I posted a couple of pics of these pens before, but I thought I would do a quick write up about the whole project. This is a pen and pencil set that I turned for a buddy of mine who is about to promote from Fire Captain to Battalion Chief. In the American fire service, the ranks of Fire Captain and below wear silver badges and adornments (rank insignia, belt buckles, etc…all silver colored). From Battalion Chief and above, they wear gold. These pens blanks are turned from a manufactured stone material. They’re red with gold and black veins in them. Interestingly, they must not have come from the same batch as they have slightly different colorations. The matching EDC pen and pencil set are gold colored to match his new badge. In the agency I retired from, our chief officers are expected to have a pen and pencil in their dress shirt, so I figured these would stand out a little more than the basic Cross set that everyone has.
The gift box is the simple flip-design that so many have built. I didn’t get any production pics, but you’ve all seen them built before. This one is in Sapele, double chambered and flocked. Simple oil finish rubbed in, then waxed. A little laser personalizing and away they go. Those crossed cup looking things that are engraved on the box are bugles. In the old fire service, officers carried a bugle or trumpet to speak through…like a modern megaphone, it amplified the orders they yelled out. Those ‘mouth horns’ became the rank insignia of officers. One silver bugle for a Lieutenant, two parallel silver bugles for a Fire Captain. Two crossed gold bugles for a Battalion Chief, three crossed gold bugles for an Assistance Chief, four crossed gold bugles for a Deputy Chief, and five crossed gold bugles for the Fire Chief. The more bugles, the louder you are, evidently, which usually means you do more talking and less working…but I’m not bitter or anything…
Anyway, like I said, not much in the way of build pics, but a little something to look at. The images are a bit washed out when I reviewed them after they posted…much more elegant in person!
Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".
Nice pen and pencils sets! I trained as a 40 hour HAZWOPER in '91. I remember the firefighter trainers saying, "The bigger the fire, the more bugles!".
Thanks guys. Splint, I guess technically it’s a four piece build. There’s a front and a back, and two sides. You cut the front in half to create two beveled pieces. One gets glued to the back to create the pocket(s), the other gets glued to the sides to create the cover. The sides are blind pinned into the body at the same time they’re glued to the last bevel piece, which locks the whole thing together. Hope that makes sense!
Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".
You'd never get one of Pottz's disproportionate bulgers into that neat box.
Just as an aside for next time... don't know whether you are aware, but there is a great firemans pen kit, by Berea... unfortunately I just release mine to a friend as a Chrissy present and had no pickie of it, however, here is a teaser for the kit, The recipient way flabbergasted... in good way.
If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
I’ve seen that one, Ducky. It’s a nice presentation pen, but I’m not sure wearing it in a shirt pocket all day would be comfortable with that huge clip!
Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".
Totally agree R'Gi, but how often does one reach into their top pocket to write... it's all done by keypad. The Donald signs with a fat texta, however, his shirt pocket is not big enough to hold it... that's why I consider many pens as just status symbols. Most should be in nice boxes on a desk highlighting the owner's appropriate status... is his (new BC's) pocket big enough for the box... and then should he take the pencil or the pen... by decision time, the fire has been subdued... oops for the non-gold... when it comes to bugles and color, forgive my ignorance in commenting.
My goto pen is that cigar I always brag about, but as a computer programmer, when I deny my "ex" status, and walk into a PC shop, this is my status symbol, just about falling out of my top pocket for visuals, and you should look at the eyes of the geeks... OK, past the status symbol... that stylus on the tip is a boon for fat fingers for those bloody used unfriendly iPhones..
If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
Nice, Ryan! If that blank came from Penn State, the stone might have come from my friend’s shop: Santa Fe Stoneworks; a few years back they worked out a deal to use the waste produced when grinding the knife handles.
It may very well have, Dave. I can’t remember if I got those from Penn State or from ExoticBlanks. Either way, they weren’t horrible to turn…not easy, but not terrible. It was my first time turning blanks like that and I’m happy with how they turned out!
Ducky, most Chief officers wear a turnout coat over their dress shirt when the go to fires. Of course, it’s more or less just for show since they rarely do any work. They all stand around the back of an SUV with a white board and draw diagrams about leadership, and talk on one of their half dozen radios. In my mind, it’s like giving a kid an iPad. Keeps them quiet and lets the adults get done what they need to. Of course, the adults have to actually know what they’re doing! I was fortunate to work for an agency that gave its Captains a lot of operational latitude. And, as a senior Captain who spent a lot of years working in very busy firehouses, I was given all the rope I would ask for. That said, the younger generation struggles to take that rope for themselves. They all want to be told what to do…not a great trait for a field leader! Hopefully my buddy will find the balance between giving rope and giving directions…
Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".
Tony, basically you start with either a nice thick slab and resaw it into two pieces that are oversized to the pens you want to fit inside, or start with two thinner slabs that are sized the same as each other, again slightly oversized to the pens. You also need two side ‘straps’. The same edge dimensions (or slightly oversized) to the thicker slabs (pre-resaw), and about 1/4” thick. In the pics below, these ‘straps’ are of Osage Orange and stand out against the walnut, and I left them fat to be cut down later…I don’t do that anymore, I just start with 1/4” thick straps and call it good.
You need to route recesses for the pens on the inside of both slabs. These need to be carefully laid out and routed so they match, since they will create ‘tubes’ when the slabs are closed against each other to hold the pens. This last box I made I flocked the recesses before assembly, just for a nice detail, but that’s not needed at all.
Once the recesses are routed, one slab needs to be cut, cross grain, at somewhere around the 1/3 mark lengthwise, at about a 45° angle. I use a thin kerf, Japanese pull saw and an angle block to get it clean…but you could honestly introduce some curve to it intentionally for an interesting aesthetic, and just use a band saw with the piece on its side. As long as it lines up when it closes, you’ll never see it…so it doesn’t need to be perfect. Now you have one full slab, and another slab cut into two pieces, roughly 70/30. Carefully align and glue the 30% section to the full slab. After curing, the 70% section just sets on top, filling the obvious gap. You need two hinged pin holes drilled in the fat section of the glued slab, centered in the seam, and the same distance from the end. On the slab portion, this can be as deep as you want, but on the strap pieces it needs only be about a solid 1/8” deep. Just make sure you size the pins to the slab body and let the protrude just less than 1/8” from the sides when seated. Otherwise, if there’s extra room behind the pins, they may back themselves into the slab and the straps would slip loose. Also, the strap-side hinge pin holes must be carefully aligned or else you end up having to cut everything down to flush the sides later. I mark the pin holes on the slab with an awl, then tape a super small 1/32” ball bearing into that dimple. Then I carefully aligns the straps on both side and press them into the sides of the slab (as they’ll look when glued up). The ball bearings dent the straps and give an aligned starter location for the pin holes. Using a super small ball bearing leaves the perfect indent for a Brad point bit. I start the pin holes in the straps with a Brad point on the drill press, but immediately change to a twist bit once I get the hole started so I don’t punch the Brad point through the visible side.
In this pic can you see the red line shows the 70% slab separate from the rest o father body. I put wax paper in between the slabs and cover the main body when I glue in the straps so any squeeze out doesn’t try to glue the main slab body to the straps as well. There in NO GLUE touching the main slab body anywhere, only on the 70% section. Put the pins into the pin holes on the body (I just use metal dowel, usually 1/8” is more than fine), then place glue on the sides of the 70% slab only!! Then press the straps into place over the pins and clamp the whole thing together. When it cures, you’ve to the 70% slab glued to the straps, which are holding the pins, hidden, in place in the large slab. This creates a pivot and the two slab sections can rotate through each other. At this point, you can trim down the side if you want, and shape the ends/edges however you’d like. Square, radiused, angled, whatever…it’s cosmetic. Finish it however you’d like, I like oil and wax, but anything works.
For what it’s worth, if you have cleanly drilled hinges pin holes and the pins don’t fit loose, and you clamped everything together tightly during glue up, you don’t need magnets at all. The natural tension in the pin holes and the friction of the straps against the slab hold things shut just fine, I’ve found. But there’s nothing wrong with a magnet or two.
Hope this helps some!
Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".
