Thread: Which pen styles/finishes to avoid?

Cheapies are good for practice... once you are happy with what you are doing then get the good ones. I still use the cheap kits to experiment with but my preference is for the nicer kits. To the average punter they wont see the difference between a $20 pen and an $80 pen though.

Corbs

Originally Posted by BoomerangInfo

My first question is, if 24kt gold, non-epoxy coated is so weak, why would anyone ever make a pen out of it? Only for show? price? what? Do you really need to buy the top-of-the-range finishes to get a durable pen?

Primarily for practice and price. Some people don't go on to sell their pens prefering only to give them away as gifts. The cheaper plating makes it more cost affordable but make no mistake the finish will wear off with time - as little as three months if the pen is a "daily user". Plus a pen with componants costing $30, to sell it for around $90 to make a reaonsable return might seem daunting for a new starter and until you have built up a little reputation might not move.

That said I now use titanium or chrome as a minimum standard finish because I sell my pens for good money and don't want them coming back to bite me in the ass down the road.

Second question relates to overall pen quality. Is there much difference between brands & styles as to how long a pen will last without breaking, or how well it will write? I want to avoid cheap rubbish mechanisms that may jamb or break, and I want to make pens that write beautifully and last forever.

Most of the kits I have come accross so far have had good quality componants. As you get up into the more expensive kits the quality of the componants also increases. I have some Jr Gents and Jr Statesmans that I got from CSUSA and they are nice smooth mechanisms compared to the Flat Top Americans which are ok, but by touch side by side are not as nice. It's to be expected with the Americanas running about $10 a throw compared to over $30 for the Satemans

So in that vein, is there any you recommend not touching with a 10 foot barge pole? I guess I can go on the price principal - you get what you pay for, but I need to practice as well, as I'd like to make good pens cheaper for a start, but still produce quality results.

I'd advise sticking with slimlines initially. They are cheap, quick to make, and you can cut your teeth on them without wasting too much money. By your 20th, 30th slimline you will have a bunch of christmas and birthday presents and you'll will probably be sick of them and found you aren't going to get any better at making them, that is when I would suggest you start looking at the fanicer kits. It's easier to throw a pen worth $3 in materials in the bin cause it is so butt ugly you can't believe it was your hands that made it, compared to turfing $10, $20, $50+

personally I don;t think you need lose any kits,you can buy extra tubes cheaply, but for practise you can just drill your blanks 7mm drill ,and then turn and or polish to your hearts content .even start off big ,and then take it down and try again ,the turning part is not so hard ,its deciding on finish and what is best for you, and almost any wood is good to practise on to get the techniques, I am yet to try poly or ca and may never do so,but I would not practise either on a pen blank for a job.