Morse Code BCHR
Clipless Nazca in Mandarin Orange Italian acrylic.
If you’re coming to this page directly, you may want to first read the introductory page about my BCHR style pens to get the background story for the technique I’m using on this Morse Code BCHR pen. If you got here from that page, I thank you for your continued interest in the technique.
One of the things I like to do online is browse through the images of old fountain pens. I like to look at the old styles and materials. Sometimes just for fun, other times to get a spark of an idea for a new project. That’s how this morse code pen came to be. One of the old materials I like is the thin straited pattern that Parker and Sheaffer used in some of their acrylic pens. Over the years the two companies offered the patterns in a variety of colors.
Most of the time the pattern ran vertically (up and down), but Parker made a few pens with the striations running horizontally (around the circumference) (see the example shown on the right).
One day when I ran across another pen with the horizontal orientation, I had the thought that the pattern looked a bit like running lines of morse code.
Fast forward to now. As I’m looking online for pattern ideas to use on another BCHR style pen, once again I ran across a Parker pen with the horizontal straitions. I started to get the idea that the pattern was calling me somehow, so I began to wonder if I could actually replicate the pattern using lines of morse code. I decided to find out.
Pattern orientation
The vertical pattern would have been the easiest to make because I could use the tops and bottoms of the cap and barrel as natural stop and start points for the lines of code. But the vertical patterns in the acrylic didn’t have quite the same ‘morse code’ look as the horizional pattern did. So I had to run it horizontally.
Running the code horizontally though presented a small problem. I didn’t want the code to be just a random pattern. I actually wanted it to say something. But to run the pattern around the circumference, I’d have to figure out a way to show the start and stop points for each line of code.
Morse code is just like words when it’s written down with each line having a start and stop point. On a vertical pen layout the ends of the parts would have been the natural start and stop point. But since I wanted to run it around the circumference, I had to have a way of visually showing the start and stop points for each line. So I decided to use a thin vertical line as a visual start and stop point. Think of it as the right and left edges of a sheet of paper if you’d split the pen parts and lay them out flat.
What does the code say?
Well, I’m not going to tell! You’ll have to figure that out!
Engraving Colored Acrylic
Something else that’s new for this project is the colored acrylic. Up until now, all the BCHR engravings I made are on black acrylic. But I wanted to show what the engraving effect looks like on colored acrylic. So I choose this vintage mandarin orange Italian acrylic for this Morse Code BCHR pen. And as you can see, just as it does on black acrylic, the engraving creates a monotone effect with a lighter shade of the original acrylic color. But if you want the engraving more pronouned (this or any other pattern), the engraving area could be filled in with acrylic paint (my next project!).
As you might imagine, the most time consuming part of this project was actually creating the lines of code and then laying it out to fit the parts. But I didn’t cheat, or take shortcuts. I wrote it out one dot and dash at a time. It was challenging, but fun, taking me back to my younger days in the Boy Scouts.
Morse Code BCHR Pen Style
To engrave on a pen, there are a few ‘rules’ you have to follow for round objects like pens. One is to have a consistent shape. While it might be possible to engrave on an item with a complex shape (something I’ll attempt someday), the best shape is one that’s straight and consistent. That means straight edges and uniform diameter from end to end. You can have a slight difference, but the more the difference, the harder it is to line up the start and stop points so they have the same spacing all along the length.
One of the best pen styles for this is the Nazca. The standard Nazca has a tapered barrel, so to conform to the engraving rule, I made a barrel with just a very slight taper. And for cap posting fans, I added a custom posting tenon with a rubber o-ring that holds the cap securely.
The cap on the Morse Code BCHR pen is clipless, but it could be made with a clip (ringed or surface mounted). The engraving pattern can be uninterrupted at the clip, or the pattern could be designed with a ‘cut out’ so their’s no engraving under the clip.
Since the main reason for making this pen was to showcase the engraving, I kept the rest of it simple with a clipless cap and standard C/C inking system. But you can order it with a clip, or other inking systems.
If you’d like to learn more about Morse Code, check out the page on Wikipedia.
Other Features
Posting Tenon… Another new feature on this pen is the unique posting tenon. The tenon is sized to match the inside diameter of the cap. Then it’s fitted with a rubber that sits slightly higher than the tenon diameter. So now when the cap is posted, the rubber o-ring keeps the cap secure.
Rainbow finish Jowo Nib… the nib I used is a steel #6 Jowo in a finish Jowo calls Rainbow.
Miscellaneous items:
I also offer a variety of hand-made pen-related items. Pen Props, pen cap Buttons, Pen and Ink Trays, Cufflinks, and Button Covers. Use a Pen Props to display a pen or temporarily raise the nib. Order in a pen-matching material or a wooden style in a variety of finishes. Cap Buttons are small pieces of cap jewelry you can add to a clipless pen to keep it from rolling. Use a Pen & Ink Trays to display your favorite pen and ink. Trays are available in several styles and in your choice of natural wood. Cufflinks and Button Covers are timeless favorites that dress up a shirt. Order them in pen-matching material.
To custom order any of the pens you see on my website for yourself or as a gift, please contact me at jeb<@>jebspens.com.
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