Today I make my 200th pen!

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76winger

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Aug 30, 2009
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For many starting out this seems like a lot, and for many of you on here, this is nothing and you have as many on hand, or more, for going to shows and selling your wares. But I'm sure you were pretty excited back in the day when you hit a mile-marker in your pen making, whether it was 50 or 500, whatever number you saw as a great feat for yourself. It was great feeling to hit that magic number.

Well mine has been 200 for whatever reason, and it also coincides with the month of September, which marks three since I made my first pen back in Sept. 2008!

All along these past three years I've been learning and improving and branching out and trying different pen kits and blank materials. Staring with that first black-enamel slimline using piece of white oak leftover from trim work from my house to many of the various mid-range pens, both ballpoint and rollerball, and even a couple of stock fountain pens thus far. My most recently I've rose to the challenge of laser-cut bodies and had great fun making several of those (and they get lots of positive reviews too!). So I've been pondering what to do for my special, number 200...

After considering various possibilities, I narrowed down my focus to something upscale, something with a little more difficulty yet not out of my reach (Closed end and kitless is out because I'm not yet equipped to attempt that level of grandeur) and something with a little bit of customization from a standard kit so it's little extra special for the occasion. What I came up with, I've pictured below in it's before state (except where I started assembling he body already).



To make this work on the PSI Nouveau Sceptre, I'm using the longer upper tube from a Majestic Jr to accommodate the star field (purchased from Lazerlinez for Maj. Jr.) and I picked up a replacement nib from Exotics to upgrade the stock nib.

This will be my first time altering one of these super pens, AND my first time to replace a nib, so we'll see how it goes.

If it all goes well, I'll have the finished one posted in "Show Off your Pens" in about 18 - 20 hours. But first it's time for a good nights sleep!
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Before I jump into it, does anyone have any tips on replacing the nib?

I've read through some of the documentation I've found in the library here on IAP, but it still is a bit generic and leaves me wondering how hard do I pull on the nib before I'm pulling too hard and in risk of breaking something, and how much trouble am I going to have putting the new one back in and getting everything aligned just right.

So any tips from the experienced before I jump in and mess something up?
 
I decided to number this one, which I have done on all my bowls, but not yet on any of my pens.

After signing & numbering with a sharpie, I coated with clear poly and allowed it to try overnight before applying the final coats of CA for finishing.



The signature will be mostly covered up by the clip, but the number will be visible around the base of the cap.

Now to go finish it up!
 
Congrats to you!

I wish I would have kept count now! I may just be able to figure it out though... You got me wondering.
 
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