I'm a woodworker. I'm a tinkerer. I try new stuff. I should try making a pen. Well, a short time ago I get a Penn State catalog in the mail, and pen stuff is featured on the cover and the first several pages. hmmm, must be a sign? ooo, shiny things! I saw some new pen blank media, their "metal" line, looks like damascus twist pattern, sort of. I decide I want the black and white pattern - I like the look. I also saw a special, they were offering on some of their pen kits, a free starter package with drill bits, bushings and barrel trimmer.
I ordered online, and soon after, the package came. I tear it open - and no starter package.
I call customer service, prepared to complain, and the nice lady starts out by asking if I ordered online. Yes, I said. Well, you have to specifically ask for the starter package. I said there was no indication of that on the online order form, and no reference number that I could see for the "starter package". Well, she said, I always ask the customer when they order by phone. I'll make sure you get the starter package, no shipping charges, either. Pretty good, I'm thinking. It came shortly, and I'm all about going to work on this thing.
I have the free bushings, but I find out I need a mandrel. Well, I have a nice bit of scrap steel collecting dust in my shop. I turned and threaded a mandrel and made a nice big fat nut to tighten down on everything. So far, so good. I drill out the blanks with the free drill bits and epoxy the brass tubes in place - and then learn that the barrel trimmer in the starter package is actually a pair of sleeves - to be used with a specialized cutting bit that is not part of the package. No matter, I call myself a woodworker, I have the means to trim and square the blanks with other tools I already have.
I turn the barrel blank sections and get them polished to an excellent shine, using the usual range of abrasives plus the 2 kinds of polishing cream that came with the order. I put the pen together, and my gosh it is a heavy little bugger! I'd gotten the "Majestic Junior" described as a slimmed down version of their regular "majestic" pen. Whoa! If my slimmed down pen is this big and heavy, what must the regular sized one be like?
This is one elegant looking pen, the kind you'd use for signing big important contracts and write the great American novel with, if your computer was down. It is heavy, though, and I find that I much prefer using it with the cap lying about someplace, rather than posted on the top end of the pen body.
I really like using a fountain pen, and I like this one, except for the ugly skinny metal sleeve on the end of the pen body where the cap would be posted when writing. (I'll be doing something about that, later.) Whenever I feel like making another pen, I'll have a better idea what I'll be doing and what I'll be ordering. I also have a few interesting bits of wood kicking around that would look good on a pen. tom koehler