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








Thursday 4 May 2017

Gold-Veined Marble Fountain Pen



Hello folks,

A while back I was sent this cool material by a customer who asked that I turn it into a pen.  I discovered that this material (a marble white with real gold foil embedded in it) is made of polyresin, which I had some time ago sworn off using because of brittle nature and its tendency to shatter - while turning, and when dropped on a hard surface.

Fortunately I happened to have a piece of pearly white alumilite on hand, which has none of those nasty tendencies, so I used that for the grip section, and for an insert into the barrel from which to cut the threaded tenon.  The gold-marble still managed to split a couple of times along the gold foil while turning, but nothing a bit of handy CA couldn't deal with.


In the end, I am quite happy with how it came out.  I had planned to make one of my 'purity' style pens (cap all one diameter, barrel all one slightly smaller diameter, rounded ends), but the recurrent cap splits forced me to finish it off with a slightly different shape.  In fact, I kind of like it, and will probably make more of these.  But I don't have a name for this style yet.  Will have to think of something.


With the little bit of remaining gold-marble, I made a little pen rest so that this pen can studiously avoid tumbling onto hard surfaces and shattering.

The pen is here posing with what seemed like a very appropriate nib - an 18K fine, to match the gold veining.


The fill system is as cartridge/converter as usual.

Thanks for looking!

Ken

Saturday 22 April 2017

Green and Purple Shirt Pocket Fountain Pen



Just got this pair of odd blanks in with a recent order.   Not enough of either to make a pen, but they looked like they might go together, and it just happened that I needed a break from some studying I was doing, so off to the workshop, and this pen was born.


in fact, the green material looked more like it belonged with the purple before I started turning it, as there was a fair bit of purple in it.  Sadly, once I turned it down to size, the purple was mostly gone.  Still, they seem to go together fairly well.

The pen is done in my Shirt Pocket Fountain Pen style, which is super-handy for the workplace with the fact that it has the clip and posts securely.

The filling system is cartridge/converter as usual.



Thanks for looking!

Ken

Sunday 12 March 2017

A Whole Lot of Amboyna


Hi everyone,

Here are the first two pens of a four-pen order, all in amboyna burl wood.   Definitely one of my favourite woods to work with.   Despite the fact that it is a pain to drill (the crazy grain makes it hard to maintain a straight drill), the smell is wonderful!  Has a lovely pungent spicy smell to it.  Which of course, you can't tell from these pens because they are completely sealed.  But trust me, it's nice.

The two pen styles here are the 'Simplicity II' (the flat, bevelled ends), and the 'Purity' (spherically rounded ends).  Both are very comfortable to use, thought they do not post.


Like all my current wood pens the cap of this one is completely line with acrylic to maintain a good seal and keep the pens from drying out quickly.  The threading and grip section are all made out of black acrylic.


Both pens are fitted with fine two-tone steel JoWo nibs.

Thanks for looking!

Ken

Saturday 11 March 2017

'Purity' Style Fountain Pen in Tibaldi Impero Celluloid With Inlay and 18K Nib


Hi folks,

Here is one I just finished today, a custom order for which the customer sent me this lovely celluloid and asked me to turn it into a pen.


The material is a very cool grey-in-blue-matrix which gives it an awesome effect.  And, celluloid!  Love that stuff - turns my workshop into one giant cough drop with all that awesome camphor.  Hard to find, though.   Since the nib that was chosen for this was a two-tone nib, I thought I would add a warm accent inlay into the mix to tie it all together.


Anyhow, this style is a relatively new one, a bit of a take on my 'Simplicity' style (the simple cylinder), but with different diameter cap and barrel and spherically rounded ends.  Makes for a comfortable pen for long writing sessions.

The pen is fitted with an 18K JoWo double broad nib.  The fill system is cartridge/ converter.

Thanks for looking!

Ken

Sunday 12 February 2017

Guiness (Mirkwood?) Cigar Style Fountain Pen


Finally, we come to this Cigar style pen which is done up in what I initially thought was a Mirkwood alumilite blank (from Jonathon Brooks), - which is what the customer ordered - but as I turned it, and saw no green, I realized that it was actually a Guiness (or Root Beer, depending on your drinking habits) alumilite.   But now, as I take  a few pictures of it in good lighting, I see a few hints of green, and am starting to wonder if this may in fact be Mirkwood, but with very, very little green.  Honestly, I don't know.  Here too, I will let the customer decide if it fits the bill in terms of taste.  if not, it will be up for sale.




Anyhow, it is my usual Cigar style of pen, and is fitted with a broad steel JoWo nib, and is a cartridge/convterter filler.

Cheers,

Ken

'Mirkwood' Compact Style Fountain Pen


OK, so this order was actually supposed to be a Cigar style pen, but somewhere along the way while making this, the picture I had in my head of a Cigar pen turned into a Compact style pen.  No idea why, but just as I was finishing it, I realized that I had made the wrong style (*facepalm*).   So, I will check with the one who ordered it, but you may see this one go up for sale soon...


Anyhow, the 'Mirkwood' alumilite, another of Jonathon Brooks' blanks, is a cool mix of brown and green.  The actual ratio, is of course impossible to know until the pen is actually turned.  In this case, as you can see, it is mostly brown, with just a bit of brilliant green poking through.


My Compact style is nice in that it posts quite securely for convenience while writing, and is not a super large pen, so reasonably portable.


The nib on this one is medium two tone steel JoWo, ready for my write-testing, smoothing and flow adjusting prior to shipping.

Thanks for looking,

Ken

Purple Haze Cigar


Hey all,

Just a quick post with one of my recent Cigar pen orders.


This alumilite material, originally Ghost Koi purple - made by Jonathon Brooks - got renamed somewhere along the line with one of my previous pens, and 'Purple Haze' has kind of stuck.

The pen is a converter/cartridge filler, and is fitted with an EF steel JoWo nib that will be write-tested, smoothed, and flow-adjusted as desired prior to departure.


Cheers,

Ken


Friday 3 February 2017

'Fall Foliage' Cigar Style Fountain Pen



Hello everyone,

Finally got some time in my workshop this week.  As usual, the cold winter is making it hard to use what little time I have free to get work done, but things came together this last few days for some pen making.




Here is a pen in the good old Cigar style, done up in 'Fall Foliage' alumilite, a very cool material.

The nib is a steel JoWo medium, and the pen is cartridge/converter fill.


Not much else to say, really - going to write-test and smooth the nib, and get it all packed up to ship!

Thanks for looking!

Ken