Pen makers here?

[Kurt Veltman]

Just wondering if there are any pen makers on here. I recently bought what I thought were pen making bushings at an estate sale, but haven't been able to find anything like them online. I believe they are made out of titanium...they're too light to be steel, but too heavy to be aluminum. Many of the pieces have very fine threads on one end, some have holes drilled nearly through, and are flat on the other end. I'll see if I can post pics here.

[Kurt Veltman]

Sorry, can't figure out how to post a pic of the aforementioned items.

[Mark Swanson]

Kurt, did you click "Full Editor" in the box below? Then scroll down to "Upload Attachment".

[Kurt Veltman]

Mark, I was trying to do it from my phone earlier. Now that I'm on a computer, I'm having the same problem I usually do, with the file being too big. I'll have to deal with it later.

[Kurt Veltman]

It keeps telling me "The file you are trying to upload is invalid", or something like that. I've shrunk it down to just over 100 kb.

[Charlie Schultz]

That size should be fine. I assume the file name ends with one of these types: .gif, .jpeg, .jpg, .png, .tga, .tif, .tiff? If still not working, you could e-mail the file to me (click my name and then the e-mail link) and I'll take a look at it.

[Kurt Veltman]

Anyone know what these are? Got them at an estate sale of a pen maker, so I'm thinking they have something to do with that. Pretty sure they are titanium. Not ferrous (not magnetic at all), and they don't look or feel like aluminum to me.

[Michael Lewis]

My guess is anodized aluminum. They sure look like pen parts.

[David King]

Ti makes very bright white sparks if you hit it with a grinder. It might also be a 300 series stainless steel that's non magnetic. Anodized aluminum will be non-conductive. They could also be brass with a chrome or nickel plating. Easy to determine that by sanding or scraping off a bit of the plating on an inside corner and looking for gold colored metal. They could also be plated magnesium, zinc or pot metal.

[Kurt Veltman]

Considering that these came from a pen maker that was making $500-$700 pens, Ti wouldn't surprise me, but I'm less concerned about what they are made of than what their function is.

[David King]

Try looking through pen kits until you find something similar. There seems to be a huge variety of parts available and millions of makers. Let's hope there are many writers out there.
http://acemetalpen.com/pen_kits_pen-mak ... plies.html
Seems like one of the pen maker forums will be a better place to get the detailed info you seek. My guess is that your guy was making or having his own custom parts made. Did he have a website? With a thread gauge you could figure out what other parts they fit or what taps you need to buy to make mating parts.

[Charlie Schultz]

A couple look like pen tips of course. The others, maybe end caps or couplers?? As David points out, there are a boatload of kits out there...

Do you know if he had a metal lathe? I wonder if he turned these parts himself.

[Kurt Veltman]

He did have a metal lathe, and it would have been possible to make these himself. However, the fact that they look identical, and have a very fine thread on one end, tells me these were probably cut with a CNC lathe, and I don't believe his was CNC. I think I need to get in touch with his mother, see if she can shed any light.

[David King]

He wouldn't have needed CNC to make identical parts if he had a turret lathe. Lathes have been making identical parts for centuries before CNC came along. CNC just reduces the need for skilled machinists.

[Bob Hammond]

I'm a little late, but yes I've turned a few kit pens. I started for fun, and then people started buying them from my pocket. Now people occasionally call me before Xmas or graduation and order a few. I don't keep any pens on hand because there is not a significant demand, but the profit margin per piece can be ok.

Those pieces look like parts for a pen(s) with a barrel and screw-on postable cap, They are not the bushings. I see a nib, and the others look like the barrel fittings that are pressed into the decorative barrel. Are there multiple parallel threads on the fittings (usually 2 or 4, I can't remember the proper term for these)?