# Modified slimlines



## NGLJ (May 1, 2022)

I had some scraps lying around and so made the attached. The photo doesn't show it but the top one is fatter than the lower one, maybe ⅝ at the center. I did it deliberately to see how it looked. Not sure if I like it! The lower one was made from off-cuts from something else that I made. Wood being so expensive these days and a precious resource we need to make maximum use of it.


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## Painfullyslow (May 1, 2022)

Very nice use of materials. I especially like the lower of the two. Personally, I am not a fan of the break in the middle of both of them but to each their own.

When I make modified slimlines I use a single 7mm tube so there is no break. To me it just flows better.


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## NGLJ (May 1, 2022)

I agree and I have thought about that and recently purchased some 10" 7mm tubes and a tube cutter. With care it is possible to virtually hide the center band but single tube would be best. However, I will need Slimline click pen kits, like in your photo, which I don't currently have. I have lots of standard kits from a bulk purchase when I didn't think about going for a click version. My current budget won't run to buying more kits without sweet-talking SWMBO. Having just spent funds on a 2 bathroom renos I doubt the timing is good now! Nice pen BTW. Is the wood a burl?


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## Painfullyslow (May 1, 2022)

NGLJ said:


> I agree and I have thought about that and recently purchased some 10" 7mm tubes and a tube cutter. With care it is possible to virtually hide the center band but single tube would be best. However, I will need Slimline click pen kits, like in your photo, which I don't currently have. I have lots of standard kits from a bulk purchase when I didn't think about going for a click version. My current budget won't run to buying more kits without sweet-talking SWMBO. Having just spent funds on a 2 bathroom renos I doubt the timing is good now! Nice pen BTW. Is the wood a burl?



Well duh, I feel like an idiot now. Of course those are twist pens! No getting away from the split in the middle there. Sorry for my lack of attention to detail.

And yes, that is a redwood burl in the picture above.

I really love the 2nd pen that you posted. Is that really just an amalgam of a bunch of cutoffs that you stuck together and turned?


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## NGLJ (May 1, 2022)

Yes, that is pretty much what I did. They weren't all individual pieces. It was probably 5 or 6 bigger pieces that I stuck together more or less at random. I had no idea how it would turn out which was part of the fun. Glad you like it. That makes it worth the effort!


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## Bryguy (May 2, 2022)

You can get away from the split in the middle with twist pens. all the pens shown in the photo are slimlines. The three on top are one piece. I like these because they give you the opportunity to show off an interesting blank. I recommend Don Ward's _(its_virgil) Modified Slimline Pens._ It will give you hours of fun with these economical pen kits.


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## NGLJ (May 2, 2022)

Thanks for the info. I would definitely like to learn how to make slimlines without a center band. I will check out Don Ward's _(its_virgil) Modified Slimline Pens._


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