Bigger Pen Kit questions

[RyanNJ]

I am looking to get some bigger pen kits that will display more wood.
I have turned some cigar kits from woodnwhimsies and like them a lot. so i was wondering what other kits were big like the cigar and the best place to buy them

 

[ed4copies]

IN MY OPINION!!! You do well continuing with the cigar. I have turned and sold many hundreds of them. Not ONE returned for a failure. Couple plating issues, nothing major. Why fight with success??

And, I don't KNOW of any other designs that offer a nice fat body. The cigar is less likely to crack, after assembly, than any other kit I have used.

In short, not much to improve on.

FWIW

 

[RyanNJ]

ok thanks. i posted up my post recent on in the show off your works section...
i did something wrong assembling it or squaring it and i cant figure out what i did wrong. the ink will not retract

 

[ed4copies]

Couple possibilities:

The tolerance in the cap section requires that the upper brass tube be free of "leftover" glue.

SOME of the recent kits (usually from China) have too much plating on the inside of the centerband and don't offer enough clearance for the lower piece. Dremel with an abrasive in the inside of the centerband will fix---some take a fair amount of help.

Again, this is a recent (past two years) development. The older kits had a better "fit". They also cost a couple bucks more than the newer ones.

 

[bgibb42]

This is my opinion (worth what you're paying for it):

The cigar pen is indeed a well made and popular pen style. However, you will find some folks (like me) who do NOT like the fat feel of the pen. I like the El Grande. I think it offers a similar amount of space to show off any blank you might be using, but the front section of the pen is slimmer than the rest of the pen, and has some ergonomic shape to it. Be prepared, though; when turned down to size, there is only a thin layer of material left on the tubes, so some woods might be prone to cracking. However, it is this thinness that contributes to the very light weight of the El Grande, which I like. This is a Berea set of components, and is available from them or some of their resellers.

Another suggestion might be the Panache from Craft Supplies. This pen offers a quite a bit of surface area, has a pleasing shape, no clip (meant to stand up on it's own), and little in the way of "bling" to distract from the blank.

 

[dexter0606]

Hi Ryan
The cigar is a fairly nice pen. There all kinds of variations that are available as Ed suggested. Plus there are Hygrid and Ultra kits. These haven't been one of my bigger sellers though. When people around here are looking for a bigger pen they typically want a rollerball. I've just gotten into the El Grande kits. They are cheaper than the Cambridge and Canadiana's I've been making but they are still a nice pen that I can sell a little cheaper than the Cambridge and Canadiana. I actually got my El Grande's at a clearance price from my supplier. I bought they last 20 he had about three weeks ago and since that time have sold 8 of them.
I'm wondering if the problem that you have with the cigar that won't retract is the same problem I have with the one laying on my desk in front of me now.
I didn't pay attention to the difference in tube lengths and assembled the pen with the shorter cap end on the bottom. Oooops!
Haven't gotten around to disaasembling it yet

Jeff