Quick update on pen kit progress... Batch 2

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Good morning! We're working on our next batch of kits and hopefully we'll have them ready shortly. Originally we'd planned on bringing back the Desire rollerball first, but a small design change has set us back a few weeks on that. So, we've got the second batch of Liberty going through the finishing process in the shop right now.

We're adding a new finish option that I'm calling antique satin that's a mildly textured finish on the stainless. Personally I prefer it over polished for the hand feel!

You can sign up to be notified when it's available here: https://www.mckenziepenworks.com/co...ducts/liberty-pen-kit-antique-satin-stainless

We'll be adding about 300 of those here shortly with another 300 right after. The standard polished stainless will be an additional 600 kits, they just take a little longer.
 

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Bats

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Great to hear! I like the looks - and evenness - of the new finish a lot more than the first batch - although I'm in a bit of a bad position for kit shopping right now (preparing for a move, which is hard enough on the finances, but worse still it's an hour away from my shop), so I may have to force myself to wait. Does the clip match too, or (since I assume, for flexibility and springiness, it's a different grade of steel from the body) is that still shiny?

Also, when you talk about the "standard polished" run, will those be the same as the original batch, or have there been any changes to the machines/process?
 
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We're using a different machine now... There's no way we'll be hand polishing them like Constant used to do, that's why he never had them in stock. But the new machine certainly does a pretty good job of getting them into a decent bright finish. We are roughing up the clips to match this finish.
 

Bats

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Yeah, I've thought about trying to hand-polish the ones I have, but I haven't even managed to work up the energy for that, never mind for hundreds of the damn things. But I'll be looking forward to seeing pictures of the new bright finish.

And we'll see - maybe I'll be feeling horribly irresponsible and grab some of the satin ones after all.
 
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If you've got a buffing setup for pens it'll work just fine on the parts. I do find it easier to have the parts somewhat assembled... like screwing the section into the insert or putting the finial on a twist mechanism to give me something to hold on to. A little white rouge and you'll be in business if you want that mirror polish.

Forget hundreds... the next batch is 1500 and we'll be doing even larger batches after that. There's just no way to hand polish thousands of them and keep inventory. The finishing process is really what kept these from being in stock. Though to be honest, high polished stainless is just asking to end up looking worse down the road with finger prints, etc. I'm really digging the satin finish because it'll stay like it is and won't show wear.
 

Bats

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If you've got a buffing setup for pens it'll work just fine on the parts. I do find it easier to have the parts somewhat assembled... like screwing the section into the insert or putting the finial on a twist mechanism to give me something to hold on to. A little white rouge and you'll be in business if you want that mirror polish.
While it's been on the to-do list for years, I've never gotten around to buying/making a proper buffing rig. When I have to polish something, I'll often do it kinda backwards - by putting it on the lathe and then attacking it with a small buffing wheel on a dremel. I'd tried yellow rouge, since it was labeled as being for stainless (embarrassing to admit, but I really don't know my buffing compounds), but while it made things shinier, it didn't do anything for the machining marks - and I don't really mind the lack of shine on the kits at all, so much as the unevenness of the machined finish. I was thinking of trying some finer sandpapers as an initial stage, but I've been short on shop time and never quite worked up the enthusiasm for it. Would the white behave any differently?

Forget hundreds... the next batch is 1500 and we'll be doing even larger batches after that. There's just no way to hand polish thousands of them and keep inventory.
My hands hurt just thinking about it.

The finishing process is really what kept these from being in stock.
Makes sense, since the same goes for the pens themselves. A friend keeps trying to convince me that I should CNC my pens instead of manually turning them. Aside from the fact that I enjoy the turning, I always have to point out that most of my time is actually spent on the sanding and finishing, which is a lot harder to automate.

Though to be honest, high polished stainless is just asking to end up looking worse down the road with finger prints, etc.
You're probably right on that one - but it makes for an awfully pretty picture. Maybe if I tried packaging them with a complementary microfiber "Yer Gonna Need This" cloth?
 
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You wouldn't want to take any sandpaper to these... they're already fairly highly polished. It's just getting those last little fine scratches out which is the job for a buffing wheel. Anything else and you're just taking it backwards and have to work your way back up. One of the other changes we made was to use a thicker rod to machine from... some of those machining marks were actually dings in the steel rod that didn't get turned out because they went below the diameter of the part. Constant agreed to use a better quality and slightly wider rod so we don't run into those any more. He also is using better cutters that won't leave as many marks. It's been quite the learning process let me tell you... I've got a couple textbooks here on mass finishing now and I'm working with a few labs to determine the best methods.

We just sent out another batch for testing after making those changes so we can try to get the most efficient process possible utilizing new equipment. (I have $12k in media separating equipment showing up this week and the next purchase is a $30k finishing machine that has 3x the capacity of the current one... We're all in on bringing these back to market in a big way!)
 
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If you hit the "Notify When Available" button you're all set :) Not sure it lets me drill down into the emails, etc on that particular plug in on the website. Haven't had it fail me yet though!
 

Bats

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I think I signed up but is there some way to verify? Thanks. P
After hitting notify, you should get a message under the button saying "Your notification has been registered."

Like this:
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If that happens, you're probably all set. If that doesn't happen, something probably went wrong.

(and if I get twice as many notifications from testing this out, it's all your fault)
 
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