# LA Pen Show purchase



## MartinPens (Feb 21, 2012)

I'm showing off a pen that I purchased. I did not make it. I would love to have purchased three or four pens from four different vendors (two being IAP members) but just fell in love with this one and decided to start here. (saving my pennies for my next fountain pen).

This is one from Brian Gray - Edison Pen Company. His set up, choices and willingness to demonstrate some nib fine tuning was very, very impressive. I hope to, someday, make a pen as nice as one of his. I have my heros on this forum - for sure - but I especially like Brian's work.

Pardon the blue ink on the nib. I've been using it every day and need to wipe it off!

Enjoy the pics


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## mtassie (Feb 21, 2012)

*WOW!!*

What is it made out of?


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## seamus7227 (Feb 21, 2012)

Nice Martin! who makes his nibs for him?


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## Justturnin (Feb 21, 2012)

now thats a looker.


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## OKLAHOMAN (Feb 21, 2012)

Seamus, I belive his nibs are made by JoWo a very good German nib maker.





seamus7227 said:


> Nice Martin! who makes his nibs for him?


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## seamus7227 (Feb 21, 2012)

ah! I see.


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## MartinPens (Feb 21, 2012)

OKLAHOMAN said:
			
		

> Seamus, I belive his nibs are made by JoWo a very good German nib maker.



Correct

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## brownsfn2 (Feb 21, 2012)

I don't think I have ever seen anyone on IAP with that material before.  Does he custom order that somewhere?

Really nice pen you have there!


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## butchf18a (Feb 22, 2012)

I don't know, speculation, looks to me like home-made acyrilic segmentation. Regardless, remarkable blank and superior workmanship.


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## BRobbins629 (Feb 22, 2012)

That's a beautiful choice and I'm fairly certain the stock was purchased.  Brian has been a good friend for many years.  Within the last 5 he has created quite a following at pen shows and with social media, perhaps being a pioneer in that field for pen makers.  If you want some insight into his business, go to Fountain Pen Geeks web site and listen to an interview.


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## Brooks803 (Feb 22, 2012)

The pen is beautiful Martin. The material is purchased. Justin (timebandit) made one with a purple rendition of that stuff. It doesn't look too hard to segment yourself though.


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## watch_art (Feb 22, 2012)

I've seen that material at Bear Tooth Woods.  Nice pen!

Bear Tooth Woods - Royal Blue & Gold Layered Acrylic Single Tube Size Pen Blank

Bear Tooth Woods - Royal Blue & Gold Layered Acrylic Pen Blank

And yep - the nibs are JoWo, purchased through WIN I believe-
Writing Instruments Network - pen components and more


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## SDB777 (Feb 22, 2012)

BTW, the nib is supposed to have ink on it....shows that you actaully use it:biggrin:

Nice clean threading there too!  Very nice.



Scott


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## Timebandit (Feb 22, 2012)

Beautiful pen Martin!!!!......Its a shame though that Brians pens arent hand made anymore (all CNC controlled these days) as now they have lost some of there appeal to me. A beautiful pen none the less!!!!!....but i like hand made items......Great purchase and im sure it will serve you for years to come.:wink:


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## Robert111 (Feb 22, 2012)

brownsfn2 said:


> I don't think I have ever seen anyone on IAP with that material before.  Does he custom order that somewhere?
> 
> Really nice pen you have there!



This is pretty close, if it isn't exactly right:

Bear Tooth Woods - Royal Blue & Gold Layered Acrylic Single Tube Size Pen Blank


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## jasontg99 (Feb 22, 2012)

WOW!!!


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## glycerine (Feb 22, 2012)

Timebandit said:


> Beautiful pen Martin!!!!......Its a shame though that Brians pens arent hand made anymore (all CNC controlled these days) as now they have lost some of there appeal to me. A beautiful pen none the less!!!!!....but i like hand made items......Great purchase and im sure it will serve you for years to come.:wink:


 
Not hand made?  Those machine don't turn themselves on ya know! :biggrin:


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## Timebandit (Feb 22, 2012)

glycerine said:


> Timebandit said:
> 
> 
> > Beautiful pen Martin!!!!......Its a shame though that Brians pens arent hand made anymore (all CNC controlled these days) as now they have lost some of there appeal to me. A beautiful pen none the less!!!!!....but i like hand made items......Great purchase and im sure it will serve you for years to come.:wink:
> ...



Some of them can:biggrin: And i should say this a different way. The article that i saw with Brian, he said that his pens do see a little bit of manual work........the CNC cant sand and polish the pens, so there is some hand work:tongue:


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## ed4copies (Feb 22, 2012)

Brian has made a full time business out of penmaking.  There are very few others who have his degree of dedication to learning about and sourcing materials and nibs.
Spending an hour with Brian, I learned a great deal about nibs. 

If anyone gets to a pen show where Brian is exhibiting (which is most ALL of the pen shows), take the time to listen to him---you WILL LEARN!!!!

My thanks to Brian for embarking down this "unexplored" career path!!  I look forward to seeing him again.


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## gbpens (Feb 22, 2012)

Absolutely beautiful pen. 
An artist is still an artist regardless of what tools we use. I suppose a purest woould insist on hand tools as compared to CNC but our lathes, saws, sanders, grinders, etc. are all machines (all extensions of ourselves).


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## Timebandit (Feb 22, 2012)

gbpens said:


> Absolutely beautiful pen.
> An artist is still an artist regardless of what tools we use. I suppose a purest woould insist on hand tools as compared to CNC but our lathes, saws, sanders, grinders, etc. are all machines (all extensions of ourselves).



Agreed and i wasnt putting him down. Most all large name pen companies use CNC. I just prefer a more hand crafted item (which Brians pens used to be) not computer controlled. But as i said, this is an amazing pen and i congratulate Martin on his purchase.


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## MartinPens (Feb 22, 2012)

It was amazing how it worked out. Out of ignorance I had a feed/nib issue with a pen I had sold. I posted my issue and someone posted a link pointing to Brian's site. (and many other very helpful posts) That was a day or so prior to the pen show. I show up in L.A. and there he is (with his wife) and as busy as it was (it was crazy) he showed my real quick how to align the nib tines and smooth the nib gently using mylar films. I didn't get a firm understanding of the different grades of mylar - but I'm exploring it now.

I appreciate a handmade item (of course!)- and own one of Justin's pens. : )  There is a lot of skill in working with a CNC machine too.  I also have a list of IAP members whose pens I would like to eventually include in my collection. 

Mike and Roy have been a great help. And the links and info have been really fantastic. So much to learn!

Everyone in my family has now written with a fountain pen.  My daughter took a real interest in it (14yrs old) and wanted to look at the nib through the loop and understand what I was doing.   I think my wife wants one now. It will have to be rather small in diameter, like the one I got from Justin - and have an extra fine nib - oh - and it will have to be some sort of purple! : )  We have our anniversary coming up in July and I think I'll save my pennies and start aiming for that.

I am very grateful for the resources and help through the forum and I'm grateful that my Cigar Illusion pens have sold well enough for me to purchase a quality fountain pen.

Regards

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## thewishman (Feb 22, 2012)

That is a real beauty. Brian is a very nice guy and his pens are sweet. Sounds like you had a good experience at the LA show.


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## MartinPens (Feb 22, 2012)

It was my first pen show and within 10 minutes I was overwhelmed. Just too much eye candy! 

Also, I forgot to mention that this pen is part of the "Morgan" series.  I didn't mind that he engraves all of his pens with his company name and the series name of the pen. But on some of the pens, I wondered if he could find a different place to put it. It's smack dab on the body of the pen and with some colors it stuck out a little bit. On this one it is hardly noticable.

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## bgray (Feb 22, 2012)

Thanks for posting this, Martinpens.  Great to meet you at the show.  And by the way - your photos are awesome!

And sorry guys, I really haven't had a presence here for a very long time.

I'll address a few things here...

The material comes from Bear Tooth.

The nibs are JoWo.  I'm the US distributor.

I have managed to go full time with this crazy business, and growth has been exponential each quarter.  Pretty crazy.  I'm loving it.

But if you search for posts that I've started on this forum, you can go way back and see some real basic pens that I made.  I owe a lot to this forum.  I just saw some of these old threads, and it's nice to see that progression.

With the CNC vs handmade issue, please don't think that by using CNC, I'm simply pushing a button and a pen pops out like a Coke machine.

Ask anyone who is qualified to program and operate a CNC machine, and they will tell you that it's a tool just like any other tool.  It takes a lot of time to keep the machines tuned, programmed, and running effectively.

CNC does repetitive precision very well.  But it's not a panacea.  If I have a custom order, I'm going to make it manually, hands down.  I can make a pen in 1 to 4 hours on a manual lathe, but it literally will take me 60+ and sometimes 80+ hours to create fully sound programs on the CNC machine for a new pen design.  Why on earth would you use CNC for one custom pen?  Even a small run of 10 pens?  It's not worth it.

So the whole "handcrafted" issue is real tough to define.  I would say that more than 50% of my business is still custom, so I'm still running the manual lathe a whole hell of a lot.  

I remember when "CNC" was a bad word around here (maybe it still is).  But until you've done both, trust me, it's just another tool.  And it will definitely introduce a HELL of a lot more new and interesting headaches. 

But it does have advantages with design possibilities.  I'm currently putting the finishing touches on a design where the cap wall is literally .050" thick.  The cap lip is .018" thick.  I created centerbands that are .015" thick plated brass.  This centerband is captured with teeny tiny 54 TPI threads that need to fit within that .050" cap wall.  I would never attempt this delicate work on a wood lathe or manual metal lathe.  Not saying that it can't be done, just saying that it's not practical.  But the CNC machine can handle this little delicate work.

The CNC machines are just like any other tools in my shop.  They are not easy to work with, take up a lot of time, and create headaches.  But when you need repetitive and delicate work done, they can handle them.  

So again - sorry about being absent here lately...I miss this place.  If anyone has questions about my pens or business, let me know...I'm always open with information.  Sharing is beneficial to all of us.


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## Haynie (Feb 22, 2012)

We should all be so unfortunate as to be growing every quarter.  Mr. Gray must be doing something right.


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## MartinPens (Feb 22, 2012)

Brian,

Thanks for the reply. I was curious about your history with the IAP. It was fun to look back at pens you have made in the past and the various posts.

I haven't been around for a long time - but in the short time I have been around, it seems like the craftsmanship of kitless pens is booming. Have their always been this many kitless makers on this forum?  I know a lot of people jumped in on the tap and die group buy, me included, and there really seems to be some fantastic work being posted on a regular basis.

I haven't made the kitless jump yet - but I have most of what is needed. 

Thanks again for the great posts everyone!

Regards,
Martin

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## Jim Burr (Feb 23, 2012)

Would have loved to know a show like that existed!! Can't afford the stuff, but I love to learn and see how all these work.


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## Manny (Feb 23, 2012)

Next year Jim. It's an annual event. In the mean time you can prepare and save. 
Manny


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## BRobbins629 (Feb 23, 2012)

MartinPens said:


> I haven't been around for a long time - but in the short time I have been around, it seems like the craftsmanship of kitless pens is booming. Have their always been this many kitless makers on this forum? I know a lot of people jumped in on the tap and die group buy, me included, and there really seems to be some fantastic work being posted on a regular basis.


When I joined IAP in 2006 you could count the number of kitless makers on one hand or less.  Many made closed end or modified kits, but few were truly kitless.   As I remember it, Bruce Boone had done a few, Dan Furlano did some, I think Anthony (Penworks) had done some and perhaps one or 2 others.  In early 2008 the first group buy of triple start taps and dies was made.  There were 12 participants and only a few of those original are still active.  Around the same time Brian Gray and perhaps some others started cutting multistart threads on a metal lathe and a few tried on CNC mills.  George (Texatdurango) posted the first kitless using the triple start taps and dies.  As time went on, there were several more larger group buys of taps and dies reducing the cost and now several of our vendors carry them in stock.  Others jumped in with single start taps and dies.  My guess is that there are several hundred members now "kitless capable".  Maybe there are some others that could add to the story.


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## Toni (Feb 24, 2012)

That is one incredible looking pen!!! LOVE IT!!


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## Kristopher250 (Feb 24, 2012)

Brian, what kind/brand of CNC machine do you use? I know absolutely NOTHING about CNC, but I would like to know how it is done and you are the obvious expert.


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## Mapster (Feb 24, 2012)

Spectacular!


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## bgray (Feb 24, 2012)

My lathe is a gang-tooled CMS G27.  However, they are no longer in production.  A comparable machine would be a Omniturn GT75, or something in that range.


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## MartinPens (Feb 25, 2012)

And only $33,000 new! 
I don't think I'm quite ready for that, but hey, we all need room to grow!

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## Kristopher250 (Feb 25, 2012)

You (along with your machine) do incredible work. But as another poster observed, at 25K+, the machines are a bit steep. Looks like I won't be experimenting with that pen making approach unless I win the lottery!


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## bgray (Feb 25, 2012)

Well, I hate to say it, but you're only looking at the machine price.  Put 2-3k into tooling, 1k into a phase converter unless you can run 3 phase, and 1k into shipping, along with some other misc expenses that add up.


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## tjseagrove (Feb 25, 2012)

bgray said:
			
		

> Well, I hate to say it, but you're only looking at the machine price.  Put 2-3k into tooling, 1k into a phase converter unless you can run 3 phase, and 1k into shipping, along with some other misc expenses that add up.



Plus software and LEARNING curve to make it all sing.....

You do amazing work....

Tom


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