Capped Pens - Need Help Please

[KGP]

Hello everyone:

I am a novice pen maker, have only made some simple twist pens so far. But I was recently asked to make a nice capped pen to be used for a gift. So I ordered a couple of screw-cap and snap-cap pen kits from PSI and Woodcraft.

I made these up, and they look OK, but I am concerned about the quality of the threads on the screw cap pen ("Classic Elite Rollerball" from PSI for example). Seems like they are very fine and could easily be cross-threaded if the user is not very careful. Is it general knowledge among the pros here that this type of cheap pen kit is not recommended?

Also, the similar snap-cap pen from Woodcraft seems very sensitive to the way the snap mechanism is adjusted. I set it once and exercised the cap on and off a few hundred times and it loosened up and needed re-adjustment. Is this type of pen kit also prone to problems and should I stay away from it? I just don't see many snap-cap pen kits out there to choose from. If someone can recommend a supplier for a better kit I'd sure appreciate it because I'm very new at this hobby and not sure of all potential sources for pen kits.

I noticed some other kits, for example, the Streamline American Screw Cap kit from Berea and the Baron from Arizona Silohouette. Anyone have experience with these, and are the threads on these pens considered superior to that one I tried from PSI?

Finally, those great looking kits like Gentleman's, Emporer, and Statesmen are screw-cap and based on all the discussion and pics of those here I assume they are better quality threads. Is that true? (Unfortunatley, right now I'm looking for a cap that fits on back of pen or I'd use one of those).

Really sorry this post is so lengthy but I want to do a great capped pen and if anyone of the pros here can direct me to a specific high-quality kit (either snap-cap or screw-cap) that I'm not aware of that has a proven reputation for durability, I'd sure appreciate hearing about it.

Have a great day everyone and thanks for any help you can provide, I look forward to any suggestions.

KPG

 

[mrcook4570]

I am not fond of any of the snap caps available to us. The plastic insert tends to wear out/break. I am also not fond of any psi kit that has threads. Berea and CSU kits are much better, IMHO. The baron from berea and the jr gent/jr statesman from csu have very good threads, look good when finished, and are very popular among my customers.

 

[Dario]

What Stan said.

I only buy Berea and CSUSA kits for years now.

 

[gerryr]

I haven't made a PSI screw cap kit so I can't comment on them specifically, but in general, metal to metal threads stink. The first capped pen I made was a Berea Flattop American rollerball and it was constantly unthreading in my pocket. The same problem exists with the Berea Roundtop European rollerball and fountain pen kits. I do not make either of those styles anymore. CSUSA's Americana is much more reliable even though it has a snap cap, but I rarely even make those. A B2B Baron is not much bigger, works better and looks better, IMO. Plus you can post the cap on it, as well as on the Jr. Gentleman and Jr. Statesman.

 

[arioux]

Hi,

From my hown experience, Psi make some nice kit on the non thread side but all PSI kit that have threads really sucks. One out of 5 is ok the rest is just trouble after a few twist / untwist. you add great advice sor for. Berea and SCU for threaded kits for me. Baron the best thread all around IMHO[]

Alfred

 

[KGP]

My thanks to Stan, Dario, gerryr, and Alfred for your replies to my questions. Just back from vacation but I now have the Baron and Jr. Gentlemen's pen kits to build. I see they have black threads, it appears to be a coating of some kind over what looks like copper on the Baron. Anyone know what this coating material is? Anyway, the threads work really smoothly as you guys explained and that is what I was looking for.

Thanks again for all the great recommendations, really appreciate it.

KGP []