pen box and pen


lawrence

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I've been asked by my Commander if I could make some pens/boxes for him to give to his officers after his change of command which is at the end of the month. The pen in the final picture is a Wall Street II done in cherry burl with a CA finish.

I have been struggling and couldn't come up with a box that I was happy with (or a design that fit his desire to have a coin mounted in the top- this meant that I couldn't really do a hinged box)

I originally came up with this very simple idea, which I planned to round over with a sander a bit, but I was not happy at all with the design. Though the coin worked because the top hinged horizontally, it just didn't "feel right".

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On Friday, LOML and I were in Woodcraft and I saw another Carvewright owner's AWESOME pen box that he had on display there (that he made with his carvewright) and it was like a light bulb went off... when I got home I contacted him and asked him if the pattern was for sale--

He quickly answered me back that it was (in the Carvewright Pattern sales area)

I realized fairly quickly that though the basic concept of his design was amazing and exactly what I was looking for, I needed to come up with my own pattern to adjust for the requirements that my customer had set up (coin in top, name on top, squadron motto inside, hold one pen). With his permission I designed my own version inspired by his pattern and this is what I came up with.

My first try was a failure as I did not make the "lip" heavy enough and it broke through- the second try in cherry turned out quite nicely I think. It is cherry with shellac/transtint medium brown followed up by 2 wet sandings with a BLO/varnish mix. The lettering was accented with a black paint pen.

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As always, thanks for your comments, and THANK YOU to Steve for the inspiration and permission to create a derivative of his work.

Lawrence

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lawrence im always inturested in your stuff becase i would like to have my own cnc in the future. and to be honest im glad you didnt put in a hinge i like my projects to have as little add ons like store bought hinges and handles as i can get. plus the other style was rather too square and looked like it should be used as the packaging for something from the doller store. the second one is nicer as it has a better flow. and it looks like its a one of a kind project that is just for that one person. i think that you could adapt your ben box into a larger cigar humidor easiy so that i could hold a dozen cigars.

one question how long does each one of those boxes take the cnc to make?

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yup, it's one of those "purpose built" funny (but not real) names I use for my example pieces. Sort of like John Doe for the military :)

There was a Richard Head though - he retired as a Brigadier General in the 80s

http://www.af.mil/in....asp?bioID=5751

I of course made this in honor of him... :rolleyes:

DK- about 2 hours to make, but there were no bit changes so it was just the machine running in the background while I did other things in the shop.

Lawrence

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well, it WAS 16 more... but my Commander texted me today and asked if I could do another 4 on top of those for his Father and brothers to give them when he retires this fall... how could I say no to that? I carved the first 3 today.... they take a long time though (the three on one board took about 4 hours or so)

I'm making these for him for not much above cost, but he has been an AMAZING commander... one of those Colonels that you'd run through a brick wall for. These guys don't come around very often and I wanted to do a little something for him (along with the other gifts I'm making for him that are coming from the Officers and the other Senior NCOs) I'm pretty sure a very nice bottle of scotch is coming my way as well as he asked my wife what my favorite scotch was a while back... but shh... I don't know anything about that :)

Lawrence

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  • 3 weeks later...

P11207961024x768.jpg

well, here's the 19 he's ordered so far. The coins go in the circular holes. The pens are woodcraft "wall street II" pens with a stylus tip on the top.

Making....

1 is a challenge, 2 is interesting, 3 is fun..... 19 pens and boxes is WORK! :) (but it's still fun work!)

The bottle I received is a 21-year old Grangestone Highland single malt... very smooth....

Lawrence

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