Description
Recently I was commissioned by a friend to make a themed pen and pencil set for her father’s 80th birthday.
Having spent most of his life in the motor and motorsport industry what better design than one of my Gearshift designs. I was also asked if I could make the set from Yew as this is her father’s favourite try with lots of boyhood memories. Luckily I had recently been given a broken longbow by a friend who makes them. Apparently one never knows 100% if it will be strong enough until it is tested, and this one failed! However, it did produce some extremely spectacular examples of Yew wood with differing coloured stripes.
This is an unusual pen design inspired by my best selling bolt action pen mechanism. Whilst you will see other similar Gearshift pens in my Portfolio, this is a unique set as I was able to adapt the ballpoint design to incorporate a technical pencil mechanism. This involved moving from my wood turning lathe to my metalworking lathe to manufacture an intricate insert adapter.
The mechanism design is based on a six-speed H pattern car gear change and can be shifted just like the real thing! The cap features a car tyre with a true to life tread and hubcap. The tip features the same tyre tread as the cap. The gear knob includes an etched five-speed pattern. And the industrialised crowbar clip attaches to the body with two small screws rounds to out the design. The refill fully advances at the front of the shifter and fully retracts at the back of the shifter. The design uses a popular Parker style refill which can be accessed by unscrewing the tip to reveal the refill. Replacement is simply a reverse of the process. The pencil uses standard 0.7mm pencil leads available from any good stationary store. The gear knob is simply pressed down momentarily to eject the next section of lead.
Handmade Pen / Pencil Product Details
- Made in the Tamworth UK by Mike Topp
- Highly polished Yew body recycled from a longbow / Pewter and Brass metal components
- Impressive eye catching pen – impress your friends!
- Easy to replace ink cartridges – “Parker” Style Refill available at most stationers
- Easy to fill 0.7mm pencil lead refills available also from most stationary stores
What’s Included in your set
- Includes the handcrafted Gearshift pen and pencil in the pictures shown above
- Velvet covered double pen presentation case
- Includes black ink cartridge – ready to use
- Incudes pack of replacement leads
- Includes Certificate of Authenticity
Additional Information on Handcrafted Pens
- All of the pens on The Forest At Your Fingertips website are handmade and handcrafted on a lathe in my workshop
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