I've ordered from BearToothWoods for years and always had a great experience. Ernie seems like a really nice guy.
Recently I decided to try the "Perfect Fit" kit. It's basically a twist pen, but I chose it specifically because it's apparently designed for easy swapping between a Parker style refill and the Schmidt DSM 2006 0.7mm pencil mechanism (I understand there's also a 0.5mm variant available).
I did what I usually do when I order a new kit from BTW - pick the finish I want, and add the required bushings and drill bits to cart if I don't have them already. Ernie's site makes it easy to find all that stuff in one place. In this case, his site showed an 11/32 and an 8.2mm bit were the ones needed.
When the kit arrived, I cut and drilled the two halves of my blank and got ready to glue in the tubes... only to find that the hole was far too large for the smaller body half of the pen. Looking carefully through the manufacturer instructions (this is originally a Berea kit), I noticed that they specified an 11/32" and an O size bit, which is ~8.02mm. Not 8.2mm.
Understandable mistake. I was able to order replacement tubes and a new blank, and it worked just fine with the 8mm bit I already had. I'm a big fan of the Schmidt mechanism so far. The pen itself is fine, not anything particularly special beyond its ability to take the Schmidt pencil mechanism.
I sent an email to Ernie asking him to update his site so that nobody else would buy an 8.2mm drill bit and ruin a blank like I did. Never did hear back from him, and it looks like his site still shows 8.2mm as the bit you want for the Perfect Fit kit. Maybe he'll get around to fixing that at some point.
In the meantime, if you're looking to try the Perfect Fit kit, use an 8mm or O size drill bit, and skip the 8.2mm for sale on BearToothWoods
Recently I decided to try the "Perfect Fit" kit. It's basically a twist pen, but I chose it specifically because it's apparently designed for easy swapping between a Parker style refill and the Schmidt DSM 2006 0.7mm pencil mechanism (I understand there's also a 0.5mm variant available).
I did what I usually do when I order a new kit from BTW - pick the finish I want, and add the required bushings and drill bits to cart if I don't have them already. Ernie's site makes it easy to find all that stuff in one place. In this case, his site showed an 11/32 and an 8.2mm bit were the ones needed.
When the kit arrived, I cut and drilled the two halves of my blank and got ready to glue in the tubes... only to find that the hole was far too large for the smaller body half of the pen. Looking carefully through the manufacturer instructions (this is originally a Berea kit), I noticed that they specified an 11/32" and an O size bit, which is ~8.02mm. Not 8.2mm.
Understandable mistake. I was able to order replacement tubes and a new blank, and it worked just fine with the 8mm bit I already had. I'm a big fan of the Schmidt mechanism so far. The pen itself is fine, not anything particularly special beyond its ability to take the Schmidt pencil mechanism.
I sent an email to Ernie asking him to update his site so that nobody else would buy an 8.2mm drill bit and ruin a blank like I did. Never did hear back from him, and it looks like his site still shows 8.2mm as the bit you want for the Perfect Fit kit. Maybe he'll get around to fixing that at some point.
In the meantime, if you're looking to try the Perfect Fit kit, use an 8mm or O size drill bit, and skip the 8.2mm for sale on BearToothWoods
