clutch pencil cap?

[dog27]

Does anybody make a clutch pencil (5.6mm lead) that has a cap for it? All the ones I have seen do not and I asked a pen turner about it and he said he could not make one because the kits he uses does not include a cap. How hard would it be to make a matching cap?

Also, is there a kit available for making a pen-shaped butane lighter? It would be cool to make a matching pen, pencil, and lighter.

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

I see this is your very first post so let me say welcome to the site. I do not want your first post to go unnoticed and have you think we don't care. We do care and unfortunately I am not the one to answer you for I am relatively new to turning and have not had much opportunity to get to the lathe this past year. I will take a stab at your question though and have to say why not try something yourself. As far as the lighter thing have you done a web search??? I am sorry but this is all I can offer. Hopefully some of our full time pen turners will jump in here. :)

[PaulD]

Don't know that I qualify as a full-time pen maker, but I have made my share. In response to the question, I am unaware of an off-the-shelf pencil kit like you described. Most of us make relatively few pencils, so I would guess the demand for a specialized product like you describe would be pretty low from a kit manufacturer perspective.

Regarding the lighter issue, I suspect the potential liability issue would scare most makers away from that product. That said, I don't see any reason you couldn't wrap an available lighter product in a wooden box someway to achieve the look you are after.

[dog27]

Thanks for the reply. I really would like to make one myself; pen turning looks to be a very enjoyable pastime. But before I invest in a lathe and all that I want to know that it is possible for a newbie like me to make a clutch pencil with a nicely fitted, matching cap even though the available kits do not offer that.

I see this is your very first post so let me say welcome to the site. I do not want your first post to go unnoticed and have you think we don't care. We do care and unfortunately I am not the one to answer you for I am relatively new to turning and have not had much opportunity to get to the lathe this past year. I will take a stab at your question though and have to say why not try something yourself. As far as the lighter thing have you done a web search??? I am sorry but this is all I can offer. Hopefully some of our full time pen turners will jump in here. :)

[William Young]

I have made a couple hundred pens but the term *clutch pencil* is something I am not aware of.
It is a pretty well known fact that the pencil mechanisms are not reliable and usualy just a source of grief causing warranty replacements of a whole pencil when the mechanisms dont work the way they should.
That is why we seldom see pencils made on a lathe but millions of pens.
If it is just a show piece for a collector and not one that is going to be used then pencils are just as easy to make as pens are. Whenever I get a request for a turned pencil my first question is will it be used as a show piece or to be used for writing with.
W.Y.