My question is pretty similar to the "commercial vs turned thread", but I don't want to hijack that thread since my question is a little different.
I went to the Fountain Pen Network, and searched for all threads pertaining to "wood". I found hardly anything. One guy started a thread that he was looking for a good wooden pen. The members there didn't mention anything about guys like us who turn pens out of wood. Finally, one of us chimed in, and linked his website. A guy commented with...
"Not all wooden pens are worth it. There are unfortunately many wood hobbyists who make beautiful wooden pens and then buy low-quality bad-writing nibs to put in them. So if you buy a hand-made one, make sure it has a good nib."
The penmaker responded to say that sure, there are cheap hardware kits out there, but most of the custom wooden penmakers are using hardware and nibs of the same quality as commercial pen-makers.
The thread continues, and no one really even comments further, just adding their thoughts on more commercially made pens that might be made from wood.
If you want to read the thread, it's here...
http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=9969&hl=wood
My question is...what can we expect the fountain pen aficionados opinion to be of even our best pens?
I've gotta make a couple of assumtions, here...the audience in question will to drop a grand or more on a pen. This probably makes them a little leary of any pen-maker who is creating pens from a "kit". (maybe we should start selling our pens for $1,000 to make them feel better )
Next...perhaps this audience is really not that aware of us. I don't know the whole history of our craft, but I don't remember Craft Supplies offering the Gentlemen's, Statesmen's, or other higher end pens five to ten years ago. And then the Emperor came out (I'm guessing) 3 years ago, while the Imperial and Lotus have only been available this year. (If I'm correct...)
So my point here is that perhaps this group of pen buyers just haven't seen much of our work in the last 3-4 years. I think that the high end of our craft has really changed dramatically in the last few years. Perhaps his statement about not finding high quality nibs on our pens was actually true 5-10 years ago.
Any thoughts here? I'm just wondering why that market (to the best of my knowledge) has not really taken advantage of our better prices, when the quality difference isn't there? Honestly, most of us don't sell our highest end pens for more than $200 (many for less), unless there is a special material, or something else unique about the pen.
Maybe the simple answer is the fact that the audience in question doesn't feel like they have quality unless they get it from Tiffany's, Sak's, etc...maybe a guy who spent $100,000 on a Porsche is not interested in someone who built an AC Cobra for $30,000 out of his garage, even though they both perform well.
Thoughts?
I went to the Fountain Pen Network, and searched for all threads pertaining to "wood". I found hardly anything. One guy started a thread that he was looking for a good wooden pen. The members there didn't mention anything about guys like us who turn pens out of wood. Finally, one of us chimed in, and linked his website. A guy commented with...
"Not all wooden pens are worth it. There are unfortunately many wood hobbyists who make beautiful wooden pens and then buy low-quality bad-writing nibs to put in them. So if you buy a hand-made one, make sure it has a good nib."
The penmaker responded to say that sure, there are cheap hardware kits out there, but most of the custom wooden penmakers are using hardware and nibs of the same quality as commercial pen-makers.
The thread continues, and no one really even comments further, just adding their thoughts on more commercially made pens that might be made from wood.
If you want to read the thread, it's here...
http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=9969&hl=wood
My question is...what can we expect the fountain pen aficionados opinion to be of even our best pens?
I've gotta make a couple of assumtions, here...the audience in question will to drop a grand or more on a pen. This probably makes them a little leary of any pen-maker who is creating pens from a "kit". (maybe we should start selling our pens for $1,000 to make them feel better )
Next...perhaps this audience is really not that aware of us. I don't know the whole history of our craft, but I don't remember Craft Supplies offering the Gentlemen's, Statesmen's, or other higher end pens five to ten years ago. And then the Emperor came out (I'm guessing) 3 years ago, while the Imperial and Lotus have only been available this year. (If I'm correct...)
So my point here is that perhaps this group of pen buyers just haven't seen much of our work in the last 3-4 years. I think that the high end of our craft has really changed dramatically in the last few years. Perhaps his statement about not finding high quality nibs on our pens was actually true 5-10 years ago.
Any thoughts here? I'm just wondering why that market (to the best of my knowledge) has not really taken advantage of our better prices, when the quality difference isn't there? Honestly, most of us don't sell our highest end pens for more than $200 (many for less), unless there is a special material, or something else unique about the pen.
Maybe the simple answer is the fact that the audience in question doesn't feel like they have quality unless they get it from Tiffany's, Sak's, etc...maybe a guy who spent $100,000 on a Porsche is not interested in someone who built an AC Cobra for $30,000 out of his garage, even though they both perform well.
Thoughts?