To heck with gold accents

[RSidetrack]

Never ever buying gold accents again - only Gold TN!

I would buy a bunch of the slimlines with the gold accents cause they were cheap and would be an easy way to play - but not worth it. I have had a couple very nice pens just get ruined due to something with the weather.

It was partly my fault, I was taking them around to show people and forgot them in my truck. 98 degrees and the windows weren't cracked. I expected to find the pens cracked or the finish coming off - nope that was fine, but the gold had half turned black! Very weird.

More of a venting than anything but in my opinion - the gold plated stuff is not good for even play pens. Though it was high temps :redface:

 

[Ruby pen turning]

Very odd. It should not matter what the temp is, I would not think a plating should turn color unless it was put in a fire flame.

 

[pianomanpj]

Perhaps it wasn't the gold. A lot of 24k gold pens are coated with epoxy to protect the finish. Maybe it was THAT that discolored.

 

[RSidetrack]

Perhaps it wasn't the gold. A lot of 24k gold pens are coated with epoxy to protect the finish. Maybe it was THAT that discolored.

You could be very right about that - when I am less depressed I will take another look at them - but I fear they are done for - I am going to buy a disassembly kit as the blanks are very nice.

 

[U-Turn]

A disassembly kit was one of the best buys I made - saved many a good blank!!!!

 

[ohiococonut]

A disassembly kit was one of the best buys I made - saved many a good blank!!!!

Yes they are. I just bought a set of the punches from HF to take apart a cigar pen I really butchered the finish on. Now it doesn't look like a warthog :biggrin:

 

[IPD_Mr]

I would buy a bunch of the slimlines with the gold accents cause they were cheap and would be an easy way to play

I do not want to sound like a pen snob on this but your statement above really says it all. To me slimlines are just that, cheap pens that you play and learn with. Can they make nice pens? Sure they can. But if you decide to sell them and don't want to risk issues with plating and upset customers, then you have to go with the better quality platings. Now your kit is costing more and pretty close to some of the better quality bigger kits. Bigger kits give you the ability to really show off some great materials. Now your prices go up for about the same amount of work if not less. As long as your market will support it, to me the bigger and better quality pens are the way to go.

Don't get me wrong slimlines have their place and some people have been very successful selling them.

 

[RSidetrack]

I would buy a bunch of the slimlines with the gold accents cause they were cheap and would be an easy way to play

I do not want to sound like a pen snob on this but your statement above really says it all. To me slimlines are just that, cheap pens that you play and learn with. Can they make nice pens? Sure they can. But if you decide to sell them and don't want to risk issues with plating and upset customers, then you have to go with the better quality platings. Now your kit is costing more and pretty close to some of the better quality bigger kits. Bigger kits give you the ability to really show off some great materials. Now your prices go up for about the same amount of work if not less. As long as your market will support it, to me the bigger and better quality pens are the way to go.

Don't get me wrong slimlines have their place and some people have been very successful selling them.

Oh I totally agree - but that is why I buy them for practice and personal use and just hand outs for friends and such - but makes for a crummy idea of what I can really do if the finishes are all falling off - but I don't sell slimlines - doesn't seem to be worth the effort. It was just a big disappointment more than a total loss - but the crafting I did on them I really liked and like to show it off

 

[nava1uni]

I disagree about slim line pens. I buy good quality slim lines and it is like having a canvas to make all kinds of different pens. The bigger pens are nice and they also allow creativity, but I really like making slim lines and with a good finish there is no problem.

 

[jskeen]

I agree that the gold slims are only good for learning with, and most people do eventually quit making them once they get to the point that their blanks are up to putting on better kits.

However, There is a fairly large segment of the pen buying public that simply doesn't WANT to buy a bigger, heavier, fancier pen. I always have some Ti Gold and Platinum plated slimlines on hand, and I still sell them from time to time. I have had more people than I can count fondle the big fountain pens, sometimes compliment the materials or the workmanship (which is nice), and then buy a nice slimline because "I just want something light I can put in my pocket".

 

[sbwertz]

Perhaps it wasn't the gold. A lot of 24k gold pens are coated with epoxy to protect the finish. Maybe it was THAT that discolored.

You could be very right about that - when I am less depressed I will take another look at them - but I fear they are done for - I am going to buy a disassembly kit as the blanks are very nice.

You don't need a disassembly kit. Get the cheap set of punches from HF and use a drilled blank to press the tranny into. Use a small punch to tap out the tip then put the tranny into the drilled blank and put a punch in from the other end and use your pen press to push the tranny out into the drilled blank. It works better than the kit because you can use it with any size tube. I have had a problem getting the tranny back out of the metal block that comes with the disassembly kit, but it drops right out of a drilled blank.

 

[CabinetMaker]

Gold doesn't turn black unless it is a REALLY low grade like less than 10 caret. I think the pens you bought were a bit misrepresented it terms of quality.

 

[Smitty37]

Probably not the gold

Never ever buying gold accents again - only Gold TN!

I would buy a bunch of the slimlines with the gold accents cause they were cheap and would be an easy way to play - but not worth it. I have had a couple very nice pens just get ruined due to something with the weather.

It was partly my fault, I was taking them around to show people and forgot them in my truck. 98 degrees and the windows weren't cracked. I expected to find the pens cracked or the finish coming off - nope that was fine, but the gold had half turned black! Very weird.

More of a venting than anything but in my opinion - the gold plated stuff is not good for even play pens. Though it was high temps :redface:

1. I would guess that your kits are epoxy coated to increase wear. Epoxy is suseptable to heat.
2. It isn't just gold, it isn't just slimlines and it isn't just low priced kits that are epoxy coated. Silver and Copper and gun metal in particular are usually so coated to prevent wear and corrosion. Chrome and Black Chrome, Rhodium and the Titanium Nitrides are probably not epoxy coated.