When I was a Junior in High School, our final AP US History Assignment was an Oral History Project. I decided to interview my Opa (grandfather) about his experience before, during, and after his 1966-67 tour of Vietnam as a Green Beret Medic in the 5th Special Forces Group. One of the things that stood out the most to me was the relationship between the Special Forces and the Degar (or Montagnard) people. The Green Berets worked closely with them, training and fighting side by side on operations over the course of the Vietnam War. The Degar melted brass shell casings used during training exercises into friendship bracelets for the Green Berets. After I completed the interview with my Opa, he gave me his bracelet, which I have now worn constantly for the last eight years. The project that follows was done while I was in Design College. It was simple: to design a pen. I decided to try and use similar materials, methodology, and process to create a pen from casings collected while with my Opa.
I had never fired a gun in my life up until that point, so it was a very new experience for me. The Rifle pictured is a British Lee Enfield that was manufactured in 1917. It was the standard issue rifle for the British Army during both world wars.
In addition to the .303 casings retrieved from the Lee Enfield, I collected 9 mm casings from a handgun we fired.
My professor Bryan and I attempted to melt down some of the casings in order to pour into a mold, but due to our facilities not having a forge this method did not work
Byproduct of the failed forging
I decided to utilize the casings differently. and machined a tip to my pen from a block of brass on a metal lathe.
I used different forms of mechanical prototyping (drill press, lathe, tap and dye) on a core piece, three casings, and the pen tip.
Final pen assembled
Pen and Bracelet
Pen in use. I still carry it with me almost everywhere I go
