# Looking for ideas for army pen



## Brewmeister35 (Oct 9, 2008)

I have a friend that wants a US Army themed pen.  He just made E8!  The best I can find for an emblem is one of the classic finials.  I'm curious if finding some camoflage and wrapping it around a tube like the denim blanks would work or if there's some other type of blank that would be close to a camoflage.


----------



## hewunch (Oct 9, 2008)

you could glue camo to a tube and then cast it


----------



## its_virgil (Oct 9, 2008)

Check with ed4copies here on the IAP forum. 
Do a good turn daily!
Don


Brewmeister35 said:


> I have a friend that wants a US Army themed pen.  He just made E8!  The best I can find for an emblem is one of the classic finials.  I'm curious if finding some camoflage and wrapping it around a tube like the denim blanks would work or if there's some other type of blank that would be close to a camoflage.


----------



## Nick (Oct 9, 2008)

*Army Idea for pen*

This is a 30.06 powder coated shell, Cocobolo top and a Army logo clip from Hut.
Box from PSI and the 2" logo on the box is from a local supplier
Thanks for looking


----------



## Bear_Knuckle_Turner (Oct 9, 2008)

I don't remeber who was doing it, but there was someone on here that was gluing the ribbon portion of the full size medals onto tubes and casting them in clear reason.  They look really cool.  If he is an Iraq vet, you could do the Iraq Campain Medal or the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal.

I think he was using fabric glue to glue them to the tubes. I will try to find them on here.


----------



## PR_Princess (Oct 10, 2008)

Something like the ones on the two ends do? Ed4copies has urban, jungle and desert camo resins. Easy to turn. 

Send him a PM through the forum and ask for his "cat-alog".


----------



## Brewmeister35 (Oct 10, 2008)

Thanks everyone, I'm going to kick these ideas around for a bit.


----------



## jskeen (Oct 10, 2008)

Anybody who's been in the army long enough to make E8 has probably collected an award ribbon or two they are proud of.  Search for posts by jwalt191 to see what can be done with them.  A real long service soldier may have fond memories of the M14 rifle, so a casing pen in 308 caliber might be appropriate.  A stacked leather disk pen, Kabar style might also be well recieved.  I would go for something fairly thin, as thick heavy pens don't tend to work well in class A uniform shirt pockets, and might not fit at all in the pen slot in bdu's or a flight suit.


----------



## Sylvanite (Oct 10, 2008)

There is a dymondwood color called "camo" that is interesting.  Lignum Vitae is also a popular choice, as the grain is highly interlocked and turns an olive drab color in the sun.

You could put your friend's rank, unit, or MOS emblem on a pen, either with segmentation or engraving.  I'm planning to do something similar with MOS emblems on rifle cartridges soon.

Regards,
Eric


----------



## Chuck Key (Oct 10, 2008)

Go Tactical, Go Army!


----------



## BRobbins629 (Oct 10, 2008)

Modified Polaris from long ago.  Label around tube, cast with clear PR.


----------



## wolftat (Oct 10, 2008)

Sylvanite said:


> There is a dymondwood color called "camo" that is interesting. Lignum Vitae is also a popular choice, as the grain is highly interlocked and turns an olive drab color in the sun.
> 
> You could put your friend's rank, unit, or MOS emblem on a pen, either with segmentation or engraving. I'm planning to do something similar with MOS emblems on rifle cartridges soon.
> 
> ...


 Eric has a tendency to leave out little things. One may be that he make cartridges that say "U.S. Army" on them. They are extremely well done and are available from his site. I have seen one in person and thought it was a fantastic idea. The owner of that pen is in Iraq right now and is carrying it with him. The upper section is made out of Lignum Vitae. The one I saw was made by Johnnie aka Jarheaded.


----------



## DKF (Oct 10, 2008)

This may not be exactly what you are looking for, but I made this pen from an old style blank and it looks "camo ish".....Elliott Landes had some of this for sale a while back.


----------



## bkersten (Oct 10, 2008)

Brewmeister35 said:


> I have a friend that wants a US Army themed pen. He just made E8! The best I can find for an emblem is one of the classic finials. I'm curious if finding some camoflage and wrapping it around a tube like the denim blanks would work or if there's some other type of blank that would be close to a camoflage.


 
If he just made E8 than he must have completed the Advanced NCO school. If that's the case do a casting with the NCO ribbon on a brass/gray tube with the #3 on.  The NCO ribbon with #4 is for SGM/CSM's due to their completing the Sgt Major Academy in Ft Bliss Tx - that will be the next one for him then.


----------



## workinforwood (Oct 10, 2008)

Lots of great stuff there!  I'll toss in another idea.  Cast a chamo arrow shaft.  You don't have to cast an arrow to make a pen, but if you cast it you'll beef up the outer diameter for more comfort, and you can say it's an actual arrow.  Can have bullet/arrow combo too.


----------



## papaturner (Oct 10, 2008)

I think this is what Jeff had in mind.


----------



## ELCAMINO63 (Oct 11, 2008)

that sounds like your on the right track , i would also suggest using a shell casing like a 30 06 for the bottom half .

then do the camo for the top , they make a kit for casting pen blanks (acrylic) after you wrap the tube


----------



## Mr Vic (Oct 21, 2008)

Here's one I made for a Retired LTC. It's an acrylic "Hunter Green" blank from Woodcraft with the twist cap fountain pen. I added the finial Army logo from Hut....Sorry about the lousy photo...

Mr Vic


----------



## Boomer (Oct 22, 2008)

I would go to the archery shop and buy yourself camo arrow shafts.


----------



## Blind_Squirrel (Oct 22, 2008)

How about the army logo with his name underneath?  I did one for my Marine neighbor for Christmas last year:


----------



## nevetsw18 (Feb 26, 2009)

Boomer said:


> I would go to the archery shop and buy yourself camo arrow shafts.



thats what i was thinkin about, but i heard they were hard to do


----------



## oldcaptainrusty (Feb 26, 2009)

I 2nd what wolftat says. Check with Sylvanite. He has a few options and the man does super work.:good::good::good:


----------



## dogcatcher (Feb 26, 2009)

When I went to my last unit reunion of Vietnam veterans, I made 308 cartridge pens, used walnut from an old busted M14 stock and purple heart for the ones that had been wounded.


----------



## fiferb (Feb 26, 2009)

If you like him a lot and don't mind spending the money, one of the stars and stripes kits would be my recommendation. You can't go wrong there.


----------



## jkeithrussell (Feb 26, 2009)

The black material that Gary Max sells looks pretty cool.  If you want it to be a pen that a soldier can use every day, it needs to not be shiny or bulky, and it needs to be durable.  Something like a Euro or, perhaps, a Sierra, would fit in their shirt flap without being a nuisance to them to keep up with.  Maybe even a one-piece click pen.  

Sorry if this duplicates someone else's post, I didn't read all 3 pages.


----------



## gatornick (Feb 26, 2009)

The ACU's now have the pen pocket in the sleeve, and a sierra is too big.  A slim or european is about all you can fit in a uniform for daily carry.


----------



## KiltedGunn (Jul 11, 2010)

The Long Click works great in the uniform pen pockets as well, and I'd check with Eugene (ElMostro) to see if he's done anymore of his HooAh Digital ACU blanks yet!  :wink:


----------



## Nate Davey (Jul 11, 2010)

I think a bullet pen in 5.56mm and the old cammo pattern would be appreciated by your friend.  I've been in the Army quite a while, the old cammo pattern is for the old warrior and the 5.56mm cartridge case is what we use.  I know he'll appreciate the thoughtfulness.


----------



## Chuck Key (Jul 11, 2010)

Go tactical.

http://theperfectcollection.com/proddetail.php?prod=tact1

Chuckie


----------



## AceMrFixIt (Jul 11, 2010)

*Camo pen.*

I got some Navy camo and cast it. The color changes when wet, thats the only down side. Next time I will try to water proof it first.


----------



## jimm1 (Jul 11, 2010)

Get a camo blank from Ryan at woodturningz.


----------



## bkersten (Jul 11, 2010)

The military ribbons when laid flat are just big enough to put on slimlines and then cast. I've tried for Sierras and there is a gap.  What I do is take a photo of the rank on the new ACU pattern, size it on 2x4 labels, and cast it on Sierra tubes.  You could do the E-8 rank the same way.  If E-9 is achieved you could do a photo of the USASMA patch. i've only done them for E9's so far.  Bob


----------



## wiset1 (Nov 27, 2010)

Well...being in the Army I would say that you could either use the ACU pattern from our uniform and cast it under the MSG rank.  Is he a Master Sergeant E8 or a First Sergeant E8?  There are different emblems for each and they come in either black or gold for wear on uniforms.  There are also pre sewn ranks on ACU patterns for our head gear which would be easy to cast on a tube and turn into a Siera or something like that.  I've thought of doing this myself...PM me if you need some military ranks sent to you!

V/r
Tim


----------

