Ken Cavers Custom Pens: July 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

Saturday, 27 July 2013

Black and Rust Desk Pen

Every once in a while a fit a 'whim' pen into the mix to keep it lots of fun. I had the beginnings of a barrel that I had stopped work on a while back, so I picked it up and reworked it a bit, deciding on a longer 'desk pen' with a tapered shape.

Decided to go with a mixed material cap, with a splash of the rust material in the middle, and then made up a nib section to match. Tried to make the cap a smooth curvy taper to match the barrel.

I finished off this pen with a medium steel JoWo nib.

Since this pen is not made with anyone specific in mind, I will be putting it up in the 'Available for Purchase' section of this website.

Well, that was fun!

Thanks for looking.

Ken

Wednesday, 17 July 2013

This Pen Is Made For Posting...

I love the colour green - it is my absolute favourite. But after raving about green pens I had obtained, and getting a rather tepid response, I had begun to think I was one of the rare ones who loves this colour.

Then along comes this swirly green acrylic into my stock, and it must have triggered an 'I love green' response, because I have had quite a few orders in this material. Suits me fine, it a beautiful acrylic!
:-))

So this is another example of my most user-friendly, functionally useful styles, the 'Shirt Pocket Fountain Pen'. It is made to be compact enough when capped to sit comfortably in an average shirt pocket, and yet long enough to be comfortable to use. This pen is indeed made for posting! In keeping with the goal of making this a 'daily user' type of pen, I have designed this one so that the cap fits deeply and very securely onto the barrel for long periods of comfortable writing.

The pen is fitted with a gold ball-end clip to match the green acrylic, as well as a two-tone JoWo steel fine nib, and a high quality converter for filling.

Now, to let the new owner know that I have a pen for him!

Thanks for looking!

Ken

Saturday, 13 July 2013

Matte Black Ebonite Cigar FP in 'Big Hand' Size

Hello all,

Every once in a while I get an order for a pen with a larger grip section, for someone who likes larger pens, or has big hands to accommodate. So I sometimes take one of my usual styles of pen, and kick it up a notch to the 'Big Hand' sizing. Such is the case with this pen.

The order was for a matte black Cigar style fountain pen, but with the larger sizing. This results in a thicker pen all around, of course, but most importantly for the buyer, it means a thicker grip section of 12.7mm, as opposed to my usual 11.5mm. This may not sound like much, but when it comes to grip diameters, it is a huge difference (see the comparison picture below).

(In this poorly focused comparison photo, L to R: Pelikan M600, The Big Hand Cigar, Sailor 1911 full size, and Parker Duofold Centennial. Missing is a sample of my standard size pen (oops) whose grip section is comparable to the Sailor 1911.)

This Cigar is fitted with a polished 18K JoWo nib, to be smoothed and tuned prior to shipping, and is equipped with an excellent converter for filling.

Thanks for looking!

Ken

Thursday, 4 July 2013

'Double-Taper' Style Fountain Pen in Amboyna Burl with Glossy CA Finish and 18K Fine nib

Finally, found some more time in the shop and got to finish part two of a the pen order I mentioned in my last entry. This one was to be fashioned out of a piece of exotic wood - best of all, the choice of wood was left to me :-))

I chose to make this one out of one of my favourite of all woods, amboyna burl. Wonderfully intricate figuring and warmly coloured, it is a truly lovely wood to look at. The bonus for me is that it smells great while turning it.

The shape that was specified was my 'Double-Taper' style, with its matching midsection diameters but shorter and slightly wider cap. The finish that was requested was the high-gloss cyanoacrylate finish. The burl wood was first sealed inside and out with thin CA before applying and polishing the outer coat.

The nib section, as well as the threaded parts inside the cap and barrel were all fashioned out of black acrylic. The nib is a fine 18K JoWo nib, to be smoothed and tuned prior to transport. The fill system is no surprise, cartridge/converter.

I am once again struck by just how involved a process it is doing these wood pens with the resin thread inserts - quite a lengthy project!

Here is one final pic of the two pens together. Now, to do the nib work and get them shipped to their new owner...

Thanks for looking!

Ken