BoxcarPete
Stainless
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2018
- Location
- Michigan, USA
I like to make fountain pens for myself, and I thought I'd branch out and make one from wood rather than metal as I have done in the past. This one also marks my first 100% self-made pen as well, the nib, feed, body, etc. all made by me.
The main issue I had was with the body. I had adapted a design that I've used successfully on metal pens before, a delrin sleeve to hold the ink out of contact with the body, with a modest press fit to keep the sleeve in place when the nib and feed need to be removed for filling.
That's the background, now on to the problem. The wood is from a 1-2" diameter branch of an American elm tree (I think, there's a possibility that it's slippery elm, I can't tell) which has been drying bark on for 18 months. I cut it to a size I was happy with, fitted the body, and finished with Tung oil. To expedite the polymerization process, I dropped it in the lab oven to hold it at 90°F and lots of air exchange. Two coats, 3-5 days apart each, no noticeable scent left from wiping the pen after the second coat.
Once I was satisfied with it, I went to press in the sleeve and found the hard way that my body had shrunk! I measured it after the fact to find that I was actually asking for almost 0.008" of press fit, which is outrageous for a 1/2" pen diameter.
After a bit of searching, I found this thread here which makes me a bit leery of doing a plastic-sleeve-pressed-in wood body at all, but there was some talk about sealing the wood at a particular moisture content to prevent this type of thing.
So, do any of you think it's possible? Is it just going to crack later as the years and seasons go by? Tung oil is supposed to have good waterproofing properties, will it be sufficient to stop moisture migration? Could it possibly make a wood body watertight enough to hold ink directly?
My first choice would be to try again with the elm branch, but I also have some hard maple which I think would make an attractive pen if that's more likely to be a success.
The main issue I had was with the body. I had adapted a design that I've used successfully on metal pens before, a delrin sleeve to hold the ink out of contact with the body, with a modest press fit to keep the sleeve in place when the nib and feed need to be removed for filling.
That's the background, now on to the problem. The wood is from a 1-2" diameter branch of an American elm tree (I think, there's a possibility that it's slippery elm, I can't tell) which has been drying bark on for 18 months. I cut it to a size I was happy with, fitted the body, and finished with Tung oil. To expedite the polymerization process, I dropped it in the lab oven to hold it at 90°F and lots of air exchange. Two coats, 3-5 days apart each, no noticeable scent left from wiping the pen after the second coat.
Once I was satisfied with it, I went to press in the sleeve and found the hard way that my body had shrunk! I measured it after the fact to find that I was actually asking for almost 0.008" of press fit, which is outrageous for a 1/2" pen diameter.
After a bit of searching, I found this thread here which makes me a bit leery of doing a plastic-sleeve-pressed-in wood body at all, but there was some talk about sealing the wood at a particular moisture content to prevent this type of thing.
So, do any of you think it's possible? Is it just going to crack later as the years and seasons go by? Tung oil is supposed to have good waterproofing properties, will it be sufficient to stop moisture migration? Could it possibly make a wood body watertight enough to hold ink directly?
My first choice would be to try again with the elm branch, but I also have some hard maple which I think would make an attractive pen if that's more likely to be a success.