Dipping my toes into the full custom pond

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Sandsini

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May 11, 2014
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It's been a long road getting here, but, finally, I have two kitless pens to show this morning... The first is this ebonite fountain pen with a Jowo 1.5 Italic Nib and a Schmidt Converter. This is the first full custom pen I've made and I wanted to cleanse my pallet, so to speak, with something very functional, so I created something straight lined and square shouldered with a nearly hidden join line between the cap and the body of the pen.

There are a couple of small flaws on this one, the triple start threads for the cap cause it to perfectly align only at one of the three starting points, and there is a small air bubble that I didn't successfully fill in the body.

Pen #2 is a smaller, thinner pen. This one has been done in Italian Lucite in a Pearl Caramel color. This is a fairly thin and light fountain pen and it uses a Jowo #5 Polished Nib. I have to confess that I damaged the original Lucite section of the pen and had to substitute a section made of ebonite to get it completed this weekend. Once I have more of the Lucite on hand the section will be remade in it's matching material.

The form factor is slightly different than the black pen, the cap and body aren't flush, which makes it a little easier to find the cap vs. the body of the pen when opening.

The pearl in this Lucite material is very pronounced and is evident on only one side, which explains why the photos look like there are two different pens photographed. The Lucite is very transparent and when I use it again I might attempt to polish the interior to let you to see through it easier.

Anyway... thanks for looking! C&C are very welcome. I look forward to adding new shapes and clips in the near future, but I'm still kind of figuring out what the heck I'm doing.
 

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Charlie69

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Apr 12, 2013
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Bravo man! With all the custom work you did on your other pens going kitless just seems natural. Looking forward to seeing more.
 

Curly

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Eric

Beautiful pens. You haven't dipped your toes. You've jumped in to your knees.

Chris

I'm curious, what did you do about pattern alignment made with component pens? With a few exceptions that used quad start threads, most all come with triple start. Perfect alignment every time is only possible on single start threads and as they wear over time, they will no longer line up either.
 

Sandsini

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May 11, 2014
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They look good! Nice work.:)

I sold my triple start tap and die for the same reason. I wanted the cap and body to line up in one configuration. Both for pattern match and for "feel."

Chris,
I want to keep the triple starts, but I do, now at least, see the need for single starts for some pens. The black pen for example, there's no pattern to match yet since I turned it all assembled there is a "correct" start position that lines up the cap and body perfectly, as it was turned, and the two other positions bring the alignment of the cap ever so slightly off. The difference isn't very noticeable, but it would bug me using the pen on a daily basis. If I turned the pen the same way I made the Lucite pen, with a step between the cap and body, it wouldn't matter at all, but I want to have the option of making a pen that closes perfectly, every time.
 

Sandsini

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Eric

Beautiful pens. You haven't dipped your toes. You've jumped in to your knees.

Chris

I'm curious, what did you do about pattern alignment made with component pens? With a few exceptions that used quad start threads, most all come with triple start. Perfect alignment every time is only possible on single start threads and as they wear over time, they will no longer line up either.

Pete,
Thank you for the complement, I am a bit of a obsessive rut runner and it is difficult for me to make a leap like this, taking on a whole new process. I appreciate your generous words.

Regarding the component sets, I do what everybody else does, I align them as close as I can when assembling, then when capping them I keep untwisting and twisting the cap until I come to the correct start and everything aligns.

As I mentioned in my post above, the triple starts aren't really a functional issue for the Lucite pen, you only have to worry about the pattern aligning, but for the Ebonite pen, the issue is that unless it is capped at the right starting point there is a very slight misalignment you can feel. For me that's a bigger issue.
 

Curly

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.......Regarding the component sets, I do what everybody else does, I align them as close as I can when assembling, then when capping them I keep untwisting and twisting the cap until I come to the correct start and everything......

Marla taught me (smart girl made hundreds of pens before I started one) to assemble the barrel and then screw the cap parts to it, then align the cap pattern and start to press the cap on. Once started take the cap off and complete the pressing on its own. Aligned and no twisting/untwisting to get there. :)
 

Sandsini

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May 11, 2014
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.......Regarding the component sets, I do what everybody else does, I align them as close as I can when assembling, then when capping them I keep untwisting and twisting the cap until I come to the correct start and everything......

Marla taught me (smart girl made hundreds of pens before I started one) to assemble the barrel and then screw the cap parts to it, then align the cap pattern and start to press the cap on. Once started take the cap off and complete the pressing on its own. Aligned and no twisting/untwisting to get there. :)

That's how I do it as well. The issue is when the pen is complete and you cap the pen, you have a one in three chance on the patterns lining up correctly so you twist and untwist the cap to get it aesthetically correct.
 

BSea

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Dec 28, 2009
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Little Rock, Arkansas
Those are great Eric! The ebonite is beautiful. What a great finish. There is such a learning process with making custom pens. I enjoy making them, but every time is an adventure.
 
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