Ken Cavers Custom Pens: May 2013

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

Wednesday, 22 May 2013

Classic Clipless Tigger

Here's a quick post on my way out the door...

Just finished this one this evening. I quite like the depth of this tiger-stripey material, and the warmth of the colour! This pen was done in my classic style (cap slightly larger diameter than the barrel), nicely clipless to preserve the sleek lines.

The pen sports a medium steel JoWo nib and a high quality converter for bottle-filling.

I will be putting this one up on my sales page shortly, as it is not spoken for.

Cheers,

Ken

Sunday, 19 May 2013

Walnut and Bamboo: what's up lately in the pen workshop?

It's been a while since I posted a new entry here, so I thought I would share a few pics of some of my recent pens. I didn't want to make a new post for each one this time, as it could be just a bit...repetitive.

First off, here are a couple of Bamboo style pens that I finished recently - one headed south to the US, and one flying off to Singapore. These two are made out of cumberland ebonite, one of the most popular materials out there for fountain pen making. While it can be a bit trying while turning one the lathe (strong smell, dusty (must wear a mask!), dull the tools quickly), it is absolutely wonderful in a pen - comfortable to hold, has a nice warm feel to it, easy to grip, resilient, and does not break easily.

One of the things that the first picture above highlights is just how variable a material is from one batch to another, and even from one blank to another. One of these blanks yielded a rather brightly coloured red and black pen, while the other came out much more toned down. Regardless, both pens are now fitted with nicely smoothed nibs and are ready for some serious writing! As I write this, they are en route to their new owners.

This next one is a Bamboo style pen that I just finished a couple of days ago, created out of a beautiful rusty coloured acrylic with a lighter reddish swirl in it. The iridescence of the acrylic makes this pen look quite fiery in the right light. Oddly enough, I have only used this material a couple of times before, even though I have lots of it. Might have to change that :-)

One of the cool things about this particular pen is that it is the first of my pens to sport one of JoWo's 1.1mm stub nibs. I had a little too much fun smoothing and write-testing this one.

Finally, I'd like to introduce a small group of pens that you will undoubtedly be seeing again at some point in the future. This set of four walnut pens, made in a modified 'cigar' style, were created as part of a collaboration with Ernest Shin of Hakumin Urushi Kobo, to demonstrate a hand-rubbed urushi technique (suri urushi), which will be decorated with a maki-e design.

I am posting these pens here largely to show how they look 'before'. The walnut has absolutely no finish on it, and the ebonite fittings and nib section are all in matte finish in order to allow the urushi lacquer to adhere.

The urushi finish takes quite a long time (months) to do, so the next instalment of this story may be a long way off yet. I have to say, I am very excited to see how these come out!

Thanks for looking!

Ken