Cambridge KIt???

[Smitty37]

Not adverse to a little hype themselves

Here is what Berea says and is posted on Bill's site at AZ. Everyone can make their own choice I guess. I just asked a question and di not want to start any sales wars. I am satisfied for now. Thanks everyone once again.

Berea Hardwoods Pen Kits Are Different
by Mr. Jim Heusinger, President, Berea Hardwoods, Inc.
The Berea Hardwoods pen kits are not the same as the "discount' kits, generic kits or kits for people on a budget. All of these terms are very often used as a nice way of saying poorly made and/or inferior kits. Berea Hardwoods makes every attempt to offer kits that are well engineered, designed and plated.​

"It would be very easy for us to cheapen the kits and sell them at a lower price. There are many ways to do this such as using a cheap tumbler 24k "epoxy" coated plating or to use less durable twist mechanisms or to put less ink in our refills or use cheap center rings, clips, etc.​

Superior Plating​

When we use 24k plating we use an upgraded 24k gold "rack" plating where each part in individually plated on a 'plating tree'. We offer a wide range of superior platings such as titanium gold, black titanium, real platinum, heavy sterling silver and chrome.​

Which does nothing for the wear properties of 24kt gold and in what way are real platinum and heavy sterling silver superior?
Superior to what... I am in no way running down Berea's products, I know nothing about them at all. But, at least in one respect they are like all other companies - there is some hype in their advertising.

 

[Kaspar]

You can also get Berea kits from Bill Baumbeck at Arizona Silhouette in case this hasn't been mentioned already.

My understanding of the Berea Gold Ti may be inaccurate (and I welcome correction on the matter) but is as follows:

Gold Titanium, Yellow Ti etc. is titanium plating that has been chemically oxidized to a gold-ish color. It may or may not contain actual gold. The Berea Gold Titanium is both yellowed ti and a good deal of actual gold imparting a much closer match in the color of gold and the durability of titanium. The superior quality of the Berea REAL Gold Ti is very obvious to me, especially when comparing it to CS-USA's Gold Ti junior gent. (I love CS-USA kits best of all, but that gold ti is just sickly looking. I mention this in the hope that CS-USA might try to get that excellent REAL gold Ti into that kit. :wink

Re: Berea kits in general, though I have some problems with the aesthetics of some of them, I do not doubt their quality nor do I doubt that a lot of deliberation went into them.

 

[Smitty37]

TN

You can also get Berea kits from Bill Baumbeck at Arizona Silhouette in case this hasn't been mentioned already.

My understanding of the Berea Gold Ti may be inaccurate (and I welcome correction on the matter) but is as follows:

Gold Titanium, Yellow Ti etc. is titanium plating that has been chemically oxidized to a gold-ish color. It may or may not contain actual gold. The Berea Gold Titanium is both yellowed ti and a good deal of actual gold imparting a much closer match in the color of gold and the durability of titanium. The superior quality of the Berea REAL Gold Ti is very obvious to me, especially when comparing it to CS-USA's Gold Ti junior gent. (I love CS-USA kits best of all, but that gold ti is just sickly looking. I mention this in the hope that CS-USA might try to get that excellent REAL gold Ti into that kit. :wink

Re: Berea kits in general, though I have some problems with the aesthetics of some of them, I do not doubt their quality nor do I doubt that a lot of deliberation went into them.

The plating Titanium Gold or TN Gold is mostly Titanium Nitride which is a ceramic..it is gold in color whether or not there is any actual gold present. It is not created by oxidation [from Wikipedia--The most common methods of TiN thin film creation are physical vapor deposition (PVD, usually sputter deposition, cathodic arc deposition or electron beam heating) and chemical vapor deposition (CVD). In both methods, pure titanium is sublimated and reacted with nitrogen in a high-energy, vacuum environment. ]. Some manufacturers add a small amount of gold to the alloy.

Perhaps TN can also be used as a base coat with gold being applied over it the gold would wear but wear would be less noticable because the gold color base....but I don't know if that is possible.

 

[jttheclockman]

Well I guess you can just about read anything you want into anyone of the manufactorers plating claims. My question started out with the drill bit size in question and then graduated into the plating on woodcraft hybrid canbridge kits. I asked if there were users out there and if any one seen any problems or differences and since no one has I chose to keep the kits and will field test them for myself. If they are of the same quality then why should I pay a higher price for a name?? I am just like everyone on this forum looking for a better price on a quality product. I am all for buying from members but that just goes so far. There are lots of examples in the past and will continue to be in the future.

 

[MesquiteMan]

Why don't someone call Berea and ask them what Woodcraft Gold is, if they will say. They import and sell to Berea so they would know. They may not be able or willing to say, though.

 

[ed4copies]

Why don't someone call Berea and ask them what Woodcraft Gold is, if they will say. They import and sell to Berea so they would know. They may not be able or willing to say, though.

Curtis, as you know, in industry, unlike some think the IAP should be, there ARE trade secrets.

I believe you just found one.
But feel free to call them.

 

[DurocShark]

The gold Ti on my Cambridge Ultra from Arizona Silhouette is what I made my latest gold nugget pen from. It's a darn near perfect match with the gold leaf in the resin, however they did the plating.

My only complaint with the Cambridge (and the El Grande) is how loose the coupler is in the cap tube. Every single one I've made has needed a dab of loctite to keep it from spinning.

 

[jttheclockman]

The gold Ti on my Cambridge Ultra from Arizona Silhouette is what I made my latest gold nugget pen from. It's a darn near perfect match with the gold leaf in the resin, however they did the plating.

My only complaint with the Cambridge (and the El Grande) is how loose the coupler is in the cap tube. Every single one I've made has needed a dab of loctite to keep it from spinning.

Don, that is good info that I was looking for. I will look out for this. Are there any other parts of this kit that need attention?? There seems to be an awful lot of parts to this kit as I look at the package.

 

[DurocShark]

Not that I've seen. Just the press fit parts, particularly the coupler.

 

[dexter0606]

My only complaint with the Cambridge (and the El Grande) is how loose the coupler is in the cap tube. Every single one I've made has needed a dab of loctite to keep it from spinning.

I have only used the Berea kits and to this day have never had an issue with the center band coupler being loose. And I've made a fairly large number of this style, including Churchills and Canadiana's.

 

[Smitty37]

dead in the middle

Well I guess you can just about read anything you want into anyone of the manufactorers plating claims. My question started out with the drill bit size in question and then graduated into the plating on woodcraft hybrid canbridge kits. I asked if there were users out there and if any one seen any problems or differences and since no one has I chose to keep the kits and will field test them for myself. If they are of the same quality then why should I pay a higher price for a name?? I am just like everyone on this forum looking for a better price on a quality product. I am all for buying from members but that just goes so far. There are lots of examples in the past and will continue to be in the future.

Regarding your original question when converted to decimal inches 13.3mm is just about dead half way between 33/64 and 17/32.