Wire caps have evolved over the years. The photo bottom-right shows examples of some of the various styles used over the years. The colored caps along the top are the current styles in use today. The caps in the foreground were used in the early 1900’s. The white cap is porcelain, while the black caps are Bakelite (Bakelite was the first plastic made from synthetic components).

Modern wire caps are secured to the wires via some type of internal holding system that’s meant to grab the wire or wires as the cap is twisted onto the wires. Most often this was some type of metal insert that worked similar to the threads inside a bolt nut. The Bakelite cap on the left used a similar insert, while the cap on the right used a removeable brass insert. The insert was unscrewed, then placed over the wires and secured with a small bolt mounted on the side. Once secured, the Bakelite cap is threaded over the brass insert.

I’m explaining all this in order to lead into which cap I used and why I used it. I ultimately used the Bakelite caps with the brass insert because it had the best shape and size. But I also thought those would be harder for someone to recognize what they actually were.

Installing the wire caps on the pen: 

To install the Bakelite wire caps, I simply turned a tapered tenon on each end of the pens cap and barrel making sure the diameter and taper of the tenon matched the inside diameter of the wire caps. Then reduced the cap and barrel diameters to match the outside diameter at the base of the wire caps.

After the pen was sanded and polished, I installed the wire caps with a little CA glue. In order to avoid any glue squeeze out on the pen, I applied the CA glue to the inside of the wire cap. Before installing the wire caps I wrapped the areas below the wire cap tenons on the cap and barrel with blue tap. Then sprayed CA accelerant onto the tenons before installing the wire caps.

You could use some of the modern style wire caps. But modern caps are made in bright colors: yellow, red, green, and orange. The color designates the wire size they should be used with. So if you like the idea, and would like to try making a pen with some, you’ll have work with the bright colors. For obvious reasons, you want to stay away from the cap styles with the ‘wings’ (these are tightening tabs).

As mentioned with the cap colors, wire caps are sold based on the wires GAUGE size. The smaller the gauge, the larger the cap. For example a 6 gauge wire is much larger than a 12 gauge wire. A wire cap for wire gauges 8 to 14 would work best for a pen such as this.

This material is an acrylic acetate called ‘Crushed Turquoise’. It’s also sold under other names depending on the supplier. The pattern is different from most other CRUSHED acrylics. Typically a crushed pattern gives the material depth. But that only works if the material is semi-transparent. With this material they use opaque colors. Opaque turquoise chips are mixed into an opaque black base. The result creates the ‘web’ pattern you see.

This pattern is available in a variety of colors and each color can creates a different effect. Some look like marble.

Color / Material: Crushed Turquoise Acrylic Acetate.
Wire Cap material: Bakelite.
Length: Capped 5.36″ / Uncapped 4.95″.
Diameter: Max .60″ / Min .45″ (wire cap top).
Nib: Polished Steel #5 Jowo.
Note: some images show a steel ‘perforated’ nib. This nib is no longer available.
Filling System: C/C (cartridge/converter).