Here is one of my 'Curvy' style fountain pens, a comfortable, more whimsical looking style ideal for purse/briefcase or desk. By special order, I made this one out of a Rhino Plastic named 'Copper Lightning'. This is the first time not only that I have used Copper Lightning, but that I have used Rhino Plastic at all. I was not sure what sort of plastic/resin this material was, as Rhino Plastic is obviously a trade name. But, I figured it must be pretty tough stuff with a name like that. Wrong! As soon as I started turning it, I realized by smell and feel that this material is actually Poly Resin, which is incredibly brittle. In fact, as careful as I was, I made the threaded tenon on the end of the barrel four times - The first three times, regardless how careful I was, the threaded end of the barrel kept shattering while threading. But, the fourth time was the charm, and it worked well, with enough blank left to make the barrel as long as I planned in the first place. Yep, there is a good reason that I stopped using Poly Resin to make pens… Now - here's hoping it never gets dropped…
On the very positive side, Poly Resin can make some absolutely beautiful material, and takes an incredible glossy shine when polished. This Copper Lightning is certainly no slacker in this respect - gorgeous stuff indeed.
When the pen's buyer found out about how brittle it is, she wisely requested a pen rest to help keep this beauty from rolling off a table or desk and shattering. So, I made this three-groove pen rest to keep this pen as secure as possible.
The pen is fitted with a broad two-tone JoWo steel nib, which I have custom ground to a cursive italic/stub as requested.
OK. Enough computer screen time. Time to get back into the workshop. Or, more likely, to start working on the 'other' to do list….
Thanks for looking,
Ken
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