# My First and Second Leather Pens



## t001xa22 (Sep 4, 2011)

I have learned so much from this organization. These pens are a product of studying some library info from William O. Young, A.K.A “William O Young” re:his article about a leather cigar pen. I decided to start with a simpler one-piece kit rather than his demo as a cigar type. I used 3 different leather scraps from a local leather company. When treating the layers with CA glue to stabilize, one of the leathers would tint out green. On my second pen, I decided to try inserting aluminum layers for effect. Final finish was CA medium with accelerator. I am trying to learn to allow for O.D. build-up dimensions when using this method. Again, thanks to all of the members who contribute information to help fledglings like me to learn from.


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## D.Oliver (Sep 4, 2011)

Bill I really like what you did with the aluminum.


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## Drstrangefart (Sep 4, 2011)

The aluminum was a great call. I'm planning on getting another leather pen or two done. All of mine have been memorial pens out of belts for friends that have lost family members. I'm looking into using either 5 minute epoxy or leather glue to hold it together instead of thick CA like I've been doing. I think I'm gonna hijack the aluminum idea. Both of those look spot on.


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## PaulDoug (Sep 4, 2011)

Couple of the finest leather pens I've seen to date.  In the first the different shades of leather really adds to the look the aluminum in the second goes great also.  Nice finish on both.  Great pens.


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## t001xa22 (Sep 4, 2011)

I thank all of you for your comments. I purposely assembled a piece of each leather piece alternating to the next one. My positioning of the aluminum strips was supposed to be symmetrical, but it didn't quite work out that way. I have found that true leather glue was one of the best choices for assembling each piece to the next because I didn't have to worry about the layers separating. The only downside is that I had to use a lot of thin CA to continually restabilize the edges as I shaped them down to size. Some of the leather strips were softer than the others, and it became even more important. I have been told that I could improve all that by buying old leather belts from Goodwill or Salvation Army stores; they are already stiffened. I am going to try a standard two-piece pen next.


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## tt1106 (Sep 4, 2011)

Very elegant. Well done.


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## clapiana (Sep 5, 2011)

Wow i agree some of the best I have seen too
 very nice job!
Where did you get the aluminum , was it a can?


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## johncrane (Sep 5, 2011)

Very nice pens Bill,i like the Aluminum bands, good luck with your next pen.


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## t001xa22 (Sep 5, 2011)

Thanks, folks. As far as the aluminum is concerned, it is a piece of 1/16" flat strap from Lowe's. Fortunately, it is a basic soft temper version so that my standard HSS chisels had no problem with it. Even though, I still found myself re-honing my edges more often. It wasn't so much about the dulling from the aluminum, I think, but more that the leather really requires a sharp edge. On some of my next ones, I am wanting to try some brass inserts for a gold effect. I am also going to try using some of the melted plexiglas in acetone that I read about from the Library, so that maybe I don't have to use so much thin CA. All in all, it was a fun experience.


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## DurocShark (Sep 5, 2011)

I love them both!

I have a bag full of leather I've chopped up into little squares to do this, but I got sidetracked and forgot about them. I think I'll dig them out when my new lathe gets here.


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## t001xa22 (Sep 5, 2011)

Don, I don't know if this info will help, but I will give it. I did not have any hollow punches to get my tube holes cut, so I had to use forstner bits. Some of my leather pieces were softer than the others, so I found out early on that I had to stabilize those pieces a bit with thin CA just so they would stand up to the drilling process. It seemed like no matter what I did, I had to use a lot of thin CA to re-stablilize the pieces. Also, because of my larger fingers, I could not manage piece cuts smaller than 1" square. The only problem was that it just required me to carve down further through the thicknesses to get to my pen blank size. Oh well, a learning curve in progress for me.


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## DurocShark (Sep 5, 2011)

Hmm... I've done a couple and I just used brad point bits. I clamp it between two boards and it stays in place. A bit fiddly to get the leather pieces in and out but it works well.


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## t001xa22 (Sep 6, 2011)

Don, thank you for your comment. I guess I got in such a hurry, I forgot about using a press board system to hold the piece in place. I will do that from now on.


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## DurocShark (Sep 6, 2011)

No worries, we're always learning.

I never did get a good finish on my leather though. That's why I only did a couple. The CA would crack too easy. I think I needed to stiffen the leather with thin CA more, but couldn't be bothered at the time. heh


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## Stick Rounder (Sep 6, 2011)

Great looking pen.  I have made a couple of pens using that same tutorial.  I had not thought of using some aluminium, it really turned out nice.


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## rizaydog (Sep 6, 2011)

Very nice pens.  Great work.


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## t001xa22 (Sep 6, 2011)

Based on the overall reception of these pens from many friends and family, and more importantly, the folks here, I am tooling up to do more of these with add'l equipment. I have started by buying a good set of hollow leather punches. That alone should help a lot.


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## jeff (Oct 17, 2011)

Looks nice on the front page! :biggrin:


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## johncrane (Oct 17, 2011)

Congrats on the front page.


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## Constant Laubscher (Oct 17, 2011)

Great work, Well done!


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## Jon-wx5nco (Oct 17, 2011)

Congrats on the front page!!!
I have done some leather pens too.  Punching the center hole out for the brass tube is a PITA, but once its all done, its a show stopper!  
Great job with the aluminum 
Jon


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## hunter-27 (Oct 17, 2011)

DurocShark said:


> Hmm... I've done a couple and I just used brad point bits. I clamp it between two boards and it stays in place. A bit fiddly to get the leather pieces in and out but it works well.


Agree :biggrin:


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## asyler (Oct 17, 2011)

good ole harbor freight has a good cheap leather punch kit, i use it along with the arbor press and a piece of pine to punch out disks, glue them up wrapped in wax paper, let dry the drill with brad point bit,  
ps the pens look great!!


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## Justturnin (Oct 17, 2011)

Wow those look great.  Nice work.


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## t001xa22 (Oct 17, 2011)

*thank you for your comments*

To Jeff: thank you for the submission to the Front Page. It honors me very much. With so many beautiful creations in this group of turners, I don't envy you guys making your choices. 

To John, Constant, Jon, and Chris: thank you guys for your comments. This pen is actually my 2nd one. My first one was the same setup, but without the aluminum rings. I have since gotten a good set of leather punches, and it has made the process so much easier. Ironically, I found that after I glue and stack the pieces on the tube, the strength of the leather glue helps to reinforce the stack, along with liberal use of thin CA on the edges, to allow a smooth cutting for profiling. I usually allow at least one more layer than the full length of the tube to allow for clamp compression. Lastly, I have found a cheap and ready source of leather by going to some wholesale fabric warehouses in Dallas and getting old costume leather belts for the average of $1 each. Since it doesn't matter what the surface color of the leather is, these work out very well.


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## seamus7227 (Oct 17, 2011)

CONGRATS BILL, and nice work!


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## t001xa22 (Oct 17, 2011)

Thank you, Seamus. Coming from folks like you, it's really gratifying. BTW, I don't know if I ever mentioned it, but my home town is not too far from you: Seymour.


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## sumterdad (Oct 17, 2011)

Wow bill those are some nice pens.  I have to ask though it is bugging me.  The pic on the front page. At the bottom near the tip is what looks like a hole or is that just a shadow or part of the leather.   One the less it is a 1000 times better than I could do.


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## t001xa22 (Oct 17, 2011)

Chris, if you are referring to the tiny white specks on the black lower barrel, those are specks of dust. I sometimes don't catch them when I photo my pens, and then they show up bolder when I magnify the pictures. BTW, I started out inserting some aluminum pieces for this one, but I have gathered up some thin brass and copper that I am going to try soon. Those metal colors might add some nice contrast.

***Afterthought***
Chris, I finally found that spot. You are right; there is a small void in the last ring of leather that I missed. My CA top sealing did not completely fill that spot. You have a better eye than I do.


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## sumterdad (Oct 17, 2011)

Hey bill,  I don't want you to think I was trying to take away from the pen cause I wasn't.  It is a awesome pen.


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## drgoretex (Oct 18, 2011)

Very nice looking pen!  Love the layering, and especially the use of leather!  Very cool.

Congrats od front-paging it!

Ken


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## t001xa22 (Oct 18, 2011)

Ken, after seeing your custom acrylic "Blue/Black with Chrome Clip", I can aspire to something like that. Your pen is absolutely drop-dead beautiful. I do, however, thank you very much for your comment. I enjoy making the leather pens now that I feel more comfortable with them. I am soon going to make one with aluminum, brass, and copper metal inserts. Hope it works as well.


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## NewLondon88 (Oct 18, 2011)

t001xa22 said:


> Ironically, I found that after I glue and stack the pieces on the tube, the strength of the leather glue helps to reinforce the stack, along with liberal use of thin CA on the edges, to allow a smooth cutting for profiling.



I was thinking about this, since you'd go through a lot of CA that way.
and you mentioned you might try the plexitone.
You could also thin some polyester resin with acetone (before adding
the catalyst) till it is thin enough to penetrate the leather. add the
catalyst and brush it on. The acetone will pull it into the leather and
flash off fairly quickly, so you'd need to work fast and you wouldn't
need much. But I'd bet it would not only harden the leather, but fill
any gaps. Should make finishing a lot easier, too.
Congrats .. it looks good on the front page!


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## t001xa22 (Oct 19, 2011)

Thank you for the idea. I tried recently to mix a concoction of plexi and acetone. It worked fairly well on pen barrels, but I think a big part of the problem is the user: me. I like your idea of the resin mix. Even though the leather glue helped stabilize the leather pieces on their mating surfaces, the CA glue was essential for the trimming edges. It was easy to see when more thin CA was needed, and I did go through a fair amount of it. Ironically, on the pen pictured, my 2nd one, the addition of the aluminum inserts also helped stabilize leather edges near them. Finally, as with all lathe work, keeping the chisels sharp was paramount. My real test of keeping a sharp edge will come soon when I try inserting copper, brass, and aluminum in my next try.


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## dplloyd (Apr 10, 2012)

*Leather pen*

:biggrin:NICE:biggrin:


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