Repair/Replace?

[le chat serein]

Ok. So I was at an Arts Festival in State College, PA (I go to PSU) last summer and I bought a pen from a guy who made things (like pens) out of wood. Now, the body of this instrument is gorgeous and I love it. The writing mechanism itself, however, is a chintzy POS made of plastic and is broken. That is, this plastic piece onto which the cartridge attached and through which the ink flowed, has broken along the threads whereby it screwed into the wooden body of the pen.

 

Is there a place whence I can buy just the piece I've broken? (Preferably, of course, not in plastic, but in some sort of more reliable material)

 

I hope I've described the problem well enough...

 

-Adam

[FarmBoy]

Ok. So I was at an Arts Festival in State College, PA (I go to PSU) last summer and I bought a pen from a guy who made things (like pens) out of wood. Now, the body of this instrument is gorgeous and I love it. The writing mechanism itself, however, is a chintzy POS made of plastic and is broken. That is, this plastic piece onto which the cartridge attached and through which the ink flowed, has broken along the threads whereby it screwed into the wooden body of the pen.

 

Is there a place whence I can buy just the piece I've broken? (Preferably, of course, not in plastic, but in some sort of more reliable material)

 

I hope I've described the problem well enough...

 

-Adam

 

Adam,

 

Try the Pen Turning and Making Forum here.

 

I've purchased some kit pens from Bear Tooth Woods you could try there as well.

 

Welcome to FPN, I see you have just joined.

 

Todd

 

 

 

[le chat serein]

Thanks, Todd, for the advice and the welcome.

 

I'll look into those sites.

 

-Adam

[OldGriz]

Ok. So I was at an Arts Festival in State College, PA (I go to PSU) last summer and I bought a pen from a guy who made things (like pens) out of wood. Now, the body of this instrument is gorgeous and I love it. The writing mechanism itself, however, is a chintzy POS made of plastic and is broken. That is, this plastic piece onto which the cartridge attached and through which the ink flowed, has broken along the threads whereby it screwed into the wooden body of the pen.

 

Is there a place whence I can buy just the piece I've broken? (Preferably, of course, not in plastic, but in some sort of more reliable material)

 

I hope I've described the problem well enough...

 

-Adam

 

I am personally insulted by your remarks. I, and a couple of others on FPN, make high end custom pens from wood and other materials....

We only use high end materials and kits....

Just because someone at some craft show decided to use a low end kit in order to up his profits is no reason to paint the rest of us with the same brush...

If you post a picture of the pen and the broken part, one of the custom pen makers here might be able to help you...

 

Do not class the rest of us with the person you purchased that pen from...

[GuidoForks]

It didn't sound to me like he was having a shot at all of you ...

[OldGriz]

It didn't sound to me like he was having a shot at all of you ...

 

Then re-read the title "Buying pens from woodworkers is a bad idea..."

He took a shot at all of us who make custom pens.... and I find that insulting... especially considering the time and effort I put into making a quality product...

[asamsky]

It didn't sound to me like he was having a shot at all of you ...

 

Then re-read the title "Buying pens from woodworkers is a bad idea..."

He took a shot at all of us who make custom pens.... and I find that insulting... especially considering the time and effort I put into making a quality product...

 

I think he probably meant people who are primarily woodworkers and have very little experience with making pens, not all custom pen makers. He did say "woodworkers", not "custom pen makers."

 

Welcome to FPN, Le Chat!

[fatehbajwa]

Touchy! Touchy!

 

Welcome to FPN Adam.

[OldGriz]

It didn't sound to me like he was having a shot at all of you ...

 

Then re-read the title "Buying pens from woodworkers is a bad idea..."

He took a shot at all of us who make custom pens.... and I find that insulting... especially considering the time and effort I put into making a quality product...

 

I think he probably meant people who are primarily woodworkers and have very little experience with making pens, not all custom pen makers. He did say "woodworkers", not "custom pen makers."

 

Welcome to FPN, Le Chat!

 

When most of us do a craft or art show we are classified with all the other woodworkers ..... Most of the custom pen makers also make other items on their lathes... when I do a show there is usually a nice selection of wooden bowls and platters as well as my custom pens... You will rarely hear someone at a show say "I got this from the custom pen maker over there"... It is usually "I got this from that woodworker over there"

I was a woodworker long before I started to make custom pens and am still a woodworker...

[njoyingaz]

The original poster did make a generalization in his subject line that was not justified. He was speaking from his own experience and his limited knowledge of the quality of some pen turner's pen parts.

 

OldGriz was right to help him understand that there are some woodworkers make pens that contain high quality "innards". However, he came across in his response as short-tempered.

 

I, too, am attracted to hand-turned pens and I have purchased a few on eBay that I knew I was taking a risk on the hardware side. Sure enough, I have been disappointed in the "junk" that is the "standard" pen kit hardware. In my experience, if a pen comes from a woodworker who does not appreciate the quality of the inner parts and the nib, they keep their prices down by using standard available pen kits, which are cheap and low quality.

 

I have searched online for wood pens with high quality nibs and it takes some looking and OldGriz is one who makes a quality product. The buyer must be ready to pay for the higher quality hardware because that better quality is more expensive.

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

...Lee

 

 

[le chat serein]

I am personally insulted by your remarks. I, and a couple of others on FPN, make high end custom pens from wood and other materials....

We only use high end materials and kits....

Just because someone at some craft show decided to use a low end kit in order to up his profits is no reason to paint the rest of us with the same brush...

If you post a picture of the pen and the broken part, one of the custom pen makers here might be able to help you...

 

Do not class the rest of us with the person you purchased that pen from...

 

You're right, I shouldn't have generalized. I'm well aware that there are people (such as yourself, it seems) who not only work in wood, but who also know how to put a pen together without constructing it poorly. I do apologize. I tend to generalize a lot, so I predict that I'll be apologizing more sometime soon, ha.

 

Anyway, I certainly did not mean to offend you, and I again apologize for my wanton generalization.

 

Cheers!

 

-Adam

[Firefyter-Emt]

Adam, do you have a photo of the pen? There are people who may have spare parts to repair the pen. Let me know what the pen looks like, a photo is best and if I can repair it for you, I will do it free of charge.

 

Griz, from the way he described the pen, it sounds like it may be a Churchill or El-Grande kit, which is not in itself a "cheap kit" but is a bit fragile at the thread coupler. I have just bought a custom die for the body threads as well as the tap for the section threads in order to eliminate that thread coupler. I would hold off on just out right calling the kit "cheap junk" if it is one of the better kits. It sounds like broken threads in the section coupler. That lends it self to that style kit which is sold on the higher end of the scale. Not to agree with the tone of the original post, but this could well be a pen that Adam paid well over $100+ for and has all the right to be a bit mad about the kit breaking.

 

Adam, again... if I can help you out I will, just let me know what I am working with as I may have the part you need to fix the pen. If I do not, and I can not "obtain" the part, I will fix it for cost. I do think I can find the part though.

Edited March 17, 2008 by Firefyter-Emt

[sptfr43]

sounds like someone is having a bad day. no need for the short tempered response griz , that too could cause some people to look at penmakers in a bad light..now If you really like the body of the pen then it is worth fixing. I would suggest having a new peice made rather than replacing it with a part of comparable quality. Oh yeah, welcome Adam. Most of the time it's a freindly place.

Edited March 19, 2008 by sptfr43