Making a pen

I set out to make a simple dip pen. The ferrules are relatively cheap, and I don’t like the way wooden pens soak up ink and water, and split. Plastic feels wrong, and it’s too light.

I found a bit of aluminium rod that was about the right length, and squared off both ends in the mill. I used the lathe to bring it down to a comfy width, as well as put a shine on it. Because the rod was short, I had to reverse it, so there was going to be a shoulder. I made a feature out of that by notching where they met instead of trying to match exactly. I added a couple of other decorative notches as well.

The ferrule sits in a 1/4″ drilled hole, and I did that in the lathe as well, with a rather battered bit. It had been ground down to chip brass better, I think. However, it worked pretty well. Then I glued it in with araldite. It occurred to me afterwards that I should have used hot glue, because when the ferrule, which is steel, rusts, I’m going to want to get it out of there. Hot glue sounds ideal for something where metal would be involved, and the coefficient of expansion isn’t a problem in removal because the steel sheet is so thin. Whatever material it’s in, it should come out with a bit of force.