'Simplicity' Style Fountain Pen in Ruby Red Acrylic with 18K Nib

It has been a very busy spring.   Meaning, too many things taking time away from my pen-making!  ;-)

Well, here is the first part of a two-pen order I am working on for a fellow doc.  This pen is done in a style that I came up with a couple of years ago, and named 'Simplicity of Heart' for its very simple, uncomplicated lines.  Of course, I am by no means the first to come up with a design like this, and will certainly not be the last, but it was and is one of my very favourites.

This one is made out of a crush, or flake style acrylic, coloured a striking ruby red.  The nib is an 18K JoWo fine nib, smoothed for a beautiful writing experience.  The pen is once again, a cartridge/converter filler.

I will add part two of this order once it is finished.

Thanks for looking!

Ken

Something a Little Different: A Pen Restoration Project - 1950's Waterman Ideal Lever Filler

Unrestored vintage pens seem to be extremely hard to find around here.   After a couple years of looking around, nothing - until a couple weeks ago, when my wife, who volunteers at a charity thrift store brought home a surprise.  Someone had brought in an old Waterman Ideal 'Leader' pen/pencil set, (circa 1950).  The pencil was not functional, and the lever-filler pen had an old, dull nib, no sac, and the pressure bar had broken off the lever.

I was considering sending it off to one of the many very talented pen restorers out there, but it suddenly occurred to me that I actually had some silicone sacs in stock (for my eventual plan to make button fillers and bulb fillers).  So I figured I might just as well have a go at this one, and see what I could do.

I found a link on FPGeeks.com to a tutorial on Richard Binder's website on how to repair the lever assembly (thank you Richard Binder!), so with a bit of patience and holding my tongue just right, I managed to reattach the pressure bar to the lever (this type of lever assembly has the lever attached to the pressure bar, while many do not).

The feed needed some serious cleaning, and the nib was a very dull matte, barely recognizable as 14K gold.  Fortunately the feed cleaned up well with soapy water, and the nib polished to a beautiful shine.

Using a bit of shellac to secure it, I put a new silicone sac onto the nib section, and with a bit of talc to lubricate it, it slid into the barrel with no trouble.

So, the acid test - I dipped the nib, and worked the lever, and lo and behold, it pulled up plenty of ink with no problem.

The nib itself is a flexy nib (not overly so, but much more than modern ones).  The writing sample shows a very poor example of how poorly one can actually write with a flexy nib  ;-)  The sample is on Clairefontaine paper using Pelikan Royal Blue.  The line variation shows up much better on cheaper paper.

Well, that was a first for me.  I can see why some say that vintage pen repair is addictive!

Thanks for looking!

Ken

Classic Clipless Tigger

Here's a quick post on my way out the door...

Just finished this one this evening.  I quite like the depth of this tiger-stripey material, and the warmth of the colour!  This pen was done in my classic style (cap slightly larger diameter than the barrel), nicely clipless to preserve the sleek lines.

The pen sports a medium steel JoWo nib and a high quality converter for bottle-filling.

I will be putting this one up on my sales page shortly, as it is not spoken for.

Cheers,

Ken

Walnut and Bamboo: what's up lately in the pen workshop?

It's been a while since I posted a new entry here, so I thought I would share a few pics of some of my recent pens.  I didn't want to make a new post for each one this time, as it could be just a bit...repetitive.

First off, here are a couple of Bamboo style pens that I finished recently - one headed south to the US, and one flying off to Singapore.  These two are made out of cumberland ebonite, one of the most popular materials out there for fountain pen making.  While it can be a bit trying while turning one the lathe (strong smell, dusty (must wear a mask!), dull the tools quickly), it is absolutely wonderful in a pen - comfortable to hold, has a nice warm feel to it, easy to grip, resilient, and does not break easily.

One of the things that the first picture above highlights is just how variable a material is from one batch to another, and even from one blank to another.  One of these blanks yielded a rather brightly coloured red and black pen, while the other came out much more toned down.  Regardless, both pens are now fitted with nicely smoothed nibs and are ready for some serious writing!  As I write this, they are en route to their new owners.

This next one is a Bamboo style pen that I just finished a couple of days ago, created out of a beautiful rusty coloured acrylic with a lighter reddish swirl in it.  The iridescence of the acrylic makes this pen look quite fiery in the right light.  Oddly enough, I have only used this material a couple of times before, even though I have lots of it.  Might have to change that :-)

One of the cool things about this particular pen is that it is the first of my pens to sport one of JoWo's 1.1mm stub nibs.  I had a little too much fun smoothing and write-testing this one.

Finally, I'd like to introduce a small group of pens that you will undoubtedly be seeing again at some point in the future.  This set of four walnut pens, made in a modified 'cigar' style, were created as part of a collaboration with Ernest Shin of Hakumin Urushi Kobo, to demonstrate a hand-rubbed urushi technique (suri urushi), which will be decorated with a maki-e design.

I am posting these pens here largely to show how they look 'before'.  The walnut has absolutely no finish on it, and the ebonite fittings and nib section are all in matte finish in order to allow the urushi lacquer to adhere.

The urushi finish takes quite a long time (months) to do, so the next instalment of this story may be a long way off yet.  I have to say, I am very excited to see how these come out!

Thanks for looking!

Ken

Micro Pocket Pen in Golden Smoke

Well, I thought I'd make another one of these before I forgot how I did the first one, and what size drills, taps, and dies I used on the first one.  Yes, I know - I could write it down.  But I didn't, so I figured I had better go through it all again to solidify the technique.  Maybe I will write it all down.  Later.

So once again, the 'Micro Pocket Pen' (or so I am calling it) is designed to be ultra-compact for easy portability in pocket or purse (personally, I use the little 'watch pocket' on the right side of my jeans).  It is a mere 85mm long when capped (about 3 3/8 inches), but expands to a nice 120mm (4 3/4 inches) when posted, which I find quite comfortable for long periods of writing, even with fairly large hands (excuse the inky fingers).

I used a couple of pieces of the Golden Smoke resin I picked up from Bear Tooth Woods, and framed them in black acrylic.  The nib is a single-tone medium polished steel JoWo nib (not sure why I didn't put a two-tone in here...maybe I will swap it out, now that I am thinking of it..).  The pen will of course not fit a converter, it is cartridge only.  Takes a standard size - I used a Private Reserve cartridge to size out the pen.

Thanks for looking!

Golden Smoke 'Shirt Pocket Fountain Pen'

Having days off work is wonderful.  Got to spend some more quality time in the workshop again today, and after several hours of enjoyable work, here is the result.  This pen, one of my 'Shirt Pocket Fountain Pen' (SPFP) style pens was done out of this cool resin which once polished, resembles flames against a black background.  Very eye-catching indeed.

I made this pen as a request for a colleague who plans to give it to her husband as an anniversary gift.  Now I find myself eyeing the other two pieces I have of this material and thinking that I should make one of these for myself...

The nib is my usual, a steel JoWo medium, and the pen is a cartridge/convterter filler, with the converter installed in it.  The gold coloured ball-end clip is held in place by the threaded finial.

The more I make these SPFPs, the more I like the design.  Very simple, and very practical.   Sized moderately to fit in the shirt pocket, it posts nicely - but can be comfortably used posted or not posted.  I kept the first one I made of this design, and I think the next one I make for myself will be an SPFP too :-))

Thanks for looking!

Ken

'Earth' Micro Pocket Pen - Another New Design!

You know how when you mess something up, it can have unexpected consequences?  Well, that was what happened here.  I was turning one of my new 'Pocket Fountain Pens', when I absentmindedly turned the grip section about a half millimetre too narrow.  A half mm there can make a big difference, so I had a choice: scrap it and make a new one, or...nope. I didn't want to waste the material, so I decided to redesign the pen I was working on, and make a smaller one to hold a #5 JoWo nib that I had in stock.  But I decided that since I was doing something different anyway, maybe I would see what I can do with some cutoff pieces I had leftover from another project (The 'Earth' Pen, that I put up recently, using 'Ocean Lava' resin from Bear Tooth Woods).

So, in the spirit of ultra-portable mini-sized fountains pens like Stipula's Passaporto, or Kaweco's AL Sport, the 'Micro Pocket Pen' was born.  Like most other mini fountain pens, it is designed to take standard sized cartridges.  Also like other pens in this category, it is extremely compact when closed, but posts to a pretty decent and comfortable size for writing.  As well, the barrel to cap threading (on both ends of the barrel) is all triple-start, so the cap screws on with only a quarter or half twist - very convenient for repeated capping and uncapping...

The dimensions are 85mm (3 3/8") closed, which is a bit smaller than the Passaporto, and 119mm (4 11/16") posted, which is also just a  touch smaller than the posted Passaporto.   I have pictured it here with a Passaporto, a Kaweco, and a larger size Sailor 1911.  When the Micro Pocket Pen was posted, I found it to be quite comfortable for writing - despite my large hands - similar to the Passaporto, and to an unposted 1911 (I usually write with that pen unposted).

I'm reasonably happy with how this came out, considering that it is just a prototype.  I have had a number of requests for mini sized fountain pens, so chances are pretty good that I will be making more of these :-)

Thanks for looking!

Ken

African Ebony Fountain Pen - First of the 'Classic Woods' Series

Here it is - classic flat-end styled fountain pen of very nice african ebony, black acrylic nib section, with ball-end clip and JoWo steel nib (stubbed broad) .   Grain of the wood is lined up finial to cap and cap to barrel.

For some time now, I have been planning to create a series of pens out of various exotic (and some not-so-exotic) woods.  I mean, I have made many, many wood pens before, initially out of the pen kits, and later a long series of clipless pens all finished in a heavy high-gloss coat of CA, giving the wood a gem-like look.  But having seen some of the wood pens coming out of Japan (Sailor, Pilot, Platinum), I rather liked the minimalist finish on them, and was inspired to start working on a series of my own.

Here was the big challenge - I wanted to do this without using any of the brass tubes, threaded inserts, and press-on finials that are characteristic of the kits pens.  The problem here is that wood doesn't hold threads very well - you can thread it, but screw it together a couple of times, and the threads could start to crumble.  So, need to make the threads using something else.  And on my pens (that have clips), there are four sets of threads: nib unit to nib section, nib section to barrel, barrel to cap, and cap to finial (the tip of the cap that hold the clip on).

The first set of threads is pretty straightforward - make the nib section out of black acrylic, use the tap as usual to allow the nib unit to screw in.  The second and third, less so.  What I had to do was turn an acrylic insert and fit it into a recess in the front end of the barrel.  This could then be drilled out and threaded inside to accept the nib section, as well as outside, to screw into the cap.  The cap itself also needed an acrylic insert created to fit inside it, to allow for threading to accept the barrel.  The finial was perhaps the trickiest, using the same sort of procedure to create an acrylic tenon on the finial, and an acrylic insert into the end of the cap, both of which could then be threaded, allowing the finial to screw into the cap as is usual for my pens.  But, I still had to make sure the grain of the finial matched the grain of the cap when screwed tight.  Lots and lots of fine adjustments, retesting, more adjustments etc...

The finish on this pen a couple of very light penetrating layer of thin cyanoacrylate, sealing the wood and allowing a nice subtle gloss to the wood, while not hiding the surface texture.  The inside of the cap and barrel have also been sealed with oil lacquer to help protect the wood.

I decided to do something a bit different with the nib on this pen - so I ground a broad JoWo steel nib into a stub and smoothed it.  I am quite pleased with the result - a nice, smooth stub, around 1mm, with very nice line variation.  I was tempted to put a gold nib on it, but the only gold nib I have in stock is a fine.

The reality is that this pen was a bundle of work, so I don't think I will get to the next 'Classic Woods' pen very quickly, but I am extremely pleased with the result.

Thanks for looking!

Ken

A World of Writing - The 'Earth Pen'

Here is a pen that I just finished last night.  This one was for a very special recipient - my wife.  When I got my last shipment of interesting pen blanks in from Bear Tooth Woods, she immediately picked this out and requested that, eventually, I make a pen for her out of it.

Well, I was really rather curious to see how this material would look turned, so after finishing another project, I pulled this stuff out and started working on a pen for the most important pen person in the world.

Like the resin used in the 'Van Gogh' pen, this one was somewhat more brittle than acrylic, but I found it to be quite a bit less so than the 'VanGogh'.  Not sure why - maybe just because the garage is a bit warmer now...  In any case, it was a pleasure to work with this time, and took to threading very nicely.

I decided to try 'framing' the blue and green resin with black ends and a black grip section, in order to accentuate the colour.  Once I finished polishing this pen and shut down the lathe, I was shocked at the rich, beautiful swirls of green and blue - and it immediately reminded my of pictures of the Earth from space.  So, I called this one 'The Earth Pen'.  It is actually made in a similar style to my previous 'Shirt Pocket Fountain Pen', though just a touch longer in the barrel, as my wife doesn't need to carry her pens in a shirt pocket.

Got it fixed up with a fine steel JoWo nib, and a nice ball-end clip, and a converter now full of Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue, smoothed and tuned the nib, and passed it on to its new owner.  And I believe the new owner likes it :-))

Thanks for looking.

Ken

Classic Clipless Fountain Pen in 'Cappuccino Humbug' Acrylic

Here's one that I finished last night.  Finally someone chose this cool acrylic for their custom pen!  I have been itching to use this stuff since I got it, but I guess I needed an excuse.

So anyway, the order was for one of my 'Classic' style pens, clipless, in this material, with a two tone fine nib.  No problem.

Interestingly, as I turned this material, which is pretty obviously a resin composed of chips of another layered acrylic, I came across one solitary black chip, mixed in amongst the others.  I thought that was pretty cool, so I hope the buyer does too :-))

When I bought this stuff, it was called 'cappuccino', but since everyone renames these acrylics when they sell them, and since my wife thought they looked like the candies known as 'humbugs', I thought the name was appropriate.

So there we go.  I hope the new owner likes it, because that's what it's all about!

Thanks for looking,

Ken