onto the mandrel as you would put it together. (Its been awhile since I turned a pen and am not sure if you have to have the center bushing in place. If you do, depending on the importance of this pen, it may be worth it to ruin a set of bushings to keep them in alignment?) When turning the pen, do so without the center bushing if possible or turn down a bushing to the diameter you like with the angle of the bat. Turn the handle at the pen tip. You could do several variations on this also. You could leave wood at the top longer and not drill all the way through and use no brass cap or pocket clip and just have that end look like the bat endgrain. YOu could recess the cap into the wood blank by drilling. You could friction burn a ring for the end of the handle in the area that they come together, or you could use a small piece of ebony in place of the center band or design your own band made out of laminated ash and a black wood like Scott Greaves did in his pen article.

Just some variations if your interested.

Gary H.


Hello,

In a group of pen blanks I bought there was an Ash blank and this got me thinking of making a pen into the shape of a bat. My brother-in-law is a big Cubs fan and I would like to make this for him for Christmas.

Do I need the center band on the 7mm Slimline pen? I would cut the blank in half to insert the mechanism but I would like for the whole thing to be wood.

Would you put the knob of the bat at the bottom?

How would you do this?

Thanks

[Hal Peeler]

I have done what the others have said about leaving out the center band. What I did differently though was I used the tubes out of a Euro kit that has the longer tube on the bottom. Same technique, just makes the "bat" a little longer. Makes a neat gift.
Hal