Ken Cavers Custom Pens: January 2015

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, 25 January 2015

Arctic Night Shirt Pocket Fountain Pen

Yep, wanted to work with this material again, one of Jonathon Brooks' lovely alumilite resins also called 'Blue Nebula'. I'm going with 'Arctic Night' again for this one because it is rather dark, reminiscent of those cold, dark starry winter nights up north.

This is another of my Shirt Pocket Fountain Pens, the good old workhorse pens that are just the right size, fit in the shirt pocket, and post deeply and securely for long periods of writing. This is the style of pen that I bring to work on a regular basis.

In this case, I have ground the polished steel broad JoWo nib to a smooth stub/cursive italic that is a lot of fun to write with.

Thanks for taking a look!

Cheers,

Ken

Tuesday, 6 January 2015

Charger Lava Cone-End Cigar Style Fountain Pen

Seems the weather has once again plunged to deep cold, slowing down production in my shop (of course, the Christmas season, a crazy work schedule and being sick didn't help either…), but here is one that I finished off a couple of weeks ago.

This Charger Lava is really quite popular.

Cheers,

Ken