barber pole pen?

[terrydowning]

To get the helical structure you are looking for is going to be difficult.

How I would do it.
Note: this is all theoretical as I would need to build or buy some jigs to pull this off.

You need Indexing on your SS
You may need to create a Jig to hold a router (or be willing to carve or file an inlay channel by hand)

Option 1: Helical inlay
Create a blank of a lighter material (White Urethane Rod, Holly, straight grain Maple, etc.) drill and turn to the your desired profile (almost finished but not quite, Just proud of the bushings)

Using the indexing wheel lightly draw or scribe the helical pattern on your pen barrel. (You've already demonstrated the ability to do this from your first post)

Dye or purchase some laminates in the colors desired.

Either using a router jig or hand carving relieve the inlay channels to the required depth (Depending on how thick the wood on your pen is and how thick your inlay material ls you may be able to go a bit deeper than the actual laminate as you are still proud of the bushings. Theoretically it's possible to go all the way to the brass tube underneath).

Once the channels are relieved, cut the inlay strips to correct width and glue in to the channels.

You'll need to either use CA Glue or figure out clamping to keep the inlay in place until the glue sets. I personally would use generous amounts of CA.

Once the glue is cured, finish turning to the bushings. Try to do your final cuts with a skew so you don't have to sand. Sanding with darker and lighter woods could compromise the color of the lighter wood.

Clean the blanks thoroughly and inspect to ensure colors have not bled.

Finish the pen with a CA finish to seal the laminate joints and add some protection.

Wall Street III Pen kit gives a good amount of meat to work with.

Option 1 A: Helical multi-step Casting

Create the blank (don't turn the profile yet, just create a round blank) and carve the helix for one color (go all the way to the tube) cast the first color .
Carve the second channel all the way to the tube Cast the second color.

Drill and finish the pen as normal.

Option 2: Create 3 open (one for each color) triple barley twists of the contrasting materials, cut apart the twists re-assemble the twists with the different colors and twist down tight and glue back together. Turn the barley twist down flat to create a pen blank. Drill and prepare the blank as normal.

Option 3: Create a single open Barley twist and cut apart. Do a multiple step casting to fill the voids. Each color is a different casting event.

Drill and create blanks as normal.


Just some thoughts and ideas

[randyrls]

After looking at the barber pole pen kits and seeing the limited description of what is required to put the kit together, I'm still believing that these are made from wooden tubes that are then cut with a laser to produce the spirals. The colored spirals are dyed box elder. When you get the kit, you twist or screw them back into position. A brass tube is then glued inside the spirals, mounted on a lathe mandrill and cleaned up.

That is exactly correct. This is a common assembly procedure for most laser cut pen blanks. When you get to the glue up stage, put the tube inside the main piece then insert the rest of the pieces. You want to REALLY FLOOD the pieces with CA. Make sure you don't get any inside the tube, but saturate the blank with thin CA.

Other than Kallenshaans Woods, LaserLineZ also makes these. Some of the designs are very complex.