The Dropped Pen

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jttheclockman

jttheclockman

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Feb 22, 2005
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With all this talk about delicate blanks and expanding tubes to get slip fit to prevent cracks, got me thinking and that hurts at times. :) Has anyone ever built that delicate pen and were all done and admiring it and then oops drop it? Did that blank crack? Have you ever had a pen returned because of cracking and the person said they dropped it?? How fragile are the pens we make?? All these kitless pens are they any more sturdier than so called kit pens? What pens would you say are more fragile and do you give warnings to customers?? Thanks for replys in advance.
 
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jttheclockman said:
With all this talk about delicate blanks and expanding tubes to get slip fit to prevent cracks, got me thinking and that hurts at times. :) Has anyone ever built that delicate pen and were all done and admiring it and then oops drop it? Did that blank crack? Have you ever had a pen returned because of cracking and the person said they dropped it?? How fragile are the pens we make?? All these kitless pens are they any more sturdier than so called kit pens? What pens would you say are more fragile and do you give warnings to customers?? Thanks for replys in advance.
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At the moment, I don't turn anything myself and I'm pretty much just a pen collector. All the pens in my collection are kit pens (vast majority being Rollesters and Broadwell Nouveau Sceptres), and I prefer and specialize in wood blanks. There are a few reasons for this, and one of them is durability. I actually have dropped a couple of my pens, including a lower-CA-gloss black-and-white ebony magnetic Graduate rollerball that fell out of my pocket and dropped on to a stone patio. That one ended up with a small nick (maybe 3 mm long and 1 mm wide). In other cases where I dropped a pen, the outer CA finish got scratched or dented, but the wood generally made it through unscathed. The thing I also like about wood as the blank material is that even a nick or a scratch isn't necessarily viewed as a fatal flaw as wood is a natural material that by its very nature isn't perfect--most burls have voids, etc., and those can actually add character to the piece. Just a matter of preference. Don't get me wrong though: I don't intentionally drop or otherwise abuse my pens!
 
I think they are pretty sturdy, I've dropped plenty of my personal pens and have never seen a crack because of it. I do think that might be a benefit to doing a CA finish other than any of the friction type finishes. I think the outer layers of CA do more than just look pretty. I think they do a lot holding things together and then once a pen is pressed together, they are pretty sturdy. Of course other thing comes into play too, stabilization on some woods will help and yes even how tight a fit they are when pressing probably contributes to cracking over time. Hybrid blanks are pretty fragile, but in my experience only before you make them into a pen. I just tell people to not keep them in hot cars or any direct sunlight.
 
Both posters above brought up a good point about finishes. Maybe another plus for the use of CA as a finish if it helps protect certain pens. Like it.
 
Dropped a fountain pen given to me by a prominent member here from the past. I was devastated as I consider
the workmanship a piece of art. It is a Baron Kit with the finest CA finish possible. Cracked body from fallen height of six feet. I repaired but she is not the "beauty" now. Drops happen... part of life.
 
wood-of-1kind said:
Dropped a fountain pen given to me by a prominent member here from the past. I was devastated as I consider
the workmanship a piece of art. It is a Baron Kit with the finest CA finish possible. Cracked body from fallen height of six feet. I repaired but she is not the "beauty" now. Drops happen... part of life.
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Damn. That sucks. Sorry to hear that. But yup, gotta put everything into perspective, too.

On some of the YouTube vids on luxury pens that I've been watching, the collectors don't really ever use the pens, they just collect them. And they often put gloves on just to hold the pens. I get it, but that's not really for me. I want to be able to use the pen. I'm kind of like the Jay Leno of pen collectors.
 
Snake wood has bitten me, but no other pen I've sold has been returned for a refund. I've made and sold quite a few and folks would let me know. I simply ask refund or new pen and handle it promptly. No more snake wood for me.

I've ruined a lot when I pressed Sierras. None reached a customer to my knowledge. Now that a use Diamond knurl ballpoints that problem has been eliminated completely.
 
mmayo said:
Snake wood has bitten me, but no other pen I've sold has been returned for a refund. I've made and sold quite a few and folks would let me know. I simply ask refund or new pen and handle it promptly. No more snake wood for me.

I've ruined a lot when I pressed Sierras. None reached a customer to my knowledge. Now that a use Diamond knurl ballpoints that problem has been eliminated completely.
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Did the snakewood crack over time? I have a couple of fine specimens of snakewood in my collection, and I have heard the wood is notorious for cracking ...
 
BoonareeBurl said:
Did the snakewood crack over time? I have a couple of fine specimens of snakewood in my collection, and I have heard the wood is notorious for cracking ...
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Yes it cracked in a couple of days. It looked perfect and was finished with many coats of CA. OH well. I still have one Saturn that has not cracked in a couple of years.
 
mmayo said:
Yes it cracked in a couple of days. It looked perfect and was finished with many coats of CA. OH well. I still have one Saturn that has not cracked in a couple of years.
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Damn. I'll keep an eye on my snakewood pens. The blanks are pretty freakin' expensive, so you have to wonder if it's worth making pens out of them. I can tolerate a modest check because that's the nature of many woods given the changes in humidity and heat in the environment, but I don't want tons of cracks or a large crack!
 
I am currently waiting for a customer to return a commisioned rollerball kitless pen to me. Apparently I made the end of the barrel too thin and the spring popped through the end of the barrel. I am luck to have just enough of the blank (of sentimental value to the customer) to make a new barrel. Stupid error on my part. The pen is to commemorate an Eagle Scout project. THe scout cut down a cedar and built a flagpole for his school. Dad sent me a piece of Cedar and told me it was dry, it wasn't! The cedar was cut into ¾ inch pieces and then oven dried to be sure. It lost about 20% of its weight and warped. In order to make an appropriate pen plank two of the pieces were glued together. The warping resulted in a crack on one side of the blank. On the barrel the crack was filled with turquoise powder. The the crack in the cap was engraved with an image of a cedar tree and this too was filled with turquoise powder. DSCF0939.JPGDSCF0938.JPG
 
I've accidentally dropped my fountain pen and it suffered no damage.

Typically, because they don't contain metal couplers or nib sections or finials, they are much lighter than kit pens - and light objects don't have the momentum of heavier objects when they hit the floor.
 
For durability and toughness, I've found verawood, red coolibah burl, and olive wood to be exceptional woods. Part of it is the hardness (very high to extremely high Janka ratings), and for the burl, i think part of it is the swirly nature of the grain, which maybe deflects force better.

NOTE: There are many more woods, like genuine lignum vitae, that I would add to this list, but I haven't used them as a pen regularly the way I have the three above.
 
I had my father inlaw drop a faux trustone pen on the concrete and it broke. I think it was a turquoise blank from Strongink. Luckily he saved the pieces and i fixed it.
 
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