The all steel pen:

Another goofy project of mine.  Trying to learn to use the lathe at work gave me inspiration to start one of another projects I have always wanted to do, an all steel pen.

Starting half inch diameter round stock I set out to make a two piece pen that could utilize common refills.  Naturally I chose Parker brand refills.  After all they are high quality while still being reasonably prices, commonly available, steel cased, and of course made in the US.

Both pieces of the pen are cut from the same piece of stock.  The end of the main body was drilled on center with a 1/8" bit.  This was just slightly larger then the tip of the pen.  Next I drilled from the back a 1/4" hole, checking the depth as I neared the front of the pen until the tip of the Parker refill just protruded out with its spring fully compressed.  The end of the main body's1/4" hole was then resized and tapped for a 5/16" 24 turn bolt.

The cap was drilled so that it just fit over the reduced diameter of the main body's tail.  Then the end of the of the cap was also drilled and tapped for a 5/16" bolt.  A button head hex bolt was inserted into this hole and trimmed down.  The treads of this bolt would draw the cap down onto the body of the pen and push on the end of the refill, compressing the spring and allowing the tip of the insert to protrude.  This was all done by trial and error. The head of the bolt was turned down until it blended with the rest of the cap.  The last step was to polish the tail of the main body and bead blast everything else for a nice satin finish.

I am happy with the end result.  The pen is very heavy and sturdy yet still relatively smooth.  For a first real lathe project I'd call it a success.  I have allot of things I would like to do differently on the next one and I am confident I could do a much better job.  Constraints on time is always a big factor on the projects I do at work.