Hello from Missouri

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
F

fiddler69

Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2026
Messages
4
Location
Missouri
Thank you for accepting my membership to the group.

I'm in Missouri. I have a fascination with fountain pens, and own more than I should admit. I have been a massive consumer of information about this hobby for a while, and over the last couple of months decided to dive in and try to make some of my own. I am going down the path of bespoke making. I may regret not starting with kits ... and I may wind up backtracking ... but for now I'm headed down the bespoke path.

I look forward to learning all I can from the group.

-Jon
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Nice path to follow. No real need to make kit pens first (my opinion). Being a fountain pen person already is a plus. Be aware the tooling needed can be a bit expensive but rewarding. Lots of info available here and on youtube.
 
Welcome from NJ! The big deciding factor for lots of people when thinking kits or bespoke pens is the entry cost of the bespoke option. Like a lot of people here, I learned turning by making lots of kit pens and have changed my place of fun to custom pens instead - spreading the collecting of the needed tools over a number of years. I never was really into fountain pens, so not sure how exactly I got here, but it's a great creative hobby! Hope you enjoy our group!

Kevin
 
its_virgil said:
Nice path to follow. No real need to make kit pens first (my opinion). Being a fountain pen person already is a plus. Be aware the tooling needed can be a bit expensive but rewarding. Lots of info available here and on youtube.
Click to expand...
Thank you, Don. I have already taken a quick look at your links. Very nice work that I can only dream of accomplishing some day. Your images lead me to believe you work with a wood lathe rather than a metal lathe (which I know some use stand alone or in tandem with the wood lathe). I'm currently just doing down the wood lathe path. I got my new lathe a few weeks ago and have been getting tools in the mail every other day it seems. I already made the mistake of buying an eBay special tailstock floating tap and die holder. I quickly saw that was a bad move (buy once cry once ... right?). Today I purchased a new set from Rick Custom Tools. I look forward to getting that in my hands. I will be reading through your articles too.
 
NJturner said:
Welcome from NJ! The big deciding factor for lots of people when thinking kits or bespoke pens is the entry cost of the bespoke option. Like a lot of people here, I learned turning by making lots of kit pens and have changed my place of fun to custom pens instead - spreading the collecting of the needed tools over a number of years. I never was really into fountain pens, so not sure how exactly I got here, but it's a great creative hobby! Hope you enjoy our group!

Kevin
Click to expand...
Thanks, Kevin. Yes, the decision to go the custom route was hindered a bit by the cost of entry. I'm not going full bore into triple start dies (yet), so I have saved a bit there to learn with single start threading tools. However, the rest still had plenty impact on the wallet. I am looking forward to learning from the group.
 
Welcome from NW Mississippi (just south of Memphis). Custom and bespoke are great money makers but be careful; A few pens not quite up to par finish wise - can cast a slight negative reputation that takes a while to overcome. Some great pen makers will not sell their so-so pens and even destroy them rather than let them be seen by potential buyers. And no, they will not even give them to their spouses. So-so pens will last in the minds of buyers of bespoke pens.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom