re: Pen Making

Now that's a decent slimline!  R'Gi for the next Trump... no big textas (Sharpies) in his hand.

Very basic, but some newbies may get a few ideas from this Chrysalis of a Pen presentation I made up when I started... is dated with obsolete mandrels and mills, but it gives an overall picture.

I use 20 layers of CA blended with a drop of BLO... a big tad overkill, but it turns the pen into an "acrylic wood".
This Cigar in Black Palm with 20 layers of CA looks a tad tatty...

however, so it should, it was made in Melbourne (before my move to downtown Churchill), over 15 years ago and is my go to writing implement... yeah, I use a keyboard a lot, but over 15 years that pen has also been abused.

If you get serious into pen making, get a set of disassembling rods,

they're ideal if you don't use 20 layers of CA, and after a few months, a user returns the pen for you to re-polish it.
You can either use this assembly jig to press out the inserted pen part,

or manually hold the blank with a dedicated grip available from pen suppliers,

or make your own using this Plasti Dip,

on the jaws of your "gripper"... this of course if you don't CA your parts into the tube.

I made this jig for my BS for cutting the blanks to size, then use a Rockler self centering Jig for drilling the blank,

Once centered, the jaws move in/out in unison. The jig has an allowance for a ZCI, for the exit point of the drill bit at the bottom of the blank, to prevent chipping... different sized ZCIs for different tubes, are stored in the shop made drawer.
I suggest you avoid these types of blank holders,

They are not auto centering and the blank will need to be re-aligned, unless it is exactly the same as the previous... and they seldom are.

Also if your a messy bastard (ok, you can be legitimate and not a bastard) like me and hate CA on my fingers, these insertion tools are handy for positioning the tube inside the blank,

There are at least 2 sizes available... suggest you buy the bigger one in case you graduate to the large pens like Majestics and Emperors.