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








Monday, 13 August 2012

BLUE BAMBOO!



Interestingly enough, my 'bamboo' styled pens with their unique 'inlet ends' have sparked quite a bit of interest, and I have filled quite a number of orders for them - not only in the material I originally used (a polyresin with a grain-like look to it), but also in a wide variety of acrylics which bear essentially no resemblance at all to real bamboo.  This one would be a good example of that.  The result is a fun, whimsical take on the bamboo pattern, in a bold, beautiful colour!




This acrylic, the dark blue flake (or 'crush') acrylic, is one of my own favourites (one of these days, I will actually keep one for myself...).




Finishing an acrylic pen properly is a painstaking process, involving many hours of drilling, turning on the lathe, threading, finishing threads, and 'detailing' all the ends and openings to cap, barrel and grip section (sanding, finishing and polishing the openings), and finally sanding down the cap, barrel, and grip section with a series of 10 different grits of paper, from 400 grit up to 12,000 grit, ending with a polishing liquid that leaves a breathtaking shine, and makes the penmaker smile.  The total time taken to make a pen like this is about five and a half hours.  Time well spent!




This royal bamboo is equipped with a fine tip polished steel JoWo nib, and a steel-trimmed converter.



Well.  That pen was fun to make!  Thanks for looking!

Ken


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2 comments:

  1. Unknown19 August 2012 at 08:52

    Hey Ken -

    I've seen your work over on the IAP site and really appreciate your design and blank choices. I'm new to penturning, but I find both segmenting and custom pen design to be very appealing and interesting.

    I love your bamboo collection and your blank selection is always top notch. The blue crush bamboo is awesome.

    Keep up the good work!

    Dave

    ReplyDelete
  2. kcavers19 August 2012 at 12:53

    Thanks very much, Dave! Keep on turning!

    ReplyDelete

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