My first Aluminum pen

[Royce Meritt]

Been wanting to try this for a while now and just got around to it. I picked up some scrap aluminum tubing at my local scrap yard. It was about 3/4" OD with a slightly larger than 1/4" ID. Cut a chunk, mounted in my chuck and drilled out the ID to 3/8". Glued in the brass tube with 2-part epoxy. Turned to shape and sanded through all grades of micro mesh. Thought about buffing to a high shine but decided I liked the somewhat "matt" finish. I thought it turned out pretty well for my first attempt at turning aluminum. Comments/critiques?

[Lee Koepke]

very cool.
I have used small alum accents never thought about tubing before. Nicely done.

[Doug Ladendorf]

Looks great! Are you using any finish? It might not stay as nice over time. You might look into anodizing - it could give some pretty cool colors or just clear.
Doug

[Keith Outten]

Very Nice!

[Scott Hackler]

Looks pretty good, although I am confused as to why you still used the brass tube in a metal blank. You could texture that aluminum very easily with a wire wheel on a grinder... for a different look.

[Paul Engle]

Great work .. I'll take one !

[phil harold]

nice job royce

[Paul Williams]

Looks great. Several years ago I made some sketch pencils out of octagonal brass rod. They were very popular. I think yours will be too.

[John Terefenko]

Looks pretty good, although I am confused as to why you still used the brass tube in a metal blank. You could texture that aluminum very easily with a wire wheel on a grinder... for a different look.

I can throw out an answer for this question because I make aluminum pens also. Not sure if it is the answer that the OP would give but. I use the tubes because the thin brass is easier to take shape when pressing in the parts of the kit. They hold better in the thin brass than something as hard as aluminum. I usually leave the aluminum with a brushed look to hide prints but have polished some to a high shine also. I will be doing some stealth pens soon and will powdercoat them black with some design rings. So yes aluminum is easy to add details if chosen.

By the way nice work on the pen. It is a keeper.

[Keith Westfall]

I have to ask - do you just turn it with regular tools???

[Dan Hintz]

I have to ask - do you just turn it with regular tools???

Yep... aluminum (and copper) is pretty soft stuff...

[Royce Meritt]

Sorry I haven't had a chance to answer any of your questions before now...

Looks great! Are you using any finish? It might not stay as nice over time. You might look into anodizing - it could give some pretty cool colors or just clear.
Doug

I did not apply any finish. I was curious to see how the look changes over time. If I don't like the way it looks after a bit I'll probably disassemble the pen and apply some sort of clear coat.

Looks pretty good, although I am confused as to why you still used the brass tube in a metal blank. You could texture that aluminum very easily with a wire wheel on a grinder... for a different look.

I used the brass tube mainly because I wasn't sure I would be able to drill the blank out to exacting enough tolerances for the components to fit properly.

I have to ask - do you just turn it with regular tools???

Yes, regular woodturning tools work well. I did notice that "beefier" tools worked better because smaller tools tended to want to chatter more. Also, very high speed gave better results.

[Grant Wilkinson]

Nicely done, Royce. I've done several with no finish. They dull a bit over time, but a quick rub with some steel wool brings them back to new.