WELCOME!

Welcome to my Custom Fountain Pen website/blog. I put this site together a while ago so that I could let some of my fellow pen enthusiasts and penmakers, as well as my customers, see what I have been up to lately in the workshop. I don't publish all of my pens here, but good percentage of them.

A Little About My Pens: I love doing fine work on the lathe, which is what got me into this work. That is, I enjoy the focus on the details of a project - the material and colour selection, the form, the fit and finish of the pen. I also test all of the my nibs before shipping. I fill the converter, run ink through the nib and feed, and write with it. I spend a significant amount of time smoothing and adjusting the nib of every pen that I sell. My goal, with each pen that I make, is to create a writing piece whose fit and finish will impress you when you first pull it out of the packing, and that will serve you well as a great writer when you fill it up with your favourite ink.

Have a look at my posts to see some of the work I am doing lately, or see my pricing guide in the link below to the right, or check the link to my current inventory of already-made pens (usually small, as most of my work is by commissions/orders).

Or, if you are interested, you can see some of the work I have done previously in my Custom Pen Gallery on Photobucket!

If you have a Twitter account, I am @drgoretex

If any of my posts generate particular interest, I will pin them as links on the right (eg 'Basic Nib Adjusting 101').

* ORDERS: Please contact me at kencavers@gmail.com to place an order.

* PRICES: Please see the link on the right side of the screen 'Pricing Guide' for an idea as to the cost of a pen.

* REVIEWS:
Have a look at the bottom of this page for some reviews done by previous buyers!

* HOW LONG WILL MY ORDER TAKE?:

IMPORTANT NOTICE: I am happily overwhelmed with pen orders. This gives me great joy in that my work is so well received, but saddens me that I cannot fill orders anywhere near as quickly as I would like. I am still trying to work through back orders, but if you have ordered from me and heard nothing for some time, feel free to email me and ask how things are going.
I still only make these pens in my spare time, when work and family time permit, and even then the productivity slows down during the coldest winter months thanks to my unheated workshop.
Given that I make these pens primarily as a hobby, I also reserve the right to pursue some other interesting pen projects in between filling orders.
I apologize for long delays in order fulfillment, which may in some case be over a year and a half. In the meantime, you are welcome to contact me to inquire about new pen orders, or to check up on a previously submitted order.

-Ken Cavers








Sunday 17 April 2016

Blue Ghost Koi Cigar Style Fountain Pen


Hi again.

I thought I would put up some pics of this one, because it was a rather interesting material.  I recently made a pen out of one of J Brooks' alumilites which he called 'Ghost Koi', a purple-on-offwhite material that sparked some interest among a few pen fans.  But I had a request to make a pen out of a similar material but with blue instead of purple on the white backdrop.  Unfortunately, it did not work out for the buyer, so this pen will be moving to my sales page.



Because of the request, I had asked Jonathon to make up a blue on white Ghost Koi.  Here is the result. Came out very cool, but the pics really don't portray it well.  probably I should have photographed it on a lighter backdrop, as the white of the pen came out rather more yellowy in the pics than in person.  Still the blue is about right - transparent/translucent swirls of pearly blue on the white background - very nice indeed!

This one is fitted with a polished steel JoWo broad nib (which I can swap out for any other), and of course is cart/converter fill.  Or ED, if you need a tanker of ink.



Cheers,

Ken

Root Beer/Guinness Cigar Fountain Pen


Hi folks.

Here is another Cigar style FP out of a material by Jonathon Brooks that I have used before under various names, including (depending on mood and time of day) 'Root Beer' and 'Guinness'.




This pen is fitted with a medium JoWo steel two tone nib (and Schmidt converter).

Be careful not to stare at the material too long, or it might make you thirsty…



Ken

Sunday 10 April 2016

Blue Nebula Curvy Style FP


Hi folks,

Just an ultra-quick post to demo the most recent pen off my bench - another 'Curvy' style fountain pen in Blue Nebula alumilite (created by fellow pen maker Jonathon Brooks).  The resin is quite similar to his 'Arctic Night' resin I used recently for another Curvy style.



The new owner of this pen is a customer who has been patiently waiting for a very, very long time (sorry)!

The pen is fitted with a Broad steel JoWo nib which will be tested, smoothed, and adjusted for max flow before shipping, as per request.


Thanks for looking!

Ken


Wednesday 6 April 2016

New Gear: Green Cebloplast 'C400' Fountain Pen


I recently had a friend send me a few pieces of tubular cebloplast (celluloid acetate), a vintage plastic, to see if I could do anything with it.  This green material was the thinnest, and by that, I mean very thin, at 12mm OD.  Not much room for error, even with a small pen!  But intrigued, I figured I would have a go at it.


First of all, I could not use my usual #6 JoWo - way too big for this material.  I had a few #5 Bock and JoWo nibs in stock, so decided to use one my Bocks.  Had to make a smaller grip section to look decent with the smaller nib, and thus a smaller barrel would fit.  In the end, ended up using my M12 triple-start tap and die for the cap to barrel threading, and since I knew I would end up with a thinner cap, I figured it was a good opportunity to try out one of these cool clips, which I had never used before.

The Bock nib is a steel medium, gold plated, matching the gold coloured clip and complementing the green cebloplast.  The pen is not perfect - I would have preferred to make it able to post more easily, and the clip ring has a tiny space under it that bothers me, but these are things I can work on with the next one, and overall, I am very happy with the outcome.



The pen is here posing with a similar sized Pelikan M400:


Thanks for looking!

Ken

Monday 4 April 2016

Large Size Cigar Style FP in 'Jungle Life' Alumilite


Hi folks,

Here's a quick post with a few shots of a recent jumbo size Cigar pen I made recently.

The material is an alumilite which I think might have been called 'Genesis', but I figured 'Jungle Life' really spoke more of the cool vibrant mix of browns and greens.

The pen sports a broad JoWo steel nib on which I did a custom stub/CI grind.



Thanks for looking!

Ken

Friday 1 April 2016

'Mirkwood Moss' Cigar Style FP


Ya, I guess Lord of the Rings was still on my mind after working with the 'Mirkwood' blank recently, so when I started with this one (another of J Brook's blanks which as far as I know had no name), I immediately though again of the depths of a dark forest, and this one brought to mind a dark forest floor.  So, I went with 'Mirkwood Moss'.  Why not.  It's off to the UK now, so maybe it will find some dark forest home there.



The pen is in my popular Cigar style - classic, tried and true.  As always, a cartridge/converter filler, and fitted with a steel German JoWo nib.


Thanks for looking!

Ken