Classic Brown Classic :-)

I have been waiting for a chance to use this lovely material again, and finally got the chance.  This lovely resin, which is made in Italy, sold as 'Classic Brown', is much more than just brown flakes.  The lighter pearly flakes along with the flecks of green, combined with the iridescence of the resin make it truly gorgeous.

I was asked to use this material in making one of my 'Classic' style pens (and so, 'Classic Brown Classic'...)

While it is made using my standard sizing for the nib section, it is nonetheless a fairly big pen.  Here I have it posing, capped and uncapped with a Pelikan M600 and a Visconti Wall Street for size reference.  It might be a reasonable comparison with an M800, but alas - I don't have one to picture it with.

The nib pictured here is a broad nib, which is slated to be ground to a smooth stub before shipping.

I hope it serves its new owner well!

Thanks for looking!

Ken

Trio

Hello all,

Here is a trio of pens that I made over the past couple of weeks, finished last night.  This is a three-pen order headed for the UK.  All three are fitted with two-tone medium steel JoWo nibs, and are cartridge/converter fillers.

The first is a Cigar style pen in Ruby Flake acrylic, done in the Large size (thicker section, slightly thicker barrel).  The richness of this red is just amazing!

The second of the three is also a large sized Cigar style pen, this one in 'Charger Lava' resin from Bear Tooth Woods.  Beautiful stuff - always reminds me of Van Gogh's 'Starry Night'...

Finally, the third is a Curvy style fountain pen in Black and Yellow swirl acrylic with black framing.  The cap also has an axial inlay of the yellow acrylic on the finial.   This one was done in my regular (medium) sizing.

Thanks for looking!

Ken

Flamed Cane: The True Bamboo with Garnet Thread Wrap and Ruby End Jewels

In my last couple of blog entries, I introduced a technique of thread wrapping used in fly fishing rod construction, particularly in that of the bamboo, or 'cane' rods.   Another technique widely used in bamboo rod construction is that of 'flaming'.   In this process, the raw bamboo is subjected to flame (usually in the form of a blow torch of sorts) in order to carmelize and lightly charcoal the bamboo to give it the colour and texture.  As you take off the outer layers of more burnt cane, the deeper, browned cane appears, giving the bamboo a rich tan or brown colour.

Here I have applied that same technique to a small culm intended for use as a fountain pen.  Having flamed the culm, I took off the outer scorched enamel, smoothing it with steel wool, and then giving the outside (and inside) a good soak in thin (low viscosity) cyanoacrylate to stabilize and seal it.  I buffed the outside to a matte finish before adding the garnet thread wraps (as mentioned in my last post, the blonde bamboo is often paired with spring green thread, and the flamed cane with a darker thread such as garnet).

The end jewels in the last post were convex, like the end jewels in most popular pens.  I didn't think it looked right with the bamboo, so this time, I tried plain flat end jewels in ruby red flake acrylic, and am reasonably pleased with the result.

The nib section, cap thread, and barrel tenon are all in black acrylic.

I think I have gotten some of the bamboo obsession out of my system.  For now....

Thanks for looking!

Ken



PS - here is a group shot of these last three bamboo pens: