Berea "Glacia"

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zig613

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I have a client who purchases 40-50 pens from me on an annual basis. Traditionally they have selected a single barrel pen… the Daycom "Aero" kit (black titanium and chrome) with a green with white line whirl acrylic blank (company colours). This year they are thinking about changing to another single barrel pen style. One of kits they are considering is Berea "Glacia" kit in chrome https://www.bereahardwoods.com/pen-kit/sets/glacia-ballpoint-chrome.html. I haven't seen or made the Glacia before. Can anyone who has made this kit offer any comments (pro or cons) on it before I provide feedback to my client. Also, quality wise how does it stack up to the "Aero"?

Thanks,

Wade
 
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magpens

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You can't beat the Aero for quality and (I think) attractive styling. . I especially like the click versions.

I tried the Glacia a few years ago when it first appeared. . It is attractive visually, and has some unique "engraving" on the finial, as I recall.

But, ... again, as I recall ... I think the body is a bit lacking in "meat" at the final turned dimension. . I like to have a body wall thickness of at least 0.050" over the whole length, and I think the Glacia drops below 0.040" at the writing end.

In this respect, the Glacia is somewhat like the PSI Executive, which I don't use very much for the same reason.

So, if my memory is correct, those are my recollections. . I like the Glacia styling but haven't made any in recent times.

I just tried to check the IAP Bushing & Tube Tables for the sizing that I am referring to, but the crucial bushing size info is missing.
 

Gersh

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I've made several Glacias and they are a fun pen but there are some downsides. First they are significantly shorter than most pens. My wife describes it as a "purse sized pen" because of the length. Also as Mal pointed out it does have a thinner body thickness at the nib.

In terms of quality I cant compare to the aero but I've had several out in the wild for over a year and I've had no complaints.

Hope this helps
 

budnder

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Just commenting from memory of having made a few of each 18 months ago... was pleasantly surprised with the Aero - it really had a quality feel to it. Glacia was cute, but a step down in quality, and I recall thinking it's primary benefit was it took a much skinnier blank, and I remember thinking that was I might use a Glacia - when I had too skinny a blank for other kits. I'll also echo the above comment about the Glacia being a "purse" pen.

Magpen is also right on with the quality comparison of Glacia to the Executive.

For a similar quality to Aero, how about something like a Diamond Knurl:


I find the quality of the Exotic Blank/Smitty "sierra clones" (Diamond Knurl, Ellipse, LeRoi, etc.) to be really good. There's some click variations with those as well, if your customer is looking to change it up a bit.
 

DrD

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The Glacia, like the BHW Retro and the PSI Executive is styled after the Parker DuoFold Executive - a very stylish pen in its' day. I have made a boatload of the BHW Retro and PSI Executive kits. Very easy to make/assemble. They are like the bunny in flip-flops, they just keep going and going and going, never had any come back for repairs, but did get a fair numbers of reorders.

Just looked at assembly instructions for Glacia - seems to be a piece of cake. Don't have one to measure, but I seem to remember that with the PSI kit, I could turn 2 tubes from 1 blank - I think. It all looks good to me.
 

magpens

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Further to my first (and preliminary) post above .......

The Glacia is quite a nice looking Ballpoint pen (BP) when fully assembled, and I respect Berea quality.
There is some ornamentation on the top of the finial.
There is some attractive ornamental engraving (blackened) on a ring that fits below the finial and completes it.
The refill operation is a finial twist mechanism.
The nib is rather long with the exposed portion being ... 1.328" long and is tapered with maximum diameter of ... 0.433" (matching the bushing).
The nib has an integral threaded stub which screws into another short brass stub piece which, in turn, presses into the brass tube.

It would seem that you can do refill replacement either by unscrewing the nib, or by pulling off the finial and unscrewing the transmission.
(or just unscrew finial plus transmission together, if appropriate).

Just did this little bit of research on the Glacia kit (made measurements on actual unused kit in my possession)....

Recommended drill size is ... 17/32" = 0.344" (actual tube diameter measures as ... 0.332")

Smaller of the two bushing size = ... 0.433" at nib end
Subtracting and dividing by 2 gives wall thickness at nib end of : ... 0.5 x ( 0.433 - 0.344) = ... 0.0445"

So, the wall thickness at nib end is ... 0.0445"

I was close, but a little off ... it's not quite as thin as I said in my first post above.

@Wayne

If you read this, could you please enter the Bushing Sizes in the Berea table as : ... Smaller (nib) = ... 0.433" and Larger (finial) = ... 0.469"

The stubs on both bushings (inserts into brass tube) measure at ... 0.313" diameter.

The tube diameter is ... 0.332" ... as already noted, and the tube length is ... 2.581" ... in case you need those numbers also for complete info.

Thanks,
 
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magpens

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@DrD

Click on Resources in the black bar above, then look for : ... (B&T) Berea Hardwoods Bushings & Tubes and click on it.

Then click on the blue Download button, and then select the "Open" option to read the PDF file. ...... Hope I have got that all correct.

You will have to scroll down to find Glacia, and remember that the pages of the table are in pairs. . The most useful data for a particular selection of Berea kits is always on the second page for that selection of kits. . I think that puts the "useful" Glacia info on the 4th page. . But bear in mind that the data for the Glacia kit is not yet complete in the table. . What I have contributed above should make the Glacia info complete ... that is why I drew it to the attention of Wayne with the @ sign and he acknowledged that. . But Wayne still has to edit the table to include my data.
 
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DrD

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@DrD

Click on Resources in the black bar above, then look for : ... (B&T) Berea Hardwoods Bushings & Tubes and click on it.

Then click on the blue Download button, and then select the "Open" option to read the PDF file. ...... Hope I have got that all correct.

You will have to scroll down to find Glacia, and remember that the pages of the table are in pairs. . The most useful data for a particular selection of Berea kits is always on the second page for that selection of kits. . I think that puts the "useful" Glacia info on the 4th page. . But bear in mind that the data for the Glacia kit is not yet complete in the table. . What I have contributed above should make the Glacia info complete ... that is why I drew it to the attention of Wayne with the @ sign and he acknowledged that. . But Wayne still has to edit the table to include my data.

Thanks, with a little fanagling I finally got to the data.
 
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