Woodcraft Pen Kits

[BernieW]

I purchased about 20 slimline pen kits from Woodcraft about a month ago. I have a order of 15 pens to fill for my accountant at H & R Block. I got the acrylic pen blanks cut and glued. I have turned about 6 now and all six the tips and clip ends I can push them in by hand and take the out by hand. I have used a little epoxy to hold them in place. This kind of bothers me because I have one from Ernie at Beartooth Woods and it had to be pressed in and fits fine. Has anyone else had this problem with Woodcraft kits? I got these kits from Woodcraft in Denver because she needs them by next weekend. Thanks.

 

[RONB]

I put a very small drop of C.A. on the parts when I assemble them,even if they press fit.This is to avoid loose fittings.

 

[MobilMan]

NEVER. Every pen kit I've ever purchased [a good 200+] have come from them, either directly from one of their stores or ordered from catalogue, and have always been complete & always fit perfectly. 75% have been slimline, [wife loves giving them to family & reunions & friends]. She snatched up one of my first ones about 3 yrs ago [zebrewood] & uses it daily & carries it in her purse a lot. I just the other day compared the finish on it to a new kit [24ct gold] & cannot see any difference. Holds the finish better than I thought it would. But I use Ren. Wax on all of them, finish & all.

 

[Don_Hart]

I have only purchased a few kits from woodcraft but all of them have been fine. The kits sold at woodcraft are from Berea Hardwoods http://www.bereahardwoods.com/new/ and should be of good quality. I would drop by the store and tell them about the problem.

 

[Russianwolf]

quickly check the fit of the nib and finial on a fresh tube. If it fits correctly, then you may be reaming out the tube while trimming the blank just enough to cause the fit problem.

If the problem still exists with a fresh tube, then I'd complain to them.

 

[monkeynutz]

Originally posted by Russianwolf

quickly check the fit of the nib and finial on a fresh tube. If it fits correctly, then you may be reaming out the tube while trimming the blank just enough to cause the fit problem.

That's what it sounds like to me. I've done a few that way myself. [:I]

 

[BernieW]

Thanks for the comments. I never thought about when trimming the blank I could be reaming them out. I will watch that on the next one and see if that is where my problem lies.

 

[redfishsc]

I have problems just like this from Berea.

However, the problem is totally eradicated with the use of the epoxy. I do this on EVERY pen I assemble. I recently tried to disassemble one of these pens and it was impossible (which is the other side of the two-edged epoxy sword). I had a pen with a broken transmission that needed to be replaced, and normally I run a very thin rod through the tranny to knock out the nib, then reverse and knock out the faulty tranny. Nothin' doin! That nib would NOT come out, NO negotiating!

I had to use a hacksaw to cut the old transmission flush and use the new transmission to press the old one down into the pen while securing the new tranny. The refill fits and works perfectly.