Pen making kits
- Thread starter carsonbm
- Start date
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glycerine
Member
Any better place as opposed to what? Where are you getting them now? I prefer the ones from Craft Supplies USA, but I know there are some "locals" on here as well that have good stuff.
Parson
Member
If you do a thread search, you'll find a great thread on this very issue. To recap what I added, I buy from two sites: www.laulauwood.com (all high quality gold titanium kits) and www.arizonasilhouette.com (the baron and sedonas are my favorites in sterling silver and gold titanium).
My thought is why put five hours into making a pen only for it to be made of cheap parts that have the finish worn off inside a month of daily use?
Craft Supplies USA has some high end kits ($50+) but they're HUGE in physical size, have gaudy Asian markings on them, and not good for the pocket... only a desk.
Hope this helps!
My thought is why put five hours into making a pen only for it to be made of cheap parts that have the finish worn off inside a month of daily use?
Craft Supplies USA has some high end kits ($50+) but they're HUGE in physical size, have gaudy Asian markings on them, and not good for the pocket... only a desk.
Hope this helps!
its_virgil
Member
I hear comments like this one all of the time. A gold baron and a titanium gold baron are the same except for the plating. Why do we seem to frown on a gold pen that brasses while those who spend hundreds for a pen made by one of the commercial pen companies don't seem to consider brassing a big issue. I think they even consider some gold wearing off to be natural and quite acceptable. Am I totally off base here? Someone set me straight. And, plastic parts don't seem to keep the price down on some of them either.
Do a good turn daily!
Don
Do a good turn daily!
Don
JohnU
Member
I agree Don. Its a big world and you will find more that dont want to spend a lot for a pen they will use daily with no worries over the high end pens you are afraid to leave the office with. I say, stock them all and appeal to all the customers.
Right! Price and quality are not the same thing. You don't expect to find the luxury of a Mercedes in a Kia, but the quality of a Kia can be just as high or higher depending on how each conforms to specification.
Wildman
Member
Guess every kit supplier has a few dogs in quality they sell. I am talking more about components that make up the kit than platings.
Have you checked out "VENDORS," in the "LINKS," section yet?
Have you checked out "VENDORS," in the "LINKS," section yet?
We all have different definitions of quality, but after having made thousands of pens from many different suppliers I can't agree that "most of the pen kits are cheap in quality." I've seen pens that were plated so heavy that the refill wouldn't fit through the nib, and others that were plated so poorely that the plating magically diasppeared while the pen sat unused in a case. There are some pens that are precision made but are of questionable design quality. There are kits that are hard to assemble without damaging, and there are kits that tend to fall apart over a sometimes short period of use.
Despite all of that, I still feel strongly that most of what is available to pen makers is of medium high to very high quality. The problem is that we come across a few bad kits from time to time, and unfortunately there is only a moderate correlation between cost and quality. Last week I had a significant quality issue with a $50 Statesman and I assembled a couple $1 slims that were perfect.
In my opinion the odds of comming across a individual kit of low quality are lower at Craft Supplies USA than with other suppliers.