Pen and pencil set, with gift box

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!