Titanium and Brass Tactical Pen (pic heavy)

[Tofty]

Actually i only used about £20 of stock to make it so most of the cost comes from time spent. With a well thought out set of jigs and other production tools the final cost could be under £150 but then it wouldn't be exclusive and no one would want one.

I've seen three other bolt action pens (Tom Anderson's, a Japanese artisan's made in brass and a USN member's titanium version with a huge knob on the bolt) but i think it is a relatively new idea.

As Grant Lamontagne says the cap detailing is a mosaic pin simply press fitted then filed, sanded and polished flush. I tried cutting it on the lathe but some of the black epoxy fractured leaving holes. 

[Sazabi]

The pen just looked groovy; exclusiveness doesn't much matter in that regard.

Oh well, great work, Tofty.

[Tofty]

Here's a much simpler keychain pen i've just finished:









This new pen has a brass body and stainless internals with the body being 8mm in diameter and just under 90mm in length.
It takes the small lamy m22 refill also found in the sunshine mini pen (to remove the refill the pin needs to unscrewed).
The mounting hole in the end retracts inside when the pen tip is deployed meaning the pen can't be used while connected to a keychain, it has therefore been designed to hang off a 20mm mcgizmo gate clip for easy access. The reason i did this was to ensure the pen could not open in the pocket, a potential problem with the deployment pin sticking out as much as it does.

I think the body of the pen could do with some texture but apart from that i'm quite happy with the way it's turned out.

[Neil]

For texture how about a fine line every 2mm and a deeper one every 10mm.  Texture with added functionality

Very nice work

[Tofty]

Its a good idea but the EDC set-up this pen is to be a part of will contain a dedicated measuring rod anyway,
i was thinking more of some shallow radiused cuts spaced about 5mm apart, abit like this:



but since the brass body is slightly less than 1mm thick the cuts will have to be shallower than on the bead.

[edcgear]

Why not making this pen to be also metric or inch worm?

[Benner]

Amazing work. 

[Tofty]

Why not making this pen to be also metric or inch worm?

I could, i plan to make a few of them so i might experiment with the concept.

[edcgear]

Can you make it fit Fisher Space insert?

[Benner]

Can you make it fit Fisher Space insert?

Don't do it!    I can see the ink bogies forming already! 

[Tofty]

I'll answer your question with a photograph....



From top to bottom:
Fisher universal refill,
Lamy M22 (used in the pen)
Standard mini refill, sometimes called a D1
Fisher refill for the valiant pen
Cross matrix refill

[Essexman]

Its a good idea but the EDC set-up this pen is to be a part of will contain a dedicated measuring rod anyway,
i was thinking more of some shallow radiused cuts spaced about 5mm apart, abit like this:

(Image removed from quote.)

but since the brass body is slightly less than 1mm thick the cuts will have to be shallower than on the bead.

Ti bead and paracord?  What more could a man want? Very nice indeed.

[Raukodur]

any pens being made for sale?

[Tofty]

in the next couple of weeks i'm planning to make maybe 10 of the mini pens, then work out what there worth and who's interested. I have a few people who have expressed an interest and i shall add your name to that list. Don't expect anything to happen quickly however.

[ICanFixThat]

WOW!!!!   

Love that Ti and Brass pen... are you tired of it yet?  I might be interested in one of the bolt-action mini-pens I'll keep an eye on the thread.  Really though the Ti & Brass is just it.

[Tofty]

Just completed another brass pen.
This one is very similar to the keychain pen except that it is designed to take the larger parker refill. The cartridge can also be replaced without dismantling the bolt by unscrewing the tip.
It was made to be hung from a chain around the neck.
All the parts apart from the tube are made from 304 stainless steel.
(The patterning at the tip is similar to one of the finishes i'm planning for the keychain pen)

[Essexman]

Very clever and very nice indeed. Top notch work as usual.

[gustophersmob]

NOt sure how I missed this for 7 (!) months, but this is amazing work! Very nice 

I really like the bolt concept, especially the 1st, larger version.  I've kind of liked the idea of a "tactical" pen, not for the mall-ninja aspect, just for the resulting high-quality, pocket-jewelry aspect.  The thing that has kept me from pulling the trigger (besides $$$) is that I can't stand pen caps.  Always has to be a clicky.

This bolt concept seems like a nice alternative.

Question, does it use a spring for tension like a typical clicky, or is it just manufactured to tight tolerances to keep the ink refill from moving around?

[Tofty]

Cheers guys,

I went for the bolt action system for the same reason that the cap on my original pen really annoyed me.
It's also the simplest clicky system i'd seen and i don't trust twisties as they don't seem secure, despite the fact that my valiant pen has never fallen apart on my keychain.

All the bolt action pens i've made have a spring in front of the cartridge rather than relying on friction in the system. In fact without a spring the cartridge could not return into the body without it being physically attached to the slider which would be hard to achieve.

[moeman]

Just registered here and I have to say Awesome work! I love the first pen and the last bolt action!

[40central]

I recently bought a Mosquito Tactical Wasp Pen just to see what all the fuss was about in relation to tactical pens, however i feel the wasp has a couple of things wrong with it:
1. The knurling is too high up the neck compared with where i like to grip the pen.
2. It claims to take standard parker refills but the cavity is actually too short and the supplied refill is non-standard.

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Despite these problems i generally like the wasp due to its chunkiness (14mm diameter) which makes it a pleasant change from the plasticy biros i'm used to using.

I have since modified my wasp to accept standard parker/fisher refills with a bit of drilling but the knurling position cant really be changed so i thought i'd have a go at making my own pen using some of the wasps dimensions as a template.

This is my first attempt:

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Only the knurled brass pieces, the glass breaker point and the three drilled nuts are not made from titanium, everything else including the pocket clip are made from grade 5 titanium.
The drilled nuts will eventually also be made from titanium but i just wanted to get finished so aluminium was the quick choice.

The glass breaker is made of hardened silver steel and is replaceable.