Plating on Ti Gold issue!

[HoratioHornblower]

Hi all, I made a Ti Gold Electra fountain pen for my Girlfriend at Christmas. She has used it a decent amount, but not every day I believe. I was visiting her this weekend (she lives in a different state), and I noticed obvious tarnishing on the front section that holds the nib and feed, as well as the clip and fancy cap ring. All the chrome was fine and looked great! Now, my brother's fiancé has a 24kt slimline that I made when I first started out and it looks better than my Girlfriend's Electra! Is this a common problem or should I not worry about it and just give Berea a call to ask them to send me a new kit? To me, a Ti Gold kit should not wear after almost 3 months, unless someone takes sandpaper to it! She stored it in a door in her desk and it rode in her purse some. I have had other women (my brother's fiancé being one) keep their pens in their purse all the time and the plating is not this bad off! The Electra looked to be in good shape otherwise, so the only real wear it got was on the plating...What is everyone's thoughts? I can't sell pens that do this, so if it happens again I may not buy from Berea unless I have to. Thanks for the help!

Sincerely,
David

 

[terryf]

I would definitely send it back. Ti Gold should not do this - certainly not within three months! Could just be a bad plating and not necessarily the norm so I wouldn't be put of Berea unless it becomes the norm. (which I seriously doubt)

 

[alphageek]

I would definitely contact them and see what they say. I've not made that kid yet, but it looks like its available in "upgrade gold" or Ti Gold. I wonder if one got switched somehow.

 

[SCR0LL3R]

I have a 6 month old gold ti Sedona fountain that I gave to my GF that is not holding up all that well. My CA finish looks nearly good as new but the plating is getting some tarnished spots. It's an expensive kit and I would have expected better. The worst spot is on the grip which gets protected by the cap most of the time. She has only used 2 or 3 cartridges in it so it hasn't seen all that much use.

I'm not sure who the manufacturer is but it's one of those that matches 24k gold and doesn't have that greenish hue of the CSUSA gold ti's. I got mine from penblanks.ca and they have told me that most of their kits are Berea, but I haven't gotten specifics as to which kits they carry aren't Berea.

 

[ed4copies]

Just a "point of information"---there IS a sedona that is NOT made by Berea. Of course Berea DOES make the one sold by WoodCraft and the Berea resellers.

SOME Berea resellers also sell kits made by other manufacturers, so it is easy to be confused on who made what!!!

 

[jcm71]

I would definitely contact them and see what they say. I've not made that kid yet, but it looks like its available in "upgrade gold" or Ti Gold. I wonder if one got switched somehow.

I would also send it back. BTW, off topic, but what the heck is Upgrade Gold?

 

[Lenny]

Pen Kit Making Supplies Berea HardWoods

Upgrade gold explained

 

[ed4copies]

"Upgrade gold" is a term coined by Berea and defined, by them, as follows:

Upgrade Gold

All gold plating we use on our kits is 24K "upgrade gold". Upgrade means that the parts are plated using the rack method and that small amounts of cobalt or palladium are added to the plating chemicals. This enhances the durability of the gold plating. The tumbled method, which we do not use, produces an inferior gold plating and is less costly.

 

[arioux]

I would contact Berea and let them know about it. It happen sometimes that kits can get mixed up and you get Upgrade gold instead of TI. This is why i think it is important to let the manufacturer know about it, just in case there is a mixup somewhere..

It have happened to me in the past and the supplier was very happy to know about it.

As for the Sedona mentionned above, the poster wrote that the kit came from penblanks.ca and his Sedona kits ARE Berea. Just make sure you bought Ti gold and not upgraded gold. Again Wiliam Woodright will fix thing good for you if you let him know about it and it was inded TI gold that you bought. If it was upgrade gold then nothing to do about it. Not better than 24k as far as i'm concern, probably worst in my experience, depend on the skin and chemical of the user.

 

[PenMan1]

I didn't know that Electra was available in TN gold. All I've seen is chrome and upgrade gold.

Where did you get the TN gold Electra? WAIT..... please PM me where the TN was bought. I'm not trying to make a vendor problem, just trying to find Electra TN gold.

 

[ed4copies]

I didn't know that Electra was available in TN gold. All I've seen is chrome and upgrade gold.

Where did you get the TN gold Electra? WAIT..... please PM me where the TN was bought. I'm not trying to make a vendor problem, just trying to find Electra TN gold.

It is only available in that plating directly from Berea---at least in the USA.

 

[Robert111]

Berea sells both the upgrade and ti gold Electra kits. Roller ball versions are the same price and in the FP, the upgrade gold is actually $1 more than ti gold. Seems strange.