The Bone Pile

[FredRydr]

For those open ends, I often use clothes buttons....

With what do you fill the holes? Or do you find really big buttons and avoid their centers?

[Chip]

For those open ends, I often use clothes buttons....

With what do you fill the holes? Or do you find really big buttons and avoid their centers?

The holes? Don't get the question.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Shank buttons maybe? They have no holes.

[FredRydr]

For those open ends, I often use clothes buttons....

With what do you fill the holes? Or do you find really big buttons and avoid their centers?

The holes? Don't get the question.

Well, my idea of typical buttons have holes in their centers, for example:

[FredRydr]

Shank buttons maybe? They have no holes.

That makes sense. (The only shank buttons I use are leather.)

[Chip]

Never heard term shank button, but that's the sort I use. I use the shank to slot it in a shaft for turning, then cut it off before mounting. Here's an example.

[scrivelry]

That is a really neat replacement!

I don't have a lathe or travel much in lathe-owning circles, (I have spinning wheels and other tools more obscure than lathes, but lathes, I don't got) so I just try to find a button pretty much the right size to begin with and glue it in. It's more limiting, but actually adjusting the size of the button to fit the hole would never have occurred to me...

[Chip]

I don't have a lathe, either. I use a drill press. Found some expansion bolt thingies, steel shaft, split halfway, with a hollow center. I insert the button shank in the split end, compressing it with either a twisted wire wrap or the drill chuck. A gentle, low-speed deal. I've also used a jeweler's saw, then filed and sanded it round.

[TFarnon]

Doesn't everyone have a few pens that are in need of restoration? I thought that was all part of being a fountain pen aficionado.

[Chip]

I accumulated a boxful of pens, pencils, and parts that I chose not to restore, but hated to toss out.

Fortunately, my problem is now some other pen-lover's treasure.