# Pinned Pens



## John Eldeen (Sep 22, 2019)

For my offering to day we have two cigar pins one in a very dark piece of Milo and one in a nice piece of Koa. Both have been adorned with 3/32" aluminum tig rod pins in a spiral pattern. 








First up is an ultra cigar wrapped in Milo and adorned with four spirals. 





Next is a cigar wrapped in Koa and adorned with three spirals. 
I also wanted to share the process I came up with. This is one where all of the difficulty is in the jig after that it is a piece of cake.





So this is the jig I came up with. It is made using two layers of 1/2 MDF to give it enough thickness to keep the dill bit straight. I also made it out of MDF because i was concerned even using the drill press to make all of the holes the if I used hardwood as small as the drill dit is it would drift. Once the holes where drilled I stabilize them with thin CA and redrilled them. Also as you can see in the first picture I drilled a 5/8" hole in the bottom of the jig to accept a piece of 5/8" round bar to mount in the tool rest. The holes for the pins where drilled at centerline of the headstock to the top of the tool post holder. Letting me locate the jig of the top of the tool post holder. 
Now the fun part figuring out the spacing for the holes on a single tube pen this should be fairly simple where I had a problem was the cigar is a two tube pen. So coming up with a spacing that worked on both lengths of blank and across the center band proved difficult. I ended up with 3/16" with some slight variations across the center band and actually shortening the upper tube a little. Giving me 21 pins down the length of the pen plus 1 placement in the middle of the center band in effect giving you 22 positions. This is important because the center band wood needs to be removed to keep the grain and spirals in alignment. Next is figure out your degree of rotation per pin this was easy for me my lathe has a 24 position index giving me 15 degrees rotation per pin. If you look at the jigs the picture with the blue tape the tape has been labeled with what holes need to be drilled and what position in the index to drill them. The is also 3 rows of numbers for 3 spirals. 



Next between centers turn down your blank to a consistent diameter for me that was 3/4". Then install your jig pushing it tight against your blank. This way you can use your jig as a depth stop for your drill. I drilled 1/4" into the blank that put the pin into the area that would be drilled out but not deep enough to drill into any other holes. Also the jig is marked where the placement of the tube are and this should be transferred to the blank as well. Then drill what seems to be a thousand holes.


Next glue in all of the pins I used medium CA for this because it was the thickest I could get to go down inside of the holes. Before I started gluing in the pins with the tip of my skew I cut the lines in where the tubes stop and start so they would not get removed during the glue up or clean up. I also precut and sanded all of the pins. 



After giving all of CA time to dry naturally I came back and cut all the pins with diagonal wire cutters as short as possible. Then with a file finish removing the excess pin and CA down to the blank. 
Then cut to little past your marks for the tube location line to give room for squaring. I would recommend drilling on the lathe as keeping everything centered is very important. As for turning I found the aluminum tig rod fairly soft and easy to cut.

Enjoy and as always comments and questions are always welcome.


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## mark james (Sep 22, 2019)

I wish I could give more likes!!!

Beautiful finished pens and I love your process.  The precision is excellent.

Well done in all respects.  Did you use the lathe supplied indexing plate, or a more precise add-on?

Thanks for sharing - Excellent!


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## jttheclockman (Sep 22, 2019)

Absolutely perfect!!! A+++++ The idea and execution are spot on. Thanks for the detailed explanation and photos. Have to say that one is beyond my thought process. I did one with the dots in a row and that was alot easier. Great thinking about material used for drilling the jig because you are right just about any material will cause a bit that small to wander. Deserves front page if we ever get that back again.


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## FrankH (Sep 22, 2019)

Your creativity and precision is incredible.  Thanks for sharing.


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## John Eldeen (Sep 22, 2019)

mark james said:


> I wish I could give more likes!!!
> 
> Beautiful finished pens and I love your process.  The precision is excellent.
> 
> ...


Thanks Mark and yes I used the lathe supplied indexing plate


jttheclockman said:


> Absolutely perfect!!! A+++++ The idea and execution are spot on. Thanks for the detailed explanation and photos. Have to say that one is beyond my thought process. I did one with the dots in a row and that was alot easier. Great thinking about material used for drilling the jig because you are right just about any material will cause a bit that small to wander. Deserves front page if we ever get that back again.


Thanks John it does sound a little daunting at first but it really isn't that bad and once you have the jig all kinds of things are possible. I am playing with an idea right now for the spirals to go in different directions and cross each other or maybe a zig zag pattern who knows.


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## shimniok (Sep 22, 2019)

Well, now my chin is bruised from where my jaw dropped to the floor. [emoji3]

That is insanely cool and impressive. The pens look absolutely spectacular.


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## Wayne (Sep 22, 2019)

John Eldeen said:


> For my offering to day we have two cigar pins one in a very dark piece of Milo and one in a nice piece of Koa. Both have been adorned with 3/32" aluminum tig rod pins in a spiral pattern.
> 
> View attachment 225677
> View attachment 225678
> ...



John, this is very cool. 
Would you like to put this together as an article to place in our library? 
This is a keeper!


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## John Eldeen (Sep 22, 2019)

shimniok said:


> Well, now my chin is bruised from where my jaw dropped to the floor. [emoji3]
> 
> That is insanely cool and impressive. The pens look absolutely spectacular.


Thanks Mike


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## LouCee (Sep 22, 2019)

Very cool, thanks for sharing the details! Nice work!


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## Buckmark13 (Sep 22, 2019)

Crazy good!!!!!


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## WarEagle90 (Sep 22, 2019)

Wow!!  Fine job, John.  Thanks for sharing your build process.


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## WriteON (Sep 22, 2019)

More “likes”is right. Beautiful piece of work.


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## Mike8850 (Sep 22, 2019)

Thanks for sharing your process and  really beautiful pens
Mike


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## skiprat (Sep 22, 2019)

Absolutely superb. Very well done


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## bsshog40 (Sep 22, 2019)

Wow, those are awesome! I really don't even think I could imagine myself even coming up with that idea. Lol Fantastic work!


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## Angela S (Sep 22, 2019)

These are awesome! Thank you for sharing the process.


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## magpens (Sep 22, 2019)

Another WOW !! 

Very skillfully done, John, and the results are superbly beautiful !!!

Thanks for detailing your process so well ..... I predict we will see a few more like this !!


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## John Eldeen (Sep 22, 2019)

magpens said:


> Another WOW !!
> 
> Very skillfully done, John, and the results are superbly beautiful !!!
> 
> Thanks for detailing your process so well ..... I predict we will see a few more like this !!


Mal I would say your prediction would be correct I have a few more plans running around in my head for variation of the same idea


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## Ironwood (Sep 22, 2019)

A lot of what I have been thinking has already been said, so I will just say “well done “, and thanks for showing your process. 
I might have a think how I can incorporate something similar into one of my future kitless pens.


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## John Eldeen (Sep 22, 2019)

Ironwood said:


> A lot of what I have been thinking has already been said, so I will just say “well done “, and thanks for showing your process.
> I might have a think how I can incorporate something similar into one of my future kitless pens.


I would love to see that. I have been wanting to get into to the kitless pens but still so much to learn before I will be ready for that rabbit hole.


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## Jim15 (Sep 22, 2019)

Awesome pens.


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## Lmstretch (Sep 22, 2019)

These pens are Awesome! As a new pen turner, pens like yours show me that there is no limit to what can be done. It also challenges me on to keep improving my skills so one day I will make a pen like these. Please Keep inspiring us!


Sent from my iPad using Penturners.org mobile app


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## John Eldeen (Sep 22, 2019)

Lmstretch said:


> These pens are Awesome! As a new pen turner, pens like yours show me that there is no limit to what can be done. It also challenges me on to keep improving my skills so one day I will make a pen like these. Please Keep inspiring us!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Penturners.org mobile app


Thanks it would be an honor to help inspire as so many others have for me. Continue to challenge yourself and there are no limits.


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## jttheclockman (Sep 22, 2019)

John you probably may know this already but the concept has been done before by a member here that no longer visits but went by the name YoYoSpin but he used the tool The Beal Pen Wizard. He did a few different designs that may spark some interest to you if you give him a look see. He made some of the coolest YoYos I ever seen. Very talented. He colored his dots with inlace material. 

Look forward to seeing what else comes from your shop.


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## Aces-High (Sep 22, 2019)

Really super cool!


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## John Eldeen (Sep 22, 2019)

jttheclockman said:


> John you probably may know this already but the concept has been done before by a member here that no longer visits but went by the name YoYoSpin but he used the tool The Beal Pen Wizard. He did a few different designs that may spark some interest to you if you give him a look see. He made some of the coolest YoYos I ever seen. Very talented. He colored his dots with inlace material.
> 
> Look forward to seeing what else comes from your shop.


I had no doubt this was not a new idea. I have not seen it done thanks for the info about yoyospin I will have to check it out.


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## SteveJ (Sep 22, 2019)

Great work.  Now I've got another pen on my try to do list.  Thank you for the detailed explanation and pictures.  I can imagine so many variations with jig as a starting point.  Those pens are awesome.


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## John Eldeen (Sep 22, 2019)

SteveJ said:


> Great work.  Now I've got another pen on my try to do list.  Thank you for the detailed explanation and pictures.  I can imagine so many variations with jig as a starting point.  Those pens are awesome.


This is definitely a good starting point for lots of variations


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## jttheclockman (Sep 22, 2019)

John Eldeen said:


> I had no doubt this was not a new idea. I have not seen it done thanks for the info about yoyospin I will have to check it out.



Yes his name is Ed Davidson and he was one of the first members here in 2004. His work with the Pen Wizard is great. He was famous for his bottlestoppers and YoYos You can find his web site too if you search and he has all his projects on them. Like I said he did the basket weave and criss cross patterns Here is a photo of one of his dot pens. https://www.penturners.org/media/imported-photo-from-yoyospin.4766/


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## leehljp (Sep 22, 2019)

Beautiful work! I love dots like that in pens! It sure takes lots of planning and is time consuming when that many pins are used but you hit a home run with those pens. Beautiful and well done!

I may have missed it but - Did you drill the holes and insert the tubes AFTER making the dotted blanks?


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## John Eldeen (Sep 22, 2019)

leehljp said:


> Beautiful work! I love dots like that in pens! It sure takes lots of planning and is time consuming when that many pins are used but you hit a home run with those pens. Beautiful and well done!
> 
> I may have missed it but - Did you drill the holes and insert the tubes AFTER making the dotted blanks?


I did drill and insert the pins before drilling the blank for the tubes I should also mention I soaked the inside of the blanks with thin CA just to help reinforce the pins just in case.


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## CMcKim (Sep 23, 2019)

Thank you for sharing your process and jig.  It is greatly appreciated.


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## Bryguy (Sep 23, 2019)

Brilliant work. I am now wondering if I can adapt my Pen Wizard to do something similar.


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## TonyL (Sep 23, 2019)

Don't know what else to say!!! Beautiful, original work and thank you for sharing the process. I wonder if those blanks can be purchased somewhere?


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## jttheclockman (Sep 23, 2019)

Bryguy said:


> Brilliant work. I am now wondering if I can adapt my Pen Wizard to do something similar.


Yes read my post #29. It has been done before and much more with that tool by Ed Davidson or (YOYOSPIN) you would have to look him up here.


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## darrin1200 (Sep 23, 2019)

Excellent work John. Coming up with and executing this design, is what I feel brings art into the pen turning world. I wish I could wrap my brain around designs like this.


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## Humongous (Sep 23, 2019)

John, excellent craftsmanship.  These are amazing


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## leehljp (Sep 23, 2019)

John Eldeen said:


> I did drill and insert the pins before drilling the blank for the tubes I should also mention I soaked the inside of the blanks with thin CA just to help reinforce the pins just in case.


John, you have my admiration on that! For some people, just plain wood is difficult to drill at times without it exploding, but your method - with the holes and pins, there is a lot to get in the way and have a drill bit destroy it. Your attention to detail in making it that way shows your skill level!

In the past, I did segments with one segment full of pins, but for mine, I drilled the hole for the tube, then glued the segments in, drilled the holes and added the pins.


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## John Eldeen (Sep 23, 2019)

leehljp said:


> John, you have my admiration on that! For some people, just plain wood is difficult to drill at times without it exploding, but your method - with the holes and pins, there is a lot to get in the way and have a drill bit destroy it. Your attention to detail in making it that way shows your skill level!
> 
> In the past, I did segments with one segment full of pins, but for mine, I drilled the hole for the tube, then glued the segments in, drilled the holes and added the pins.


Thanks for kind words Hank I am sure that part of it is skill but the majority of it is hope with a dash of luck.


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## Stevej72 (Sep 23, 2019)

Wow! Awesome looking pens, John.  And thank you for sharing the process you used to make them.


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## John Eldeen (Sep 23, 2019)

Stevej72 said:


> Wow! Awesome looking pens, John.  And thank you for sharing the process you used to make them.


Thanks and you are quite welcome.


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## Bryguy (Sep 24, 2019)

jttheclockman said:


> Yes read my post #29. It has been done before and much more with that tool by Ed Davidson or (YOYOSPIN) you would have to look him up here.


Thanks for the tip! He is prodigious!


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## Wayne (Sep 24, 2019)

I'll have to say seeing his work was the driving force that got me into turning pens. Creativity is his middle name. Shaping a pen in ways I've never seen.

Yoyospin.com


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## jttheclockman (Sep 24, 2019)

Wayne said:


> I'll have to say seeing his work was the driving force that got me into turning pens. Creativity is his middle name. Shaping a pen in ways I've never seen.
> 
> Yoyospin.com


He got me into bottlestoppers because he use to have web site on the old Yahoo sites. Very creative.


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