Horn With Acrylic Jewels

[Joseph B]

This is a large pen being 175 mm capped and 150 mm uncapped including #8 steel nib. The largest diameter of the barrel is 16 mm and the cap 18 mm. The section is a thread forward type and of acrylic, matching the jewels. The clip is of brass and also handmade. I enjoy turning water buffalo horn very much. Various converters can be fitted. Comments welcomed.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

 

[drgoretex]

Nicely done. Love the handmade clip!

 

Glad you enjoy the horn turning - hope you have nose plugs I haven't done horn work for a while, mostly after my wife's reaction to the last go at it....

 

Cheers,

 

Ken

[jalbert]

Cool pen! I've been curious about turning water buffalo horn. Does it stink like deer antler when you turn/cut it? I also really like your clip. Making my own clips is something I'd eventually like to do. Anyways, good job!

-John

[Joseph B]

Nicely done. Love the handmade clip!

 

Glad you enjoy the horn turning - hope you have nose plugs I haven't done horn work for a while, mostly after my wife's reaction to the last go at it....

 

Cheers,

 

Ken

 

 

Cool pen! I've been curious about turning water buffalo horn. Does it stink like deer antler when you turn/cut it? I also really like your clip. Making my own clips is something I'd eventually like to do. Anyways, good job!

-John

 

 

 

Ken and John,

 

Thanks so much for your encouragement. I turn in a detached garage so my wife doesn't detect the odor, but I found that for this horn, as long as I didn't get it hot the odor wasn't bad. I used carbide insert tools on a metal lathe as much as possible and then had to sharpen hand tools very often. It seemed they needed sharpening from the hot smell sooner than I detected their dullness from the cutting.

 

I have learned a couple of tricks for the clips.

 

On some I slot the metal cap ring and then solder in the clip the full depth of the ring. That way the finial clamps the clip as well as the ring.

 

For the one piece clips, since I don't have a mill, I made a tool that is essentially just a bar with a post set in 90 degrees on the very edge of the bar, The post is the diameter of the id clip hole. In the clip material I drill the id clip hole, put it over the post and, carefully, using a grinder rotate the material while grinding away all but the clip itself to the od ring diameter that I want. Then I finish by filing and sanding. It takes some practice but I have had good results. Of course be careful with the grinder with gloves and eye protection, etc. Hope you can follow this, if not I'd be glad to explain.

 

Thanks again for the kind words. I always look forward to seeing the wonderful work of the craftsmen on this forum.

 

Joe B.

[jalbert]

Thanks for the clip making advice! I work out of a one-bedroom apartment, so I can only dream of moving to a garage shop Once I can get a benchtop milling machine I am going to try making some clips.

 

-John

[fireskink]

Heh, I remember the burning-keratin smell from my ex working with antler! A gorgeous pen.