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Posts: 6444
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy
Anyone into pens?
I recently had to learn how to fix my Montblanc fountain pen, as the repair bill was going to be silly money.
It's a long story, but the pen now works fine and hooked me onto pens (mainly of the fountain variety). It has got so bad that tomorrow I take delivery of a lathe, various tools and the components to make my own.
I often come up with a new project for the long winter nights. If you are interested, I will post my progress back here.
I might also ask you to send me any interesting materials (usually wood) that you can find locally. In return, I will make you a pen.
The Persimmon off cuts I have would make great pen blanks. I'm sure I could get some to you.
That would be brilliant. Standard size is around 20mm x 20mm x 150mm. When I have had some practice, I will confer with you on style of pen, finish, nib etc.
Making fountain pens is an unusual but interesting pursuit, Simon. I have always been fascinated by well-made fountain pens. They are precision instruments that are aesthetically beautiful, much like well-made mechanical watches and clocks. I would never own a digital or quartz watch. I'll stick with the mechanical version. Old clocks are things of beauty as well. I have a Viennese wall clock with a pendulum that was made in 1890, and it keeps perfect time. Needless to say, I prefer putting pen to paper and have little use for social media, but then I consider myself an analog man living in a digital age.
Bill
_____________________________
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white, With the name of the late deceased, And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here, Who tried to hustle the East."
I'll send you enough to make Bill a pen too and have plenty left over to sell a few. I have some other Japanese woods too...
That would be great. I think it's highly figured wood or variation in colours & grain that makes it interesting, much like guitars. I'll leave it to your judgement. The finish will either be shellac wax (most appropriate for a guitar fan) or CA (superglue). I'll try both.
I have 18mm thick persimmon boards. I can cut blanks from that, can you work with 18 milli?
I also have a lot of Japanese cherry that is way to erratic in grain for bridges. I can cut several blanks from a tree I harvested 2 years ago. It was typhoon knock down. It has beautiful rays that sparkle.
I have 18mm thick persimmon boards. I can cut blanks from that, can you work with 18 milli?
I also have a lot of Japanese cherry that is way to erratic in grain for bridges. I can cut several blanks from a tree I harvested 2 years ago. It was typhoon knock down. It has beautiful rays that sparkle.
The acrylic blank that arrived today is 150mm x 16mm x 16mm, so 18mm is great. The cherry sounds very Japanese and rather nice.
Great to have a story behind the wood. I am going to try a piece of 107 year-old pine floorboard from my Edwardian house.
I'll PM you my address and cover the postage, if you want.
quote: I'll send you enough to make Bill a pen too and have plenty left over to sell a few. I have some other Japanese woods too...
That would be great. I think it's highly figured wood or variation in colours & grain that makes it interesting, much like guitars. I'll leave it to your judgement. The finish will either be shellac wax (most appropriate for a guitar fan) or CA (superglue). I'll try both.
Thanks to both! Fountain pens are such aesthetically beautiful precision instruments. They make typing at a computer keyboard seem pedestrian.
Bill
_____________________________
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white, With the name of the late deceased, And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here, Who tried to hustle the East."
Thanks to both! Fountain pens are such aesthetically beautiful precision instruments. They make typing at a computer keyboard seem pedestrian.
I agree. I have had to learn to write all over again, using 80g Clairefontaine paper and toffee brown ink, and it is a joyful pastime. You have to think about what you are going to write. No spell checkers, no delete key, no email
Posts: 6444
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy
RE: Anyone into pens? - my second at... (in reply to Escribano)
The wood is from a pine floorboard in my Edwardian house (1910) with a superglue finish. The barrel is turned from an acrylic blank. I am making mistakes, but learning quickly and this one writes surprisingly well.
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Nope. First time I have ever turned wood, but making & fiddling with guitars helped. The next level is a closed-end pen like this one. The trick is in turning the cap and barrel ends.
I'm sticking with the current one for a while, using some of your wood, until I am confident enough.
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I'm going to check the tracking later today, the wood should be there soon, provided it did not get stopped in customs. I've been busy preparing a new shop, a project that has been in the works for 7 months which finally came through. Its been distracting me from my usual rounds....
I'm going to check the tracking later today, the wood should be there soon, provided it did not get stopped in customs.
The wood is at the Post Office for collection and I don't think there is any duty. Pick it up later, but my new lathe has broken down already Replacement part is on its way. Your new shop looks great.
During childhood there used to be many fine pens around. I think from brands like Parker and such. I would admire their beauty, but didn´t develop passion for owning one. They need care ...
Anyway, how could I restrain from suggesting ancient kauri. There used to be pictures from beautiful pens and blanks on the internet, specially at the site of the initial company specialized on extracting and selling it. But I couldn´t find such examples now.
New Zealand prohibited export some years ago, other than for crafted product and some blanks. Woodtunringz.com and Thewoodturnersstudio.co.nz ought to have some. Also some dealers abroad got a load before the new export law. One I think is in US, and one is the shop in Canada where I obtained sheets for guitars. The man must be having scraps. I can check for the addresses if wanted.
Adding to visuals for a very fine pen be the fact that the material in hand will have grown between 4 000 and over 50 000 years ago. Oldest usable wood in the world.
-And not being stingy on deserved praise: Simon, your craftmanship is stunningly perfect! It looks like a little machine.
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I have a friend touring New Zealand at the moment, looking out for a little ancient kauri on his travels. I'll let you know. It is an interesting wood, for sure.
... Should you ever be having a reliable fella coming from north-eastern USA to my place, please lemme know. There´s a guitar case waiting for me since four years now.
Yes, love fountain pens. Now write with my recently acquired Kaweco sport with broad nib. Love to indulge myself with most beautiful inks now and then. There is this Diamine Shimmering line which is a little threat every time you write something with it ;-)
Lovely project you have put on and great respect for turning things around so quick!
Posts: 6444
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy
RE: Anyone into pens? Pen No.3 (in reply to Escribano)
I just finished pen No. 3 from wood kindly sent by Stephen Faulk from Japan. I think it is the cherry but not really sure. Stephen suggests it might be persimmon.
Looks nice anyway, and it is my first complete pen in wood. Finished in a satin wax oil so it needs to harden over time. Made a right cock-up of the assembly initially, but learned some more valuable & painful lessons. I am sticking with the same pen kit until I am on top of it completely.
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Posts: 3484
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA
RE: Anyone into pens? Pen No.3 (in reply to Escribano)
Very nice. Congratulations to Simon and Stephen.
For my birthday the year before we married, my fiancee gave me a Parker fountain pen and mechanical pencil set. My initials are engraved on the gold bands. Her mother criticized the present as ¨too personal."
I used them until the ink cartridges for the pen became unavailable several years later. They are still around here somewhere, but I haven't seen them for a while.
Looks nice! The former acryl seemed to be cut more rectangular and smooth (assumably with other blade / possibly for metal, whichs sawteeth stay sharp easier[?])
I should have labeled the billets for better ID. Some of the cherry is darkish, but most of it will finish up fairly bright and warm. The dark persimmon will go dark chocolate brown to brown black under finish. The light sap wood will be warm and show contrast. Persimmon is in the Ebony family, but one of the lighter density ebonies, it has high silica content and can be rough on edged tools.
The less dense aspect and the age and quality of this persimmon has piqued my interest in using it as a bridge wood. So far it shows great promise as high quality bridge wood.
No doubt when I am lucky enough to get a fabulous pen of any of these materials I'll use it to sign my labels.
I recently had to learn how to fix my Montblanc fountain pen, as the repair bill was going to be silly money. It's a long story, but the pen now works fine and hooked me onto pens (mainly of the fountain variety). It has got so bad that tomorrow I take delivery of a lathe, various tools and the components to make my own.
Simon,
You may be familiar with the British author Anthony Horowitz, who is the screenwriter for the television series "Midsomer Murders" and "Foyle's War," as well as the author of, among other works, a couple of Sherlock Holmes mysteries approved by the estate of Arthur Conan doyle. He has recently published a novel entitled "Magpie Murders," which is a Russian doll-like murder mystery within a murder mystery. Very good, by the way.
I bring this up because I just read a New York Times interview in which Mr. Horowitz said he writes every day, using a fountain pen for his first drafts (“I love the physicality, the scratch of the nib, the crumpled balls of paper”), wherever he finds himself. It reminded me of your project making fine fountain pens. I love fountain pens as well. Much more creative (coming close to calligraphy) than pounding on a keyboard.
Bill
_____________________________
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white, With the name of the late deceased, And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here, Who tried to hustle the East."
Printable Version
Replacement part is on its way. Your new shop looks great. 
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