# New shop, new pen



## jalbert (Aug 4, 2019)

I was finally able to start penmaking again, after getting my shop all set up, and this is my first pen to come out of it. It’s made of a brown and black chunk acrylic, with bronze metal work. I wanted to try a few different design ideas out, so this was kind of a little experiment as I got back into making pens again.


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## mark james (Aug 4, 2019)

John, that is a stunning pen.  A very nice product from the new shop!  Congrats.


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## Dalecamino (Aug 4, 2019)

Nice to see a few things here. 1. First pen from your new shop. 2. Some of that vintage stock pile coming to life. 3. Awesome hardware.
4. A very nice looking pen. Well done!


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## Woodchipper (Aug 4, 2019)

Good looking pen. Welcome back and having the shop where you can start pens again. BTW, used to live in Looavle, as they say.


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## BRobbins629 (Aug 4, 2019)

Nice pen, nice threads!


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## firewhatfire (Aug 4, 2019)

NICE...I like the deep cut on the threads.


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## PenHog (Aug 4, 2019)

Really, really nice! 

Can you reveal (1) what length of blank you needed to make the pen, and (2) where you got that blank?


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## Curly (Aug 4, 2019)

Man you never should have left your old shop!  That’s....that’s....well I’ll send you a few Loonies to cover postage and when it gets here, hide it in the Great White North where it will never be seen again.
❄❄❄❄❄❄


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## magpens (Aug 4, 2019)

Gorgeous pen, John ... in all respects ! . I love the metal hardware ... well done !!!


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## darrin1200 (Aug 4, 2019)

That's a gorgeous pen John. I have just started working with bronze myself, do you put any type of coating on the bronze?


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## jalbert (Aug 4, 2019)

mark james said:


> John, that is a stunning pen.  A very nice product from the new shop!  Congrats.


Thanks Mark!



Dalecamino said:


> Nice to see a few things here. 1. First pen from your new shop. 2. Some of that vintage stock pile coming to life. 3. Awesome hardware.
> 4. A very nice looking pen. Well done!


Thanks! This is actually modern acrylic, but it has a great vintage look.



Woodchipper said:


> Good looking pen. Welcome back and having the shop where you can start pens again. BTW, used to live in Looavle, as they say.


Thanks! I moved here recently. It's been fun.



BRobbins629 said:


> Nice pen, nice threads!


Thanks!



firewhatfire said:


> NICE...I like the deep cut on the threads.


Thanks! They are fun to use



PenHog said:


> Really, really nice!
> 
> Can you reveal (1) what length of blank you needed to make the pen, and (2) where you got that blank?


I got the blank a while back from Beartooth Woods. It was called Toffee Crunch, or something like that, and I used two 5" blanks. You could probably get away with one 8" blank.



Curly said:


> Man you never should have left your old shop!  That’s....that’s....well I’ll send you a few Loonies to cover postage and when it gets here, hide it in the Great White North where it will never be seen again.
> ❄❄❄❄❄❄


Ha!



magpens said:


> Gorgeous pen, John ... in all respects ! . I love the metal hardware ... well done !!!


Thanks Mal!


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## jalbert (Aug 4, 2019)

darrin1200 said:


> That's a gorgeous pen John. I have just started working with bronze myself, do you put any type of coating on the bronze?


Thanks. I don't coat my bronze. If it develops a patina, I just wipe with a jewelry cloth.


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## duncsuss (Aug 4, 2019)

Excellent work, John - it has a beautiful look, more than a little of the art deco feel about it.


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## jalbert (Aug 4, 2019)

duncsuss said:


> Excellent work, John - it has a beautiful look, more than a little of the art deco feel about it.


Heh. Thanks for noticing. That was kind of the vein I was working in. I’d never made anything explicitly Art Deco before


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## duncsuss (Aug 4, 2019)

jalbert said:


> Heh. Thanks for noticing. That was kind of the vein I was working in. I’d never made anything explicitly Art Deco before


I'm not qualified to say if they are "explicitly" deco, but the findings are wonderful


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## Charlie_W (Aug 4, 2019)

That is one gorgeous pen John!  Love your machining handiwork


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## MDWine (Aug 5, 2019)

Very retro... I love it!


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## darrin1200 (Aug 5, 2019)

jalbert said:


> Thanks. I don't coat my bronze. If it develops a patina, I just wipe with a jewelry cloth.



Just be careful of ebonite it radically speeds up the process.. This is the bronze clip I did for my St Louis pen. It only took a few days in the box with the ebonite pen. The guys at the show thought it was supposed to look like that, because it actually fit with the pen.

I have since repolished it and gave it a couple of coats of a product called ProtecraClear. It has a couple of more days to cure, then we’ll see how it works,


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## jalbert (Aug 5, 2019)

darrin1200 said:


> Just be careful of ebonite it radically speeds up the process.. This is the bronze clip I did for my St Louis pen. It only took a few days in the box with the ebonite pen. The guys at the show thought it was supposed to look like that, because it actually fit with the pen.
> 
> I have since repolished it and gave it a couple of coats of a product called ProtecraClear. It has a couple of more days to cure, then we’ll see how it works,


I’ve been using bronze for years , and have had no significant issues. I also rarely use ebonite


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## DrD (Aug 5, 2019)

John Albert, your pen captures the essence of what I aspire to in pen making!  One would be hard pressed to not think of your pen as being from the hay-day of pre-war pens in America and Europe!  Perhaps you could share some tips to those of use who do not posses the know-how to craft such an elegant writing instrument.  I am simply stunned at it's quite elegance and beauty.

Don


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## BruceA (Sep 30, 2019)

John, loved your pen  and ordered the same  Chocolate Toffee Crunch blank from Beartoothwoods to try.  For testing, I turned the entire blank to round and polished it up to see what I had.   Curious - What color did you paint the tubes and/or blank??  My blank isn't looking the same at this point.  Thanks!


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## jalbert (Sep 30, 2019)

BruceA said:


> John, loved your pen  and ordered the same  Chocolate Toffee Crunch blank from Beartoothwoods to try.  For testing, I turned the entire blank to round and polished it up to see what I had.   Curious - What color did you paint the tubes and/or blank??  My blank isn't looking the same at this point.  Thanks!


I don’t use tubes on my pens. I make all the components for my pens, except for the nib unit and feed, and do all the threading myself. If I remember correctly, the blank does have some degree of translucency to it, but I’m not sure what color you would paint the tube— I haven’t any experience in that area


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## BruceA (Sep 30, 2019)

John, thanks for your quick reply!  I'll just do a test with two Sierra barrels and see what I end up with...


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