Maple Burl Gentlemen's Fountain Pen

[Patrick Taylor]

Here's my second fountain pen. I love these blanks! I got them from a guy on penturners.org that happened to throw in some maple burl with an order of cocobolo. I promptly asked him for two dozen more, jumbo-sized of course!

LOML claimed this one (actually she requested this pen ahead of time...) so I think I can actually sell some FP's & rollers starting with the next batch.

I also need to consolidate which kits I turn, since I have so many kits from so many vendors. Is there any one vendor that "has it all" or close to it? I'm thinking of going to only Berea kits straight from them. It seems to be cost effective and still provide a good selection. Also, from what I read there quality is good. Thoughts?

Thanks for looking. Critiques welcome. :)

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1093/1035194683_47a547daf5_b.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1215/1036045908_0405b15cd2_b.jpg

[Paul Heely]

Patrick, very nice job. The photo's are great too. What are you using for a background in the pictures. What are you using for lighting? I think my pictures can be improved so any info would be appreciated.

Regarding the pen kits and where to get them from. I just went through the same exercise. I looked at the offerings from CSUSA and Berea. I looked at what each had to offer because I have a couple of craft fairs lined up for the fall and need to get some inventory built up.

What I did was make a list of what I wanted to have and then looked at what supplier had the kits that I wanted to make. One of the goals was that same style kits come from the same supplier, all cigars come from Berea for instance. My final conclusion is that neither one had an all encompassing selection. CSUSA has kits that I didn't see an equivalent for from Berea (i.e. Emperor, Jr Statesman/Gents, Statesman/Gents). Conversely Berea had more finish options in some of the pens, I did not see that CSUSA has Ti gold on their cigar kits but Berea does.

In the end I decided that using both CSUSA and Berea would give me what I wanted. Right now I have about 3 dozen kits from CSUSA on the way and will be ordering another 2 dozen or so from Berea.

My 2 cents. Hope it helps.

[Steve Trauthwein]

Patrick,

I am also interested in your photo setup. If you could take a photo of it one might get some ideas from it. I get any thing I can from Woodturnignz, they have a limited number of kits but I like the way they treat you. I started with them several years ago and Ryan Polokoff has great customer appreciation.

Arizona Silouhettes probably has more kits than any single supplier. I don't know how his prices compare but I don't think you will beat the reliability or service anywhere.

What kind of finish are you using? Is it high gloss and the photos are not showing it? Have you had any more action on your website? I have considered something of the sort to take care of phone interest from people who have purchased from me in the past or who have had one of my cards handed off to them.

I am only handling three different kits at present. Although it can be great for a collector I believe it can be confusing to the average buyer. I have photos and spend time describing the process so people understand the work involved. Love talking pen craft!

Regards, Steve

[Bernie Weishapl]

Patrick that is beautiful. I really like it. What are using for your photo shoot?

[Mike A. Smith]

Another beauty Patrick!

[Benjamin Dahl]

Patrick, nice pen.
I buy most of my supplies from Berea and have been very pleased.
Ben

[Patrick Taylor]

I'm going to cheat a bit here... I was asked about my photo setup on the IAP forum so I'm going to paste my response from there. Here's what I wrote:
----------------
I built the "phrugal phototent" that Jamie Donaldson recommends: http://jamiedonaldsonwoodturner.com/techniques.html

It was about $40 in materials (lighting included). Very easy and highly recommended! My camera is NOT a DSLR. It is considered a "prosumer" because it has full manual controls. The model is Sony DSC-V3. It's a few years old now.

All my photos are on flickr (user "patrickdylan"), and those inclined can see the exif data for all the photos, like this: http://www.flickr.com/photo_exif.gne?id=939760403

Bottom line is: no flash, aperature priority mode set between 5-8, exposure compensation increased to add light, camera on a tripod about 2 feet away, auto-focus on part of the pen 1/3 back from the nearest to the farthest point.

I'm no photographer, and don't really know what I'm doing, but read a lot of forum posts and tried things until I found what works for me. I do not edit my photos on the computer. What you see is straight off the camera.
--------------------------

I hope that answers your questions. As I've said before I owe a huge thanks to Jamie for sharing his photobooth method. Even a non-photographer without an SLR can get good (albeit not pro quality) photos with a setup that's under $50 in materials and 10 minutes to build. Unbeatable!




What kind of finish are you using? Is it high gloss and the photos are not showing it? Have you had any more action on your website? I have considered something of the sort to take care of phone interest from people who have purchased from me in the past or who have had one of my cards handed off to them.

Steve, I'm using CA/BLO followed by buffing. I get higher gloss on some woods (and on some days) than others. This one is more satiny. The photo method I use usually shows the gloss pretty well.

I get small but growing amounts of traffic on the site. I really find it helpful as a central location that allows people to find any of my virtual turning-related endeavors. I printed my own business cards with just the logo and URL, with white space left for me to write a note, or write the details of a product sold. I send these with all orders and I hand them out liberally to anyone that will take them. ;)

Thanks everyone for the kind words and encouragement. The kit advice is very helpful... it seems that most folks are thinking along the same lines as me... (AzS, Berea, CUSA). Thanks again.

Pat

[Steve Trauthwein]

Patrick,

I just read Jamies' phrugal photo tutorial last week. I purchased and assembled evertyhing except the light. I could not find a 500 watt halogen drop light for around 10 bucks. Every one I looked at had some awkward metal frame to support it.

Are you using the 500 watt halogen? It seems like a lot of light to me. I had been using a 50 watt flourescent and had trouble cutting down the amout of light to keep from getting hot spots.

Just came down stairs to set up and shoot some photos.

Regards, Steve

[Patrick Taylor]

Patrick,

I just read Jamies' phrugal photo tutorial last week. I purchased and assembled evertyhing except the light. I could not find a 500 watt halogen drop light for around 10 bucks. Every one I looked at had some awkward metal frame to support it.

Are you using the 500 watt halogen? It seems like a lot of light to me. I had been using a 50 watt flourescent and had trouble cutting down the amout of light to keep from getting hot spots.

Just came down stairs to set up and shoot some photos.

Regards, Steve

I do use a single 500W halogen work light. It has a small frame, but I think it would burn the part of the shade it sits on if it didn't. My booth is about 4 feet square so I can work around the size of the light frame. I will take some photos this evening to show how mine is set up.