Steampunk Pen, customized by Stacy Apelt

Gary W. Graley

Gary W. Graley

“Imagination is more important than knowledge"
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Mar 2, 1999
Messages
27,471
Hi folks, well I went to the Ashokan Seminar this Sept and had a great time, didn't have a lot of money so I didn't come home with any knives, although there were some sweet ones there, but mainly it was a Sword weekend and lots of great lectures and demo's went on.

Stacy Apelt was there and besides being a bladesmith, he also does some, well lots! of other interesting things that he sets his mind to, very cool stuff. But I saw this Steampunk pen, ( also this was the FIRST time I've ever even HEARD of the term Steampunk !! but everyone I showed it to smiled and said kool...steampunk...guess I'm really getting old lol ) I knew I could not leave that with him, I don't know what drew me to that so much but I could tell it took a while to accomplish such a task as inlaying all those watch gears and hands.

Here's a couple shots taken of it tonight;

The brass lever thing is just that, you pull that down and it locks in place keeping the pen exposed.

Steampunk_StacyA.jpg~original



Steampunk_StacyA_closeup.jpg~original


VERY cool pen, while it will make your shirt pocket drop to your belt, it will be a great pen to have at my desk !!

And I did figure out what that inlay reminded me of, the movie "Tomb Raider" with Angelina Jolie where the clock mech explodes out showing all the gears within, of course I could just be remembering Angelina...but I digress ;)

Thanks again Stacy!
G2
 
Stacy does so,e neat stuff. I got a couple coffee scoops from him a while back, and my mother always tells me it's the best Mother's Day gift she ever got (cast coffee bean handle.)
 
Indeed he does, he said he had a friend take some gears from a watch and thin them down in order to get them into that arrangement, quite delicate work!!!

In order to light it up and 'see' inside, I used a polarizer filter on my lens that cuts the reflections and reduced the glare.

G2
 
No friend involved in the watch fitting, I did all the work. The friend I mentioned was my laser cutter who cuts my inlay barrels and other wooden parts.

The afzelia burl pen barrel had a laser cut oval opening and a thin blackwood sleeve that fit inside the barrel ( with a brass sleeve inside that). There was a gold plastic ring that had to be fitted to the opening to make the frame. I drilled that out and fitted silver rivets to retain the oval frame to the black sleeve.

I took the gears from a ladies Elgin watch and made a mandrel the curvature of the black inside sleeve. I ground off the upper staff and any protrusions on the gears and parts, and annealed them. I then used the mandrel to curve them to the exact curvature of the pen sleeve ... even the spring. I drilled holes in the sleeve and placed each gear in place , using the lower staff to secure it in place through the very tiny holes drilled through the sleeve. I added the screws and small parts like hands last. The whole assembly was then filled with clear coat epoxy. After that, the barrel was turned to final shape. The final sanding brought the parts within .5mm of the surface.

I did another one with the oval frame made from the calendar wheel of a men's date watch. This puts the numbers 1-31 all the way around the movement parts. Curving something that is .25mm thick and covered with paint was really fun ! I'll look and see if I have a photo of it.
 
Thanks for the clarification on that I misunderstood your friend's role in it, and yes please add any other shots you have.
G2
 
Cool pen, Gary. You could always make a leather pocket slip or belt sheath for it.

Stacy, that's an impressive piece of work.

Paul
 
Paul Davidson said:
Cool pen, Gary. You could always make a leather pocket slip or belt sheath for it.
Click to expand...

NO! You need an antique distressed leather desk set to put it on!

G2, you've not heard of SteamPunk 'ere now? You are missing an enjoyable genre, my friend.
 
I've lived a sheltered life it would seem ;) and the antique thing in the Steampunk genre would be a cool way to have my desk setup!

G2
 
That pen is off the charts!
Very cool.

G2, if you want to see some great steampunk check out the (now defunct) TV program
"Warehouse 13"
Goofy adventure show that didn't take itself too seriously... good fun.
And they did steampunk well.
 
Thanks, it's an amazing pen! just love it and so does everyone I show it to.

and I love Warehouse 13, sad to see it end, they had no limits to where they could have taken it, much the same with FireFly, that never should have ended :(

G2
 
So are those actual gears in the pen? Almost looks like an image of gears.
Neat pen for sure.
 
Yes actual gears from an Elgin watch, very well done!
G2
 
Thanks, here's a closeup crop from that photo, the hands are pretty cool too ;)

Pen_closeup.jpg~original


G2
 
I'm not a steampunk guy, but I kinda like this pen .
seeing it just reminded me of the multiple cigar boxes full of wrist and pocket watches plus parts / movements ( many vintage Timex, an elgin or two, and beautiful Swiss watches ) that my dad has which were given to him as a kid by a retired watch repairman.
even though most are missing some parts the beauty of these Swiss watch movements is amazing and are works of art just as they are.
Seeing as there is a box or two of nothing but gears that may not be useable for watches maybe he scan sell them to someone who makes steampunk jewelry so they can at least get used somehow.

Anyways that's a cool looking pen there, and it would be cool to see some watch gears imbedded in acrylic used as scales for a slipjoint.
 
That'd be a neat idea, good to think outside the watch case ;)

And yes, I will use this pen sparingly, you can stare at the insert a long time!
G2
 
Thanks sir,
Moderators do frown on talking sales and prices in threads but you can contact Stacey directly
G2
 
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I was sadden to see it go, so much they could have done, and yet...they keep OTHER shows on the air for like ever...go figure right? :(
G2
 
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