# Bone Dance



## gerryr (Oct 21, 2006)

So, there have been a few posting about making a pen from bone, but the only thing I could find, after several extensive internet searches, were pens made from fossilized Stellar's Sea Cow bone.  I do know that Bonnie Klein has turned things from bone, but has not done a pen.  Anyway, I got a commission to make a Jr. Statesman FP from bone and while making that decided that it would look really nice on a Sterling Silver Churchill FP.  Bone offers a whole new set of challenges when using it for a pen, not the least of which is drilling.  The bone is deer leg and unbleached.  I'm very pleased with the outcome and regard this as the finest pen I've made.







Comments and critiques are welcome and thanks to all who take the time to comment.


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## sptfr43 (Oct 21, 2006)

very nice job! looks like ivory


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## jssmith3 (Oct 21, 2006)

Very nice Jerry, I like it.

Janet


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## Snazzypens (Oct 21, 2006)

does it have an odour??? It looks nice pen but does it have smell??
TOni[:I]


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## ashaw (Oct 21, 2006)

Gerry

It looks great good kit for the material.  I wish I could turn bone or antler but my doctor advise me strongly against it.

So for now I just look.

Alan


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## DCBluesman (Oct 22, 2006)

The pen is absolutely beautiful, Gerry.  Folks, for those who are interested in such things, the pen was Gerry's submission to the Pen Makers Guild.  He was accepted today.  Congratulations, Gerry!


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## Stevej72 (Oct 22, 2006)

Congratulations Gerry!  That pen looks great!


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## Jim15 (Oct 22, 2006)

Great looking pen.


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## ashaw (Oct 22, 2006)

congratulation gerry


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## wood-of-1kind (Oct 22, 2006)

Gerry,
looks like you are a 'double' winner. First with a stunning pen and secondly with your acceptance in the Guild. Congratulations on both count.

-Peter-


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## Glenn McCullough (Oct 22, 2006)

Gerry, congrats on your acceptance into the Guild. This is an exquisite pen. The color of the bone contrasting the fittings  makes a nice statement.  
   The versatility of the Churchill, Ligero and the Elgrande makes it a tremendous pen to alter and experiment with.


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## mrcook4570 (Oct 22, 2006)

Congrats Gerry.  Well done!


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## wdcav1952 (Oct 22, 2006)

Gerry,

Beautiful work!  Congratulations on your Guild acceptance.  After what you went through during the fire season, it is wonderful to see things taking an upturn for you!


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## UKpenmaker (Oct 22, 2006)

Well done Gerry on both counts, this is a very nice pen indeed, you have matched the bone to the kit excellently. The finish is first class[8D]


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## chitswood (Oct 22, 2006)

Wow, congratulations Gerryr!!!

Thanks for posting about turning bones, your pen looks wonderful.[]


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## Dario (Oct 22, 2006)

Wonderful pen and congratulations!!! [^][^][^]


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## Rifleman1776 (Oct 22, 2006)

Congrats on a fine pen and your PMG acceptance. Even though I have never turned deer bone, I have suggested to others that they experiment with it. My suggestion was to use the lower front leg bone, often called the cannon bone. Is this what you used? They can be hard to acquire as many hunters cut them off and discard as there is no meat on them. It's Sunday and I'm reminded it is wrong to be envious. [] So, I'll just say, I admire your work and the pen.


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## PenWorks (Oct 22, 2006)

Congrats Gerry on your acceptance to the PMG []
Very sharp looking pen, I am sure you won't see to many of those around. [:0]


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## TellicoTurning (Oct 22, 2006)

Gerry,
I do a lot of deer horn, never did leg bone.. NICE pen.. I know horn has an odor.. depending on how green it is... there was an earlier post about the bone ordor..[?]

Congrats on the guild


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## gerryr (Oct 22, 2006)

Thanks everyone.  I feel genuinely honored to be accepted into the PMG.  This pen will not be for sale, it will be part of my personal collection and one I plan to use quite frequently.  There have been a few questions that I'll answer.  As to smell, I was tempted last night to say it smelled like a "dead skunk in the middle of the road," but I refrained.[]  When being worked it smells a bit like antler.  Some people may not like the smell of antler, but it doesn't bother me and neither did this.  Someone mentioned the finish.  Unless you count TSW as a finish, there is none.  I used MM to 12000, buffed with White Diamond and followed that with TSW.  It polishes quite well.  This is the lower leg from Whitetail Deer.  I also have some from Pronghorn, which are smaller and opens up the possibility of smaller pens.  With the deer bones I've cut, I have not seen any that could make a pen smaller than a Jr. Statesman/Gent.  I don't think I could even make a Baron with the deer bones I have.  The marrow cavity is actually quite large, sometimes oval and sometimes even tending toward a triangular shape.  The Pronghorn should work for Barons.  I will also be trying out some turkey leg bones closer to Thanksgiving.


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## LanceD (Oct 22, 2006)

Gerry, great job on the pen and congratulations.


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## DocStram (Oct 22, 2006)

Gerry ... what a beautiful pen.  Another question comes to mind, did you ca the inside or outside while turning?


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## angboy (Oct 22, 2006)

I'll be redundant here, but congrats!!!!


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## gerryr (Oct 23, 2006)

A couple of things I forgot to mention.  Bone is quite transluscent so I painted the inside of the holes with 2 coats of Testor's flat white enamel and glued the tubes in with Sumo glue because it dries white.  I didn't use an CA on it.  I have tried CA as a finish on another and it doesn't really seem to add anything.


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## TomJ (Oct 23, 2006)

VERY ELEGANT


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## TomJ (Oct 23, 2006)

VERY ELEGANT


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## Skye (Oct 23, 2006)

> _Originally posted by Rifleman1776_
> <br />My suggestion was to use the lower front leg bone, often called the cannon bone.



That's the same thing as the 'shin' bone, right? I've got a bunch of hunters around here. Not sure I want to boil a bunch of deer legs to harvest some blanks though [xx(]


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## Penmonkey (Oct 23, 2006)

Nice pen! Deer season starts the first weekend in November, and you can be sure I will save the legs this time. Did you boil the leg? Could I just take all the flesh off and let it dry or is there somthing else I need to do?

I love the smell of antler!


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## gerryr (Oct 23, 2006)

Travis,
Since hunting season hadn't started when I began this project, I purchased "professionally cleaned" leg bones.  I don't know what "professionally cleaned" actually means.  The pronghorn bones I have are from this hunting season.  My buddy was nice enough to skin them and clean them a bit.  I plan to cut off the ends and then boil them to remove the marrow.  Then let them dry.  I don't know how long to boil them, but it probably won't be long.  I definitely don't want to cook them.


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## Scott (Oct 23, 2006)

Hi Gerry!

This is such a great looking pen!  I am glad to see it getting all these nice comments here!

One of Gerry's bone pens got shown around over on the FPN, an internet forum for fountain pen fanatics.  It received some very positive comments from some very discriminating fountain pen collectors!  Way to go Gerry!

And then there's the PMG acceptance!  Not bad!

Gerry did a lot of work to make this pen turn out the way it did.  In other words, it was not an easy build.  But he kept going, believing that this material had something very nice to offer, and he was right!

Thanks for carrying this work on bone pens forward!

Frank, I do think these are the canon bones you mentioned to me so long ago.

I can hardly wait to see how the pronghorn bone turns out!

Scott.


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## Jerryconn (Oct 23, 2006)

I know it is redundant but congratulations on you acceptance to PMG! The pen is beautiful and some what I can tell, flawless.


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