My first American Flag pens

[Doug B]

I have been wanting to add an American Flag pen to my inventory for a while and Mav got me going on it a while back when he posted his flag pen. I got these done just in time for the gun show.

I wanted to make a Cartridge pen, but they don't have a kit for it, so I had to get the 8mm blanks and make my own for the cartridge pens. The nice thing is that I ended up with 2 sets of them because I cut each of the original barrels in half and re-combined the split halves onto a single barrel. I had to cut through the middle of a row of stars, losing part of the those cut stars to the kerf. You can see that the stars are not the same on both pens. And I had to leave some of the red border on the bottom of the blanks in order to get the length needed. But, I am pretty happy with the results.

It was a little nerve wracking to cut up the barrels because it costs $40.00 just for the blanks.

The first one has the partial stars on the clip end of the barrel.


And the second one does not have any partial stars on it


And here are both pens together


These are going to be the most expensive pens that I have.

[maverick31]

those came out awesome doug. I am a huge fan of american flag pens. I hope you sell both of them. everytime I show the one I made, they are like you made that? how did you do it? It is always a good response. My thought is if the flag pens dont sell it will definatly catch a lot of peoples eyes and maybe they will take a second look at your other ones.

[Doug B]

Thanks Mav. I really like the flag pens too. I kinda hope I don't sell both of them. They should be good at attracting some attention.

I'm not expecting a whole lot at the gun show, but I'm hoping that there will be some buyers who realize that the pen is mightier than the sword ;D

[sachbvn]

Doug, what do you expect me to say? "I'm surprised that this pens kick ass?" - seriously, these pens are awesome..... VERY cool you could combine the kits....

I hope you sell them and have a need for more.... how'd you feel about gluing all the stars in place - did that go well? I've been wanting to try one... but as you said.... 40 bucks a kit, PLUS pen... kinda pricey.....


Zac

[Ruffnek]

I really like those flag pens, Doug...both the look and the patriotic message. They're great.

[sdb777]

Great job, sounds like you had a nerve racking time doing them. But well worth the effort!

What are you going to ask for them?(if it isn't to buttinski.....)


Scott (I'd have a hard time picking just one) B

[boodrow]

Great lookin set o pens , I salute U
Boodrow

[maverick31]

Feb 20, 2010 1:36:15 GMT -6 sachbvn said:

Doug, what do you expect me to say? "I'm surprised that this pens kick ass?" - seriously, these pens are awesome..... VERY cool you could combine the kits....

I hope you sell them and have a need for more.... how'd you feel about gluing all the stars in place - did that go well? I've been wanting to try one... but as you said.... 40 bucks a kit, PLUS pen... kinda pricey.....

hey zac it is not too bad gluing the stars in place. They send 8 or 10 extra stars in case you mess it up. once you do one or two starts it is actually pretty easy. just really nerve racking to make knowing how much of your hard earned money you spent.

Zac

[rdabpenman]

Very nicely done Doug!!
They will be great promotional products for the Gun Shows.
Keep what you feel is the better of the two for promotional purposes.

Make sure you lest us know how the Gun Show goes complete with photos of your setup.

Les

[Doug B]

Thanks Zac, Cody, Scott, Boodrow, and Les for all the comments.

Zac, the stars are time consuming (there are 50 of them) but not too hard to do - you wet them down for lubrication the set them in place and press home with a transfer punch. LOML would pick one up and dip it in the water and put it in place and I would press it down with the transfer punch.

I was really worried about the stars because the seemed to come back out partially after I pushed them flush...I would still be worried about that because they all were significantly raised above the surface of the blank, but when I cut the blank in half I could see that they were all down to the tube - I think they must expand from the water they soak up.

I can highly recommend these blanks - superb color and perfect fit on all the parts. Hard to pull the trigger, but they were worth it for me.

Cody - I like the patriotic look a lot too. There is a booth for the T.E.A. party group that I hope I get a chance to visit with tomorrow and show them the pens.

Scott - I was pretty nervous about using the blanks in a way they were not intended, but it worked out fine and I will be doing it again. As for pricing, I really agonized over this and finally decided to price them at $85.00 each. I thought they might be worth more, but because I get 2 pens from each kit, I had a hard time charging any more than that.

Boodrow - thanks for the kind words.

Les, I forgot the camera this morning, but I intend to get some pics tomorrow of the set up...LOML changed it up again and I added some tap handles, and the table they provide is 10 feet long compared to my 6 foot long table I usually set up on, so it is going to look a little different than usual.

Thanks again guys, I appreciate all the comments.