Best Quality Pens Kits?

[Packinheat]

Hi everyone,
Just looking for some info on who produces the best quality pen kits (Good long lasting platings etc) and where is the best place to purchase? Im fairly new to this and have been buying my kits from Lee Valley and William Woodwrite in Canada here.

Thanks everyone!

 

[ctubbs]

There are several vendors that support this site and some are even members. I have bought from Penstate Ind, Exotic Blanks, Smitty, CSUSA, and a few others. All have given me good service, some better than others, but all responsive.
You can look under Forums and click on Business Classifides and find many of our vendors listed there with what they offer. For CA I always use Monty, great product, price and service. I hope this is of some help.
Charles

 

[Smitty37]

1000 Answers

Hi everyone,
Just looking for some info on who produces the best quality pen kits (Good long lasting platings etc) and where is the best place to purchase? Im fairly new to this and have been buying my kits from Lee Valley and William Woodwrite in Canada here.

Thanks everyone!

You'll get a lot of answers to this one - and in my opinion there is no clear cut answer. Both places you list sell kits by Barea Hardwoods, Inc. and they have a reputation for making excellent kits. There are others who sell Barea kits and might be a little better priced. Their kits are manufactured in Taiwan.

Dayacom (also made in Taiwan) has a reputation for producing excellent kits but no one is carrying a full line of their kits in the USA right now due primarily to their selling policy. But a number of vendors carry some of their kits.

Mainmold is another Taiwan Company and are a main manufacturer for one of the large companies they don't seem to have a reputation on their own here.

Rizheng is a Chinese company that produces kits at more popular prices. Their reputation is spotty but their products seem to be improving quite rapidly in overall quality. A number of vendors here carry some of their products, but I know of no one carrying their complete line.

There are others Woodwrite, Ltd (not willian wood-write) also produces kits of excellent quality but they are a bit high priced as well. I don't know where their production facility is. I don't know of any vendors here selling their products but there could be some.

 

[dtswebb]

My top three -

Bear Tooth Woods (www.beartoothwoods.com). Ernie is a real gentleman and his prices and service are first rate. Ernie stocks Berea kits.

Woodturningz (www.woodturningz.com). Ryan has some high quality, Chinese manufactured kits.

Smitty's Pen Works (www.smittyspenworks.com). Smitty seems to always have a deal for IAP members.

That's my two cents worth.

Matthew

 

[Tomspens]

There are several vendors that support this site and some are even members. I have bought from Penstate Ind, Exotic Blanks, Smitty, CSUSA, and a few others. All have given me good service, some better than others, but all responsive.
You can look under Forums and click on Business Classifides and find many of our vendors listed there with what they offer. For CA I always use Monty, great product, price and service. I hope this is of some help.
Charles

+1 agreed

 

[OLDMAN5050]

I will support our IAP members whenever I can. all of our IAP vendors give great service. Smitty has great prices and good product on pen Kits as does Monty on ca glue. Craft supply also has great customer service.

 

[Drstrangefart]

Smitty has my kind of prices. He usually gets my orders. Also fast on responding and shipping out.

 

[bitshird]

Don't forget Woodnwhimsies for inexpensive kits, Also Lau Lau wood Aaron is a long time member here and has some great pens

 

[Packinheat]

Thats perfect thanks guys! Just the info i was looking for.

 

[ghostrider]

I have an observation that no one has yet mentioned.

While I'm too new myself to judge the quality, I did notice a difference in some of the kits I've ordered so far.

I've got cigars from Woodcraft, Rockler, Wood-N-Whimsies, and Woodturningz.

The Woodcraft and Rockler I bought at the store, but the others I ordered.

The cigars from the first two are pretty similar, while the other two are both different from eachother, as well as from the first two. Main difference being the center band.

Another thing to note is the Fancy Slimlines I bought from both Wood_n_Whimsies, and Woodturningz (both theirs and the PSI they carry?). The clip on the Woodturningz flares out more, while the one from Wood-N-Whimsies is more of a straight drop like the other Slimline clips. Either one can suit depending on how you want to shape the upper barrel.

 

[PenMan1]

All of the IAP vendors sell quality pen parts. For me, the hardware part is more about the plating than the vendor. I choose my vendors based on how fast they can get the parts to me and the overall quality of the customer service. If I have to pay more for product to get qwick shipment and quality service, I figure that as part of doing business.

I recommend the Titanium Nitride (TN)- Both gold or black and the Rhodium platings. These are among the most durable finishes available and many vendors offer a lifetime warranty on these platings.