pens not holding up over time

[vacca rabite]

Hey all. Over the past 2 years I've made ~80 -100 pens.
Several of which I keep at work and use daily.
The pens are all sorts of different makes, from PSI and Woodcraft and others.

My issue is that they don't seem to hold up when used often. Metal finishes chip and flake. Friction fit joints eventually slip (seems to be a huge issue with the Navigator rollerballs from Woodcraft). CA finishes start to delaminate, or get scarred up.

I have not had any complaints from the pens that I have sold, and maybe I'm harder on them then others. But Ive stopped turning pens as I am unimpressed with how they hold up over time, and don't want to sell a product that falls apart a year later if actually used.

Am I an outlier here, or have others noticed the same thing.
Zach

 

[hard hat]

That is what they do. I've upgraded the kits I use to utilized only titanium nitride or stainless steel, and use loctite on press fit components. The selection of materials has also changed, solid materials such as resins and plastics, M3, and stabilized blanks are the primary choices.

 

[jcm71]

Zach,
Need more specifics. What type of pens and specifically, what type of platings. How are they used? Stored? What temperature extremes are they exposed to? Are all the pens failing or are pens from specific manufactures/vendors? Anything, no matter how well made, over time and if abused and used hard is going to deteriorate. Even Bentleys and Rolls Royces eventually make it to the scrap heap.

 

[edstreet]

Zach,
Need more specifics. What type of pens and specifically, what type of platings. How are they used? Stored? What temperature extremes are they exposed to? Are all the pens failing or are pens from specific manufactures/vendors? Anything, no matter how well made, over time and if abused and used hard is going to deteriorate. Even Bentleys and Rolls Royces eventually make it to the scrap heap.

I think most if not all of us have seen pens undergo radical changes over time, even in stored, controlled and limited to no use areas. This would equate to your Bentley's and Rolls Royces going 'bad' by sitting on the show room floor. The OP has a very good observation to make which should be on the minds of everyone; that is vitality and longevity.

This is also a very good time to point out and ask how many pen turners considers where the final product will be used at.

 

[Smitty37]

I can speak only to a few - my wifes, which is a PSI Slimline Pro that she has had for about 4 1/2 - 5 years. It's 24k Gold, used almost every day here in the house (she writes herself a to do list every day) at this point the finish (shellawax) has dulled, the plating is still perfect and the click function works like brand new.

I have a Le Roi Elegant Click that I operated the clicker 5000 times before I let any go out the door, then I continued to operate it 40 or 50 times a day for another 3 to 4 months and use it occasionally still. I also still play with the clicker now and then. Still works perfectly - the plating is chrome/black chrome and the pen is roughly treated tossed in and taken out of a pen cup it shares with about a dozen other pens of various stripes. No problems and No visible damage to the plating.

I really only have one (which is a long clicker that was given to me for my collection) that shows premature wear and that is only on the end of the click button where the 24k gold finish wore rather quickly.

With decent finishing wood can go a long time without the finish showing wear but it will eventually show wear in the places where it's rubbed, just like furniture. If you want a natural wood look (and there are folks that do want that) you are just going to have to learn to live with that. Some of the acrylics should never show wear because what wears has the same thing underneath. I would expect that many of the acrylics don't need a protective finish and in fact, under normal use, will probably wear better unfinished than the finish will wear - I don't really have much proof of that other than seeing Acrylics used in many other applications - my acrylic kitchen knife handles have been in use for years and show no signs of wear.

I have not observed any of my press fits failing IF they were tight fit when assembled. I have one pen that I never sold because it wasn't well done, that one press fit part never did fit tightly enough - eventually I will glue that part in.

I've also never has anyone complain or return a pen for a failure where things became loose, but I don't have all that many pens out there and I suspect a lot of pens get lost, stolen or put in drawers and forgotten.

 

[KenV]

Zach - my wear pen is an early black titanium cigar - Use it as a carry pen for well over 10 years. It is due to be refinished again. I have used close to a dozen fisher parker style refills through it in all kinds of outside weather as well as in the office. The edges have worn through the plating and there is a chip or two next to the fittings that will need some black epoxy fill -- will spruce it up and be ready for a good many more years. --- It is a working pen and is a good working pen. Not in perfect new condition, but still a good writing instrument.

 

[vacca rabite]

The Navigator kits are the ones that seem to all have poor press fittings. Sadly I bought a ton of them at discount when my local Woodcraft went under. I may just start using CA when I put them together. The other thing I'm going to move away from is the CA finish. It makes for a shiny pen, but does not seem to hold up. If it goes from warm to cold (like in my briefcase if I leave it in the car on a winters weekend) I have had delamination and at one time even cracking. I guess for soft woods I need to use it but for the most part I'm moving away from it. I don't make a lot of acrylic pens. That may be part of it as well.

I made some El Grande kits early that we're used a lot, and again the parts were not great quality and loosened up. I guess part of the game is learning what kits are good and what kits are rubbish.

The Sierra/Wall Street/Gatsby kits all seem to hold up, except for one Wall Street where the metal finish is flaking. It was my car pen so it bounced around my glove box. Wear was expected.

 

[monark88]

I use a gold slimline pen, at times, that was given to me in 2000. It still has, visibly, the original plating. Not worn.

On the other hand, I made a few Combo pen/pencil kits from CSUSA and the gold plating came off in less than 6 months. The mechanism also failed a couple months later.

Also, I made several Sierras in Pearl and the plating failed in all kits. Even some unused kits in the drawer started failing.

I don't make pens with kits any longer. But, thats also my choice. I do make the "kitless" ones.

Russ

 

[Smitty37]

The Navigator kits are the ones that seem to all have poor press fittings. Sadly I bought a ton of them at discount when my local Woodcraft went under. I may just start using CA when I put them together. The other thing I'm going to move away from is the CA finish. It makes for a shiny pen, but does not seem to hold up. If it goes from warm to cold (like in my briefcase if I leave it in the car on a winters weekend) I have had delamination and at one time even cracking. I guess for soft woods I need to use it but for the most part I'm moving away from it. I don't make a lot of acrylic pens. That may be part of it as well.

I made some El Grande kits early that we're used a lot, and again the parts were not great quality and loosened up. I guess part of the game is learning what kits are good and what kits are rubbish.

The Sierra/Wall Street/Gatsby kits all seem to hold up, except for one Wall Street where the metal finish is flaking. It was my car pen so it bounced around my glove box. Wear was expected.

I think I would stick with Gold Tn, Black To, Rhodium, Chrome and Black Chrome. I never hear very much about any of those platings going bad. Copper and Gunmetal seem to hold up pretty good too

I've got a collection and I get many different finishes but the pens are all stored inside with free circulation of air. Temperature is usually between 70 and 80 depending on time of year and humidity between 45 and 65 so they don't see extremes. On those I see no sign of any finish failures - their age ranges from 3 years to a couple of months in my possession - some of them might not have been brand new when I got them.