In-house Resin Manufacturing

We’ve never been secretive about our production processes, posting behind-the-scenes videos and photos on our Instagram and openly talking about nearly every step of the manufacturing and finishing process. We’ve also been relatively open about our desire to increase production capacity whenever possible. We regularly take steps to increase efficiency by re-engineering products, tweaking our programming, improving our machines and tooling, and increasing the number of machines in the shop. This time we decided to step outside of the box a bit and look at manufacturing our own resin. Looking back at that decision, there were a lot of intermediate steps that brought us to the point where we decided to invest time and money into making our own resin. Let’s take a peek behind the curtain and walk through the process a bit.

The ball started rolling in a way that wasn’t planned. About a year and a half ago we purchased a few new machines. One was a specifically purchased for non-metal machining, it would primarily work on Vertex manufacturing and if we could decrease our production time, we’d also use it to manufacture the next batch of Decograph fountain pens. Initially, the process of getting used to the new machine was time-consuming. It required drastic changes to our programming, and eventually led us to design multiple custom tools that improved our finished product. Once we had the machine dialed in, we started cranking out Vertex pens, and quickly had about 700 pens ready for sanding and polishing.

Due to this massive increase in production, we needed to hire someone to take over the job of sanding and polishing because Bill had been doing all of that when the batches coming off the machines at a much slower rate. We interviewed multiple people, and ultimately Bill hired our current Sanding & Polishing Technician, Zoe. She had a background in production welding as well as familiarity with other aspects of a machine shop but was looking for a position like this. She fit in perfectly and immediately got to work perfecting our sanding and polishing process. In her capable hands, the finishing process of our Vertex pens went from a four-step process, to a seven-step process that was only slightly longer but produced higher quality work with much less rework. She has also increased her overall speed allowing her to move into other areas, one of which is our resin manufacturing.

Around the time Bill started interviewing for the new position, he also started looking at the feasibility of making our own machinable resin, specifically Alumalite. There are numerous small pen makers who use their own Alumalite, many of them sell their Alumalite to other manufacturers, and we’ve purchased material from Jonathon Brooks in the past for a run of Vertex fountain pens. While we love working with small US makers, they’re also experiencing high demand for their product; and rather than join a massive queue for an order of 100 rods, we decided to experiment with making our own material. The actual “casting” of Alumalite is relatively easy and doesn’t require a huge investment. The hardest part is making the Alumalite look “pretty”, it’s an artform that makers like Brooks have spent hundreds of hours perfecting. We knew the learning curve would be steep to get our resin to look anything close to what is available on the market. Luckily, Zoe has a deep artistic streak and a keen eye; her test batches looked great and we knew early on the process would be successful as along as we could scale it.

During the early months of 2021, Zoe would test different techniques with different silicone molds. She started a resin journal, writing down her recipes and ratios of color, mica, glitter, etc. She would crank out a few different materials each week. Then in July, we pooled all of her test blanks and started machining them. Not all of them turned out. Some where molded too short to be usable. Others had air bubbles or imperfections. But we were able to get about 80 working pens in multiple colors to offer on our new Vertex Small Batch Releases. The pens vary from just a few colors and micas, to some with clear transparent bodies and caps and big flakes of glitter. Zoe worked hard during the casting process, then went back to work sanding and polishing them with the same care she puts into all of her work. Now that we’re wrapping up the final Small Batch Releases, she’s turning her attention to scaling our resin casting production to runs of 50 of each material. The material will still be highly unique from rod to rod, but they’ll be similar colors and swirls. We hope to have a few of these pens available for the holidays.

We’re not done with our European resins either, we’ve received roughly 20 new colors from The Turner’s Workshop in the United Kingdom. A mix of material sourced from old stock Omas and Conway Stewart, with some newly made resins that Vince has been able to get his hands on. Our resin manufacturing is a way to control the process to get colors we want as well as keep our machines running, but we know we’ll still be offering more traditional acrylates. Not only that, we have plans to add other modern industrial resins and plastics to the Vertex. This entire process has been another step for us in our desire to provide our customers with as many options as possible, and if we can start to do more of this in-house it’s a win-win in our book.

Keep your eyes peeled for more new materials from Karas Pen Co in the coming months!

 

Things I Use - Lochby Field Journal

 

I did a quick piece on this piece of kit about a month ago after a week's worth of use. This post serves as my impressions of the Lochby Field Journal after a month of having two of them in my EDC. If you missed the initial post I'm including it first, then I'll move into my thoughts now that I've had a chance to use the Field Journal for 30 days.

Today, I'm taking a look at a new addition to my daily carry/stationery loadout. While I still carry my Rickshaw Banzai Bag, I've added a few new items from Lochby, who recently reached out to us and provided some samples. To be honest, I'd already ordered the Navy Field Journal before I began using the Charcoal Field Journal which was one of the samples provided. I've moved two of my Seven Seas journals out of my Banzai Bag and into these two A5 cases so I can adequately judge how they fit into my daily carry.

First off, I'll get the big "issue" right out of the way in terms of "but they're not American made". No they're not, Lochby were completely upfront in that respect and that's fine. It wasn't something I was concerned about, partially because I knew that without them providing the information and partially because I was more interested in seeing what kind of quality of craftsmanship and overall durability one could get for under $50 dollars. Suffice to say, I'm highly impressed with the product.

Here's the thing, while I often carry one or more A5 notebooks, I rarely use an A5 case. There are a few reasons for this. First off, there aren't really that many quality A5 cases in my price range. The problem most makers run into with a case like this is equivalent to feature creep. They pack way too much into their product, and it quickly balloons from a case to a case, that holds 5 pens, multiple smaller accessories, has external zipper pouches, and the list goes on and on. The last case I purchased was so cumbersome after it was outfitted that it mirrored a small briefcase rather than a notebook case.

Secondarily, several cases I've purchased have suffered from truly shoddy craftsmanship. One showed up with stitching already failing at seams, and the hard "board" was so soft it felt like a few layers of fabric rather than anything with substance. The others often began losing stitching or form within the first week of use. I'm not overly hard on my gear, so this type of issue isn't something that could have happened from misuse. It was just poor manufacturing.

The Lochby Field Journal, on the other hand, does exactly what it says. It's a journal (A5) notebook case that can hold six of the Lochby Refills, or as I've found, one of those refills, AND a Seven Seas notebook. There is the space for some business cards, a passport, a small tablet or e-reader, but not TOO much space. That really if you're just using a slimmer notebook. So this doesn't suffer from feature creep.

It's also REALLY stout. The double-stitching is a GOOD sign, and though some of it doesn't look perfect, it fits the overall aesthetic of the case itself. The internal honeycomb sailcloth is a REALLY nice touch and adds a clean look to the product. The aluminum hook closure works really well without being prone to coming undone or breaking. Though I've only had these cases in the mix for a little over a week, I'm REALLY happy with the results.

The only initial negative I have with the Lochby Field Journal are the elastic "straps" inside to hold the smaller Lochby Refills. They're a little bit too loose, though I'm not using them on the refills, I'm using them on my Seven Seas. It's not that they stretch too much, it's that there's too much slack, in them. Technically their are four of them wound through the "spine" of the case. But the two on the left are basically one long piece woven through four holes to make two separate "straps". Same with the two on the right. So when you use one, and tighten it down, the other pulls too much slack through. It's not a deal breaker for me since I really only use two of them. But it's my biggest pet peeve so far.

If you're interested in the Lochby Field Journal, you can find it here. This is just my personal opinion about the product based on my experiences so far. We do not have a working relationship with Lochby at this time as a company further than supplying them with some samples and them reciprocating.

Now that I've had a chance to really give the two Field Journals I have a good beating, I'm ready to double down on a lot of what I wrote above. I think durability is really where the Field Journal shines, I've carried one or both of these with me every day since I got them, and I made the conscious decision to be a little rougher on these than I normally would. I wanted to give them a bit of a beating. Unsurprisingly, they've held up to all the abuse I put them through. Tossing them in the car, a few spills of coffee (which were accidental), dropping them a few times when I carried way too much, carrying them outside of a bag or backpack, and generally treating them like they were indestructible has left with the opinion that they're quite a bit sturdier than even I imagined.

Now that we've covered build quality and durability, I'll move to the second most important part for me which was the design and functionality of the Field Journal. This is another area where the Field Journal passes, maybe not with full marks, but pretty darn close. I'm still not a fan of the elastic bands that are used and honestly the "bookmarks" are also a bit of a bother, but I can simply choose to not use those parts of the case. The only real mark against the overall design that I could find was the external pocket on the back of the case. It's relatively difficult to use and doesn't hold anything, plus the Velcro adds a weird bulge to the back that's kind of a pain in the ass. If I had my druthers, I'd have a Field Journal without that pocket on the back, and I'd be a happy camper. The internal pockets have specific uses: business cards, credit cards, a passport, etc. The slide-in on the back can hold an extra Lochby refill or other thin notebooks. The buckle closure on the front feels great, looks good, and works to keep the Field Journal closed. The elastic pen loop hasn't let me down yet, and I've been using multiple pens with different diameters in them to see if I can wear it out.

Aesthetics is an area I kind of glossed over in my initial thoughts, largely because that tends to lean more subjective than I wanted to be with this item. I'm sure the way the Field Journal looks and feels will be a deal-breaker for many people. Canvas and sailcloth aren't what everyone is looking for. The large buckle on the front could be seen as distracting and obnoxious. Personally, I love the way it looks. It's rugged and almost simplistic in how all of the pieces and parts fit together. But it's not plain. There is an aspect of timelessness to the design, making it feel like it could be a product that was available 50 years ago. Yes, there's Velcro, elastic, and X-Pac sailcloth, but when the Field Journal is closed the overall design has me wondering if my grandfather could have carried something similar in the Pacific Theater in World War II. 

Overall, I'm extremely happy with the Lochby Field Journal. It's likely to stay in my EDC for the foreseeable future, at least while I carry an A5 notebook on a daily basis. I haven't found anything similar that offers the same quality at the price point on the market. Granted, I haven't done a TON of looking, but the Field Journal outperforms all of my previous A5 cases and it's much less expensive. 

What Place Do Vintage Pens Have in a Modern World?

 

Vintage fountain pens bring a lot of baggage with them. There's a stigma that they're overly temperamental, prone to leaking, likely to fall apart in the hand, costly to maintain, and the list goes on and on and on. As with almost anything, there is a kernel of truth in all of these assumptions. They can be expensive. They can be finicky to keep clean. Some are made of materials that are prone to degradation. They can be leaky. But the reality is that almost all of that is true of modern fountain pens. Sure, modern fountain pens benefit from being made with more robust, modern materials. There are also a lot of inexpensive modern options. But modern fountain pens can leak too. They can be a pain to clean depending on the filling system. They can be extremely expensive, and many of the most expensive are writing tools and more art to be admired and not used. So what's the deal with vintage pens, and why do I bring it up as often as I do?

I wouldn't be in this career if it weren't for vintage fountain pens. I cut my teeth on vintage fountain pen repair for several years before joining Karas. My appreciation for vintage fountain pen style and function impact how I look at modern pens, and in a very small scope, my input on pen design. The fountain pen is largely unchanged since the 1940s/1950s when cartridge systems began to creep into more and more companies. There has been relatively few fountain pen advancements since then outside of material improvements and manufacturing capacities. As we see a resurgence of interest in a relatively niche market, there should be an eye to the past as we move into the future. And in reality, I think that every fountain pen owner should own at least one vintage fountain pen. Even if it rarely gets used, there is something special about holding that kind of history in your hand. Who knows what kind of important messages that pen helped craft? How many other owners used that pen to write down their dreams and desires? A good vintage fountain pen can be just as good or better than a modern pen, you just need to know where to look and what to look for. 

I guess the rest of this is going to focus more on general vintage fountain pen advice and my own personal preferences, rather than an explanation about further benefits of vintage fountain pens. I get asked frequently enough about this topic for me to revisit it from time to time, and I prefer to write my current thoughts and attitudes rather than refer people to something I've written years ago that might not reflect my current mindset on this topic. So here we go, let's go through a short-ish primer on how to navigate the vintage fountain pen world when thinking about adding one to your collection.

My first piece of advice is to avoid eBay like the plague unless you know what you're getting into. Take it form me, you'll likely end up with numerous "broken" pens that you'll need to sink time and money in before you get any pleasure out of them. Or you'll end up like me, and start repairing them as a side hustle and to keep yourself in the habit of buying more and more of them. eBay and sites like that are great once you have a little more knowledge and experience because you can find some GEMS on there if you sift through the posts. But sites like eBay are not a good place to start.

My first two suggestions are kind of a 1A and 1B piece of advice. If you're lucky enough to live in a state with an active pen meet up, that's my first suggestion. Even if it's a few hours drive, it will be worth it to attend one because there will likely be some vintage fountain pens present. You'll likely end up writing with a ton of new pens, and probably leave with a HUGE list of wants, but it's an opportunity to try new pens on for size. It's the pen equivalent of a "test drive". My second suggestion would be to attend a pen show. I know there aren't many, but there are enough that you might be able to take a weekend trip or quick flight to attend one that is near-ish your location. This can afford you not only the opportunity to try a TON of modern and vintage pens, but also facilitate the purchase of your first pen. Many of the recommendations you'll find below on places to purchase a vintage fountain pen will be in attendance at these pen shows. You can find great deals, and a lot of smaller hobbyist repairers/sellers will be present. You'll also be exposed to a massive and mostly caring community that will be excited to see a new face join the ranks of the pen nerds, and you might pick up a pen pal or two. Generally, pen shows are great for the experience, but they can be hell on the wallet.

It can be difficult to navigate the "where" to purchase quality repaired vintage fountain pens outside of a pen show. Many of the vendors at the shows have very stripped down websites, if they have a website at all. So much of the repaired vintage pen stock can be tricky to locate online, and even if you do locate repaired pens for sale; there comes a risk of being taken advantage of. The vintage pen community isn't without problems and one of them is repairers who have a tendency of keeping pens sent in for repair, another is sellers with product that doesn't meet the descriptions provided. Here are some of the places I would recommend for quality and service.

• Peyton Street Pens is a writing instrument manufacturer, retailer, and repair shop known for HIGH quality. Their prices can be higher than other places, but you'll be hard pressed to find better repair work or near mint/excellent condition vintage pens.
• Indy-Pen-Dance is another highly reputable repair and retail shop. They also have one of the best known nib grinders in the fountain pen community, Linda Kennedy.
• Tbickiii is a name you'll see the further you get into the online vintage pen community. It's present on Fountain Pen Network forum, eBay, fountain pen Facebook groups, and numerous other places. Repairer and seller of very nice and often eclectic vintage fountain pens. 
• Pentiques is a place where you can sometimes find repaired pens for sale, but if you didn't take my advice on eBay and ended up with vintage pen that needs repair, this is one of the first places I'd send my pen to. You can opt for the first two options on this list, but Aaron specializes in just repair and restoration. He's REALLY good, and pretty fast in terms of turnaround time. I would personally send pens to him if I didn't have the time or tools to repair them myself.

Now that we've got some of that out of the way, let's move on to what will probably be the most controversial section of this blog post: recommendations. I'm going to attempt to be a little more broad in what I recommend than specifically calling out certain pens, because that gets really subjective. Outside of recommending some pens that are considered vintage pen staples, I'll more be focusing on brands and highlighting what I think are the best first pen options from those brands. Let's jump in.

 Vintage Sheaffer pens are my number one recommendation simply because I've had fewer problems with Sheaffer pens than any other brand. They seem to be made of better material, they hold up quite a bit more to abuse than some of their counterparts. Outside of the Snorkel (which I love) they're fairly straightforward without the oddities some other brands put into their pens. They have enough variety in terms of style almost anyone can find a pen that suits them. Most important, their nibs are fantastic, UNLESS you're looking for flex. While flex Sheaffer nibs exist, they're much rarer than other brands and can be pretty spendy. But if you want nice firm nibs with good flow and great feel, Sheaffer is my go-to. Personally I prefer the pens from the 1950s, the Touchdown and Snorkel pens, as well as their older Balance pens. But their catalog is big enough that you can find almost anything: flat tops, striated, military clip, vacuum filler; you name it there's a lot to choose from.

Parker is a CLOSE second to Sheaffer in terms of every aspect. Their pens are of superior quality and design as many other brands on the market. I had a few more Parker pens with material issues than I did Sheaffer pens, but I also repaired a LOT more Parker pens. I had more nib issues in terms of tipping breaking off when disassembling or reassembling pens. I've noticed that the older Parker pens had very thin gold nibs, which are prone to being easily damaged. But their 1940's and 1950s models don't suffer as much from this. In terms of what pens I recommend, I'm a fan of the Parker 51, Vacuumatic, Challenger, and even the Parker 45. Much like Sheaffer, their catalog is so vast there's something for everyone.

Here's where my first staple comes in to play, and that's with Esterbrook. I'm NOT the biggest Estie fan, but I understand the importance of the brand and especially the pens: the Dollar pen, J, SJ, and LJ mostly. There's a reason these pens are so widely recommended when it comes to vintage pens. They were one of the first brands to have swappable nibs, the quality of the pens is fantastic, and they were (and for the most part still are) relatively inexpensive. I don't really like the style of any of the pens, but with this pen that's almost an afterthought. Anyone that decides to get further involved in vintage fountain pens MUST own an Esterbrook. I know that sounds weird, but it's almost a prerequisite.

I'm gonna lump Waterman and Wahl-Eversharp into the same category. I love both of these brands. I've found more flex nibs on Waterman and W-E pens than on any other brands out there. At one point in time, I was snagging a flex nib on every other pen I bought on eBay from these two brands. But they both suffer from material construction problems. Waterman has several pens that literally fall apart over time. One of their most beautiful pens, the 100 Year Pen, suffers from the end of the barrel crumbling and breaking off, and cap lips snapping. Similarly, the W-E Skyline (a personal favorite) suffers from the resin cracking at the section threads, the "finials" stripping out, inner caps coming dislodged, and other issues that make owning and using own a nightmare. While there are plenty of great pens from these brands, just beware that they tend to be more expensive than some of the other options and they can be easily damaged.

Lastly, some of the minor pen brands out there that don't get a lot of love but have solid offerings include Mabie Todd, Conklin, Aiken Lambert, Moore, and Rexall. You can find solid options, sometimes at a fraction of the price of a similarly looking pen from one of the brands listed above. These second tier brands have some hidden gems, especially in the flex department, but also in terms of their design. They often "looked" enough like a top tier pen like the Waterman 52 or Sheaffer Flat Top but because they didn't have the name recognition they don't have "as many miles" on them as their bigger brand siblings.

Lastly, if you need more advice on this topic I wholly recommend getting an account on the Fountain Pen Network. This forum is a wealth of information, and for the most part, extremely helpful members. It's a huge community that covers everything from pen turning to nib repair to vintage pens to modern pencils. There's a lot going on there, but if you have a question, chances are it's been asked and answered over their at least once. And if not, there's a huge community of people with the knowledge to get you the answer.

Hopefully this helps a little bit if you've been considering venturing into vintage fountain pen territory. I can only write so much on it before I start to lose people, and this seems like a good place to end. If you've questions, you can always comment below or go back to our site and complete a contact form request. Thanks for you time, happy vintage fountain pen hunting!

An Update on YouTube and other video content

 

It’s been a real struggle for us to keep current on video content largely due to outside influences. We went through a period without a viable studio to record in. Then when we had the studio, we had equipment stolen. Then we lost our videographer. This has impacted our YouTube content which we really enjoy using as a way to show off our products and explain different processes that are difficult to do in written form.

We believe we’re on the cusp of being able to relaunch our YouTube video content. We plan on starting with a few videos tackling the Retraktable mechanical pencils, an in-depth look and a shorter spot that focuses on functionality. We’ll move from that to updating all of our old content specifically pen overview videos, refill videos, and compare & contrast videos. The plan is to get a fresh look on a lot of the older content in our new studio with current versions.

Hopefully, we can keep up on YouTube content going forward. We really want to have fresh ideas while resurrecting old content. Shop Shorts is a series we want to revive, plus we’d like to flesh out another series of shorter videos that accompany some of the “What’s In My” newsletter segments. It would be nice to offer some short content that corresponded with many of our newsletter segments. Maybe even move some to completely video related rather than written content.

Staying in the video content, we’re looking at doing a series of Facebook Live events. Initially, these would be done via the Karas Pen Club Facebook group so we could test the process with a smaller number of viewers. We’d likely do 2-4 via the club, and if those ran smoothly, we’d plan and execute the first Facebook Live event on our Facebook business page.

We know a lot of people don’t use Facebook, but it’s an easy way for us to do live content geared toward a group of individuals that already interact with our company on a more frequent basis. The plan is to cover a one or two topics, then we’d open the event to a short question and answer portion. Then down the road, our Facebook Live events would be something we did on a monthly basis, and revolve around a scripted portion that we’d plan followed by a brief open forum style that could be question and answer or a live video shop tour or even a “meet a Karas Team Member” event.

Lastly, we’ve gotten a lot of feedback on our audio quality of the last videos we posted. We’ve addressed this with some better technology and hopefully when we come back the audio quality won’t be an issue. The Facebook Live events will be a work in progress, at least initially, so we may tweak the audio process as we go so we can dial that in as well. We haven’t done a live video event in over four years, so you’ll have to bear with us. We’re working on getting all of this up and running, and we appreciate your patience. If you don’t already subscribe to our YouTube channel, please consider subscribing now. That will keep you up-to-date when we publish a new video or eventually do a YouTube live event. You can find our Facebook page HERE. If you’re interested in more information on the Karas Pen Club, you can find that HERE.

You’re Thinking About Your First Pen Show…

 

Things are starting to open back up, and around the United States many of the pen show organizers are sending out notices that they’re planning on hosting shows this year. Maybe you’ve thought about attending one in the past, and you’ve made the decision that this might be a good year to do so. Travel is still a bit cheap, you’ve got some extra money, you’re able to easily work remotely, and you need a break from the same four walls. While Karas Pen Co won’t be attending shows this year, we’ve got some tips and tricks we’d like to pass along to aid your pen-venture.

First off, make a budget because if you don’t you may end up spending WAY more than you’d planned on. Pen shows are one of those places where there’s bound to be something that catches your eye on EVERY SINGLE TABLE. There will be a lot of the same thing on multiple tables, but there are also a lot of unique items especially if you’re considering vintage fountain pens. In line with this budget thing, unless you’re looking for something VERY specific, don’t buy the first time you see something. Most vendors get set up early, peruse the other tables, then kind of price stuff close to each other. But there are numerous stories of someone buying a pen the first time they saw it, only to find a similar or better example of the pen for considerably cheaper at another table.

To go along with this, pen shows are meant for bargaining. This isn’t a true blanket statement. Some sellers simply won’t shift from their prices. Most of those are the larger stores, manufacturers, and some hardnosed sellers. But many, if not most, of the other tables will be set up by someone who understands there is going to be a lot of “wheeling and dealing” going on. So don’t be afraid to try to talk the price down a bit, it works in a LOT of cases.

One piece of advice you’ll hear tossed around is the “ask before you touch” statement. This is good advice for the most part, but I think it is becoming less of something vendors are really vehement about. There are some hardline vendors that will get bent out of shape if you touch their wares, but a lot of vendors are really trying hard to sell things. They understand people are there to touch the pens. Be respectful and careful with their product, and if you feel like asking first that’s nice but I don’t think it’s as big of a deal as it used to be.

Spend as much time in the hotel common areas with the pen nerds as possible. There are often classes and meet ups at scheduled times during the shows, but after the show closes there are also planned and spontaneous gatherings. Pen nerds are an amazingly kind group of people for the most part. They’re all in one place to geek out about pens, paper, and ink. They’re pretty much a jolly bunch and tend to take over the bar, restaurant, and patio area for long sessions of eating, drinking, talking, and sharing pens with other people. This is your chance to write with almost any pen imaginable. You’ll likely see every pen you’ve ever considered as a “grail” pen, and you’ll be gladly given the opportunity to write with them. That’s how much pen nerds want to show off their stuff. If you’re staying for the entire show, this evening gathering will likely evolve into a dinner somewhere, drinks and cigars, and all kinds of other cool stuff. It’s just a really fun time.

But if you’ve travelled far to a show, then also consider taking some time to see the sights. There isn’t anything wrong with taking a detour to spend a little time doing non-pen related things. There are always other opportunities in almost every city that hosts a pen show. Taking a break to head to a museum, see a baseball game, or walk through some of the tourist attractions, makes the entire trip that much more memorable.

Hopefully, this list is helpful. We can’t wait to spend some time with those of you that do attend shows in the future. We’ve paused shows for the time being, but we do intend to go to several as soon as we wrap up some major production, prototyping, and new designs. Due to our shift in plans to manufacturing and our need to plan that out through 2021, we didn’t think we could pull off a good show presence this year, but we’ll be back soon enough.

It Doesn’t Always Work the First Time…

In preparation for the upcoming production release of our first mechanical pencil, I thought it would be a good idea to share our experiences, good and bad when it came to adapting a pen into a pencil. Like the title says, not everything’s going to work out the first time you try it. The journey with the Retraktable is one such example. Initially, this blog post was going to be “3 Things That Went Right, 1 That Didn’t”, but then I realized there might be a lot more that didn’t go “right” than just one thing. In any case, let it be known that a lot more can go wrong when you attempt to take a product from “idea” to an actual physical specimen.

The best place to start is probably all the way back at the beginning. It’s hard to say when the first request for a pencil was sent to us, probably shortly after the Bolt Kickstarter. Needless to say, a pencil has been in the Top 5 Most Requested list for a LONG time. Our biggest concern was making sure we had a product that met our standards but also fulfilled a lot of the peculiarities of the pencil crowd. It’s also a bit daunting when the bar has been set in terms of a metal mechanical pencil, and Rotring has been doing that for decades. Suffice to say, we sat down to prototype something that resembled a pencil in early 2018, and it’s taken us nearly three years to see those prototypes be realized into a working pencil that meets our standards.

Our initial planning stages really looked internally at our current retractable products for inspiration because we knew there’d be a contingent of people who would seek out pen and pencil sets or at least something resembling that type of product. We didn’t want to design a pencil, just to turn around and need to design a pen based on that pencil a year down the road. We also didn’t have the capacity to tackle a pen and pencil design at the same time. Adapting a current product into a pencil using an “off-the-shelf” pencil mechanism quickly became the driving thought process at this stage.

The Bolt was eliminated pretty early on for a few reasons, but mainly due to its actuation method. Potential customers either love it or hate it, there really isn’t any middle ground. We didn’t think it would be as popular as a traditional-style mechanical pencil. Based on the available pencil mechanisms we could easily source in bulk quantities; we were left with the EDK and Retrakt. Ultimately the EDK was removed from consideration due to its size because it would require some pretty major modification to get that pen to work with the pencil mechanisms we had identified. That left the Retrakt as the only candidate for adaptation.

Once we had decided on the Retrakt as the pen we’d be adapting, we began to look at the specifics of how that adaptation would go. Ideally, we wanted to make as few changes to the pen as possible, but we needed a functional pencil as the outcome. The standard Schmidt SKM 88 click mechanism would need to be adapted by removing the miniature ball bearing that locks the mechanism into place. We’d also need to machine an internal locating collar out of Delrin because the fit of the mechanism we intended on using wasn’t as precise as we wanted.

Our first iteration of a physical prototype was an interesting mess of parts that we had cobbled together, and we got a somewhat working pencil out of it. The first problem soon reared its head, while we had identified the minimum number of parts needed to adapt the Retrakt to a pencil, we couldn’t productionize those parts. The pencil mechanisms from Schmidt have massive allowable tolerances in terms of length of throw which completely eliminates our ability to use precision-built adaptation kits. We put our “working” prototype kit into ten different Retrakts and only two would work immediately with another three functioning if we fiddled around enough but the other five would never function. It was a massive headache. So, we went back to square one and began dissecting each part to see what we would need to manufacture or source to get a functioning adaptation kit. Here’s the list of adaptations we ended up with by the time we finished the first prototype run.

• Disassembly of SKM 88, removal of ball bearing, reassembly of SKM 88.
• Sourcing a 3-inch steel tensioner spring.
• Replace rear pencil mechanism plunger with machined aluminum plunger.
• Machined Delrin locating collar.
• Machined Delrin tensioner spring spacer.

Used in conjunction, these adaptations would allow the Schmidt DSM 2006 pencil mechanism to work MOST of the time with a MAJORITY of existing Retrakt pen bodies. We adapted around 300 pens into pencils and sold a prototype batch that we’d tested to ensure proper function, then we sat down to discuss the project.

Before we move on to the next phase of our process, I’ll address the Eraser Issue, as it came to be known. There was a long internal debate over the inclusion of a built-in eraser. We went round and round on this topic in every meeting we had during the initial prototype phase. Ultimately, there were two reasons we settled on not using a built-in eraser. The first reason was the lack of availability of a high-quality eraser we could source in bulk quantities. The second reason was external feedback we received from pencil users who said they’d much prefer we eliminate the built-in eraser especially if we supplied a high-quality eraser like a hi-polymer eraser. You’d think this would have taken a few weeks to come to this decision, if memory serves this decision didn’t get made until early November 2018, months after we started the prototyping process.

The first batch of 300 Retraktable mechanical pencils sold over the 2018 holidays as quickly as we could list them on the website. We were apprehensive about the customer feedback, and worried customers would end up having issues with function if they tried to make tweaks to the operation of the pencil. We had far fewer customers lodge complaints than we expected, but it was still enough complaints about the future of the Retraktable to be one of the main topics in our 2019 planning meeting. We decided to put the entire project on pause, largely due to the amount of work each adaptation kit required combined with the fact that the kits weren’t always successful which led to a sub-par product. But we knew it wouldn’t be long before we revived the product and decided to move forward with it.

In our 2020 planning meeting, the Retraktable was moved from the back burner to a new prototype phase. We threw out everything we’d done in the past, including the Schmidt DSM 2006 mechanism. Throughout this latest prototype phase, we chose to look at things a little differently. We still wanted to adapt the Retrakt because we’d received so much positive feedback on that pen being the basis for the design. However, we knew we’d need to make some major changes that wouldn’t be a true adaptation rather the Retraktable would be a mechanical pencil that looked like the Retrakt and ultimately only share one main component: the upper barrel.

What did we end up doing when we pushed into the final stages of prototyping the new Retraktable? We did a lot.

First, we decided to use the mostly metal Schmidt DSM 2007 in lieu of the mostly plastic DSM 2006. The DSM 2007 has a threaded body that would hold the mechanism in place removing the need for a locating collar or tensioner spring. But in using these threads, we’d need to machine a lower barrel that was threaded for the mechanism and couldn’t be used as a pen. But we could still use the upper barrel along with our standard clip and screws.

Second, we decided that it would make more sense for us to make our own click mechanism based on the Schmidt SKM 88. It would be nearly identical, but we could make it out of aluminum and therefore anodize every piece of it. We’d machine both the button and housing in-house, use a small spring between the button and housing, and keep everything in place with a C-clip capture system. This allowed free movement of the mechanism and gives it the “feel” of a standard mechanical pencil “button”.

Lastly, we decided to source stamped 6061 aluminum clips for the pencils. This was a bit of an afterthought, but because we were adding a mechanism that could be anodized, we figured it would be apropos if we had a clip that could be anodized giving us the option of doing a single color Retraktable. The sample clips came back with a lovely spring to them, and we knew they’d be perfect for the pencil.

We’d also received a lot of requests for a slim version of whatever pencil we decided to release. With some CAD magic, Bill and Josh were able to get a slimmer version of the Retraktable (now called the Retraktable Slim) that used all of the same parts. We’ll see about adapting the Retrakt V2 to a slim version in the future, anything’s possible.

Two years after the first Retraktable prototypes were sold, we released the latest Retraktable prototypes. I guess technically they’re the Retraktable V2 prototypes. We sold about 200 Retraktable Slim and 250 Retrktable Standards over the 2020 holidays. We added multiple grip profiles, and anodized them in a variety of options. We plan to launch the full production versions of the Retraktable and Retraktable Slim in June 2020 with several different color combinations. The rest of 2020 will see the release of multiple special release versions of the Retraktable and Retraktable Slim; they’ll be something for everyone.

I’ve learned that it doesn’t always work the first time, but I’ve also learned that we’re pretty resilient and if the idea and design have merit, we’ll pursue it. We’re doing that right now on multiple projects and potential additions to current pens. The first few go-rounds might not be successes, but we’re not going to stop trying new things. We’re stubborn like that. 

Pens in the News

 

Writing the title of this blog is enough to make me chuckle to myself. Not for any anti-journalism reasons, but because it’s somewhat laughable that anyone would potentially find pens in the news in 2021 unless of course they were being used to commit a crime. It’s surreal that in an era where we carry around thousand-dollar supercomputer/camera/telephone/secretary objects in our pockets there is this astronomic rise in popularity of an analog tool. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that desire for simplicity, the need to unplug, how the physical act of writing is different than typing, and all of that; but it’s still weird that I can do a Google search for “fountain pen”, click on the news section of results, and there are five or six recent articles on the topic from pretty reputable sources. To be fair, this isn’t something I look up frequently, but here are some of the results I got back recently when I was searching for a specific Forbes article from a few years back.

The BBC is a pretty legit source for news. Yes, I know they publish articles on a variety of different topics, but they’re known as a news source. While this article isn’t as recent as many of the rest, it’s an article I wanted to highlight because it covers the history and importance of the ballpoint pen. There have been similar articles posted in the past, and hopefully there will be more in the future; but the importance of the ballpoint pen is something I’ll always try to highlight. I’m always amazed at the bad rap ballpoints get from all sides in the writing community; so, there is something of “defending the underdog” when I get to link to an article talking about the greatness of the simple tool that is the ballpoint pen.

New York is a biweekly periodical that isn’t a traditional “news” source but definitely a big name in the world of magazines. A recent article touts the ability of a fountain pen to transform the authors’ terrible handwriting into lovely script. This is another popular topic, though normally it’s phrased as a question asking if a fountain pen can improve handwriting. I bought into this assumption myself, and I’m sure a fountain pen could improve my handwriting but that would center more around practicing with said fountain pen rather than simply using one all the time. The fountain pen is doing much less of the heavy lifting whereas the time spent practicing good penmanship is the real hero of this story.

There’s an article about a popular manga series, Chainsaw Man, getting its own line of fountain pens. This is less surprising to me due to the popularity of fountain pens amongst my manga loving friends, but still a pretty interesting occurrence considering the growing popularity of manga and anime in the United States among Millennials and Gen Z.

Did you read the one about the chemistry professor who uses modern and vintage fountain pens for both chemistry and art? Yeah, not only do we have the collision of chemistry and art, we have it via the medium of the fountain pen. Sure, there’s nothing new about science and art being wonderfully entwined, but it’s far less commonplace. Then you pile in the use of analog technology in two fields that are moving in the opposite direction, and you have an amazing oddity to say the least.

There are dozens of other articles about pens and writing instruments that come up in a Google search, and hundreds if I allow for articles published last year. I frequently overlook the popularity of the written word and writing utensils because I’m constantly surrounded by them. But when I look for the evidence of writing tool popularity, it’s becoming harder and harder to ignore how important pens, pencils, and paper are even in the 21^st century. That’s comforting to someone like me, someone with and old soul and a love for analog writing.

2nd Quarter Q & A

 

Q – “Can I purchase clips and screws separately?” or some form of this question – NEARLY EVERYONE

A – This has become one of the most frequently asked questions and requests we receive, and it’s not something that’s easily answered. For the time being, we do not have plans to sell clips and screws separately due to some concerns that remain from when we did sell those items (2014-2017). The problem we ran into was that customers would purchase replacement clip and screws and during the installation of the new clip, they’d over-torque the screws and end up stripping out the pen threads. This is easy to do if you’re not careful because the screws are stainless steel and the pen is aluminum. It became such a common problem, we stopped selling clips and screws on the website and began offering the service request form to people that had somehow damaged their clip, stripped their threads during cleaning, or something along those lines. This is still our biggest concern and the reason we don’t offer clips and screws as an option on our website. We are trying to come up with a way for customers to purchase the items and send their pen to us and have it retrofitted with black screws and clip, but we are also dealing with VERY long lead times from our clip manufacturer, so we’ve put this option on hold until we see a considerable decrease in the time it takes to order new clips and when we receive them.

Q – “Is it possible to retrofit caps with o-rings?” – P

A – Unfortunately, this is not something we can do with our capped pens. During the re-engineering phase, we looked at ways to retrofit older pens with o-rings and came to the conclusion that the only way we would be able to do that would be to use an external o-ring. That was not something we wanted to do as it would change the overall aesthetic of each pen. Using an internal o-ring in the cap required changes to the physical design of the cap and barrel (and in the case of the INK the grip as well). We literally have to machine the threaded areas of the cap and body differently which can’t be accomplished on our older models. Though parts can be swapped from older pens into/onto newer pens without damaging anything, i.e. using a new cap with an o-ring on an old body is possible, it just won’t thread all the way down and the o-ring will not engage on anything.

Q – Would you ever consider making a bullet pencil?” – JC

A – Not at this time. We’ve done a LOT of market research on this in the last two or three years for a variety of reasons. Our decision to not pursue a bullet pencil was two-fold. First, we thought it would be a good idea to establish a Karas pencil product that would reach the most amount of pencil users, and figured that would be easier to accomplish with a mechanical pencil. Second, the bullet pencil is a niche item in a relatively small section of the writing instrument community (pencil users). From what research we did, pencil users are more particular in the pencils they use than both rollerball/ballpoint users and fountain pen users.

Q – Are there plans to do a zombie/neon green pen?” – Z

A – Yes, we’re looking at multiple finishes that would accomplish a brighter green or zombie-ish green color. As soon as we find a viable option, we’ll send out pens for this color.

Q – Will you ever think about launching or releasing a limited-edition model product with a lifetime guarantee? - AT

A – All of our pens have a lifetime guarantee on parts we manufacture against defects. We have a service plan that customers can use to send pens to us if there are problems with their pens. Normally, we can repair or replace parts at no cost to the customer. If the pen has been damaged to do obvious negligence or misuse it voids the warranty. Parts from other manufacturers (click mechanisms, refills, nibs, converters, etc) do not have this warranty, though we often will service those parts (especially nibs) if the pen is sent to us. You can access our service request form HERE.

Q – “Have you considered making a fountain pen with a different filling mechanism (vacuum, piston, etc)? – A bunch of people

A – We continue to look at alternative options where fountain pen filling mechanisms are concerned. When we sit down to look at potential additions to our catalog, we always considered new ideas first. Not just a new look, but different or new functionality. With fountain pens, this usually takes the form of filling mechanism, overall pen size, external shape, or capping mechanism. We are open to this idea in future additions, but we don’t currently have a new fountain pen on our projected schedule.

If you have a question you'd like answered, CLICK HERE to be taken to our Q & A form and ask away!

 

 

Un(der)appreciated Writing Accessories

 

Lists of writing instruments and accessories float around the internet like any other list. I’m just as guilty of filling the world wide web with them as any other person that writes about writing. There are some unforgotten, underappreciated, or unconsidered writing accessories that I feel are worthy of being added to my list or, in this case, given their own list that is an addendum to the list I put out for the On Writing series. Here are some that jump to mind for me that I tend to take for granted but when given thought make the list without hesitation.

Post-it Notes is a complete no brainer for me. I use 5-10 of them every day around the office. I’ve tried other brands and found them wanting either in the paper category or in the stickiness category. The one outlier being the Staples brand sticky notes, but I tend to stick to Post-it brand because they just work. They can be a bit finicky with lubricated inks and wide nibs, I believe this is because of the paper composition which is not very fibrous or porous, so lots of ink takes a while to dry. That being said, using my Pilot Precise loaded Bolt or Retrakt is my preferred method, in fact this list was compiled on a Post-it before I wrote it all out in Word.

Another item that is similar to Post-it Notes is quality 3x5 (or 4x6) index card. There are expensive options that are made for fountain pens, but I find them too expensive to invest in because when I need index cards, I need a lot of them. Two solid options I’ve come across that are Oxford brand and Yoobi. Neither are truly fountain pen friendly, but they don’t have a lot of bleed through and limited feathering so they’re a great option if you don’t want to shell out $10 dollars for a single pack of index cards. Personally, I used Yoobi index cards when I was in college a few years back because they were easy to find and relatively inexpensive. Plus, they came in a hard case that protected them from getting bent up or water damaged.

Something I’m often in need of, but somehow seem to lose all the time is a good solid ruler. While I measure a lot of things with a pair of calipers, I still find myself requiring a ruler a few times a month. I used to rely on the wooden rulers we had in school back in the day, but they aren’t nearly as straight as I need them to be. I tend to use a 6-inch metal ruler/machinist’s scale, mostly because I usually need to measure something less than 6 inches long, and when I do need to measure something longer than that I need a full measuring tape. The metal ruler is easy to carry around, durable, and generally small enough to fit in a backpack or even a pocket.

This one is out-of-left-field, but I have a few of these at work that I use as jokes more than anything, and that’s custom rubber stamps. I never considered these as “writing accessories” until I was gifted a few in gift exchanges, then low-and-behold, I started using them on notes around the office or in correspondence. I think they’re a great addition to letter writing or if you leave handwritten notes for employees or coworkers. I’ve seen some that were fancy signature block type stamps and others that just had funny or irreverent sayings on them. They’re fun especially if you have a bunch of different colored ink pads and can switch things up when using them.

Specifically for fountain pen use, I love having a blotter or blotting paper handy. This was something I never considered when I was using extrafine and fine nibs, but as I’ve moved to medium and broad nibs, I have come to really value having a decent sized sheet of blotting paper handy. Sadly, there are not many options for blotting paper out there. Since I use Nanami Seven Seas notebooks, these come with a sheet of blotting paper which is a bonus, but of the limited options, the J. Herbin blotter is probably the best out there.

This one isn’t for everyone, and I realize that; but owning some decent leather writing accessories, while not a MUST, is one of those premium upgrades to the accessory realm. There are a LOT of options out there when it comes to leather writing accessory brands, and they run the gamut in terms of price. Personally, I prefer to find small makers that do high quality work even if they’re considerably more expensive. You pay for what you get and, in many instances, using a small maker will allow you more of a custom look and feel to a product plus you’re helping keep someone in business. I’m partial to Stache Leatherworks, Inc products and have quite a few of them. These are absolutely gorgeous pieces, handcrafted out of high-quality leather with beautiful stitching. I LOVE mine and always get compliments on them when I’m out in public with them.

Now for a few honorable mentions, and these are really additions because they are on my writing instrument list, but I feel like they are both writing instruments and writing accessories; mostly because they’re often looked down on by people who are active in the writing instrument world.

The first honorable mention is a decent wood-cased pencil and a pocket knife. This duo is the original EDC for writers on the go after the invention of the wood-cased pencil. I small knife to sharpen your pencil and said pencil lets you write pretty much anywhere you’re going. I’m not going to get into the specifics of knives, there’s too many to go over, maybe in a future post I’ll cover my favorite knives; but I do really enjoy Blackwing 602 pencils though I use them sparingly. For a “daily driver” pencil, I keep a box of Palomino HB or ForestChoice pencils in a drawer by my desk. They’re a bit handier than mechanical pencils when I do a LOT of writing in pencil, so I keep a few around for the days when I aim to use a pencil for all of my writing.

The second honorable mention, and something that will ALWAYS be on my list of writing instruments or accessories until they stop making them, is the Bic Cristal pen. I am an unashamed proponent of this pen and its myriad of uses. I will always recommend that you have one of these in your bag. They’re probably the best, most universal, easiest to find, reliable, fill-in-the-blank pen on the market. The 1.0mm Bic Cristals write like an absolute dream. There’s a reason it has a permanent place in the Museum of Modern Art and is considered ubiquitous in terms of pens; it just works and when it does finally die, you can easily replace it.

How Do I Choose What to Write With?

 

I get this question frequently enough that from time to time, I feel like I need to not only answer it but expound on it. There is a myriad of answers to this question, most of them are largely subjective, a few address the question from a more analytic aspect and border on objective answers. When I get the question from a customer in-person or over-the-phone, normally I’ll answer it only after asking a few questions of my own to get a better idea of what the customer is trying to do. I’ll be approaching this question from that mindset, providing some of the answers to my own questions and assuming others to better answer this question.

An aside, for this article I’ll be breaking down answers to four categories: pencils, ballpoint pens/refills, rollerball pens/refills, and fountain pens. With our pens, there is a lot of crossover due to our modularity, but the assumption is that the customer is coming from a place of little or no knowledge in writing instrument specifics and not much knowledge of our brand and the ability to move between ballpoint, rollerball, and even fountain pen in one pen body.

Honestly, I don’t often recommend a pencil, and that’s not because we only recently added one to our list of writing instruments; but more so because there aren’t a ton of applications that call for a pencil. I do enjoy the difference in the writing experience a pencil provides. Combined with the ability to make corrections easily, and the fact it can write on the cheapest or most expensive paper; pencils make a lot of sense. But they’re not permanent, and outside of using them specifically for sketching or in an environment where ink might prove problematic, there isn’t a lot of use for them outside of personal preference. And therein lies the last reason I don’t often recommend them, people that REALLY love pencils are quite picky about aesthetics, lead size, weight distribution, diameter, body material, length, etc. Taking all of those into account there are more variables to pencil preference than there are in the uber-particular fountain pen crowd. So, I tend to only recommend a pencil when the customer specifically mentions a predilection to using pencils over pens, and even then, if they’re open to it, I’ll suggest a pen that “feels” like a pencil.

That leads me to the second least recommended type of writing instrument, the ballpoint. I don’t often recommend ballpoint pens or refills to new pen enthusiasts for one specific reason, they likely have been writing with some type of gel rollerball pen and until recently gel ballpoint refills were not widely available. Because of that, the writing experience is going to be noticeably different, and what some would consider a poor writing experience. That’s not to say I am anti-ballpoint, in fact, I’m the total opposite; I think a ballpoint pen ticks most of the boxes when it comes to a writing instrument performing in almost all environments. Ballpoint pens take a lot of crap, despite the fact that they were likely one of the biggest technological advances in modern writing instrument history. They were revolutionary in a variety of ways from ink chemistry to non-smudge properties to component manufacture; there is a reason many people consider the ballpoint pen a truly groundbreaking product. In general, I like them because they can write on almost any paper, the ink won’t wick away in my pocket should the refill actuate, and they’re a little more forgiving if you’re writing in extreme weather conditions. All that being said, writing with a ballpoint pen for long periods of time can make you hate writing. They can catch on fibrous paper, the ball can stop working as fibers get caught in them, the ink can skip due to the ball not being as precise, and the ink itself is oil-based and thick which can feel weird depending on the paper being used. Taking everything into account, I generally only recommend them for people that do a lot of pocket carry or tend to write in inclement weather.

I’m going to make some of you angry with this answer, but it’s just me being brutally honest. I rarely recommend a fountain pen to people that ask this question. In reality, I might actually recommend a ballpoint more than I recommend a fountain pen, but recently fountain pens have been gaining some market share and many new pen people specifically ask about them. While I love how a fountain pen writes and how personal it can feel; I still don’t think they’re an option for a majority of people. If I were to continue in my honesty, I’d describe fountain pens as somewhat impractical when it comes to 90% of the writing that takes place on a daily basis. Yes, you could argue that writing by hand in a world of cell phones, tablets, and computers is impractical, but there are so many factors to consider when it comes to ensuring a fountain pen will function properly that using one for every writing transaction is going to be difficult. People that shift the lion’s share of their writing to a fountain pen do so with a laundry list of what I call add-ons. Need to ensure the ink won’t disappear if water gets on it? An additional bottle of waterproof ink is a necessity. Want to make sure your signature is legible on all of those documents? Higher quality printer paper will be a must. The same goes for sticky notes, legal pads, journals, note cards, greeting cards, and the list goes on and on. That doesn’t even take into account certain times you won’t be able to use your fountain pen at all. When I do recommend a fountain pen it’s always with the caveat “but carry a ballpoint or rollerball as well, cause you’re going to run into a situation where a fountain pen just won’t work”. That’s the reality of being a fountain pen person, if you don’t want to use someone else’s disposable pen you’re likely going to need to carry more than one type of pen all of the time. Fountain pens, as lovely as they are and as much as I really enjoy using them, have their place which is not always as an EDC item.

This leads me to the most recommended option by far, probably 80-85% of the time; the rollerball pen. The reasons for choosing a rollerball as the first step into pen nerd-ery are so numerous I might not be able to cover them all. It’s far easier to point out what I consider to be the two flaws rollerball pens carry with them: wicking ink that can ruin a pair of jeans or a nice shirt and no viable pressurized refill options. But those are negligible complaints about an option that has so much upside. Have a preference for a specific color of ink? There are tons of options available specifically from Pilot in the G2 or Juice refills. Want the option to switch from a fat 1.0mm refill to an ultra-thin 0.38? You can easily do that with a variety of different manufacturers' rollerball pens. Did your pen just run out of ink and you didn’t bring an extra refill? No worries, the convenience store likely sells a plastic rollerball with a refill you can rob and put in your pen. Those are just a few of the reasons I recommend rollerball pens over the other options, but the biggest one is this: if you’re used to writing with a modern rollerball pen from Uni or Pilot or Pentel, our rollerball pens are going to “feel” very similar in size and shape to those manufacturers’ retractable rollerball pens. So, there is an immediate “comfort zone” you can fall into if you choose one of our rollerball pens, and that’s the biggest reason I recommend rollerball pens over all the other options.

Yes, I still love my fountain pens and carry several with me almost all the time. Sure, I’ve added a pencil to that carrying case along with a nice eraser just in case I want to write in pencil. Personally, I’m going to pull out a ballpoint more often than not when I go to write something especially if it’s signing a receipt or taking a quick note. And I’ll almost always have a rollerball with a Pilot Precise V7 RT refill in it because that’s my favorite setup. But I’ve been a pen nerd for over a decade now, and I can’t remember the first time I asked myself this question. I think most people that try a good pen will work their way through several pen options before they find “The One” or the best option. There’s definitely a journey for those of us that really get bit by the writing bug and no matter where you start you’re likely to take a lot of off-ramps before you get to your destination on finding the best pen option or options for you. This is just my process on how I answer that question, don’t get too pissed at me it’s all just my opinion and I am well aware you could have a completely different set of answers. But that’s what makes writing and the pen community fun, we don’t always agree but we have a TON in common. Regardless of what you choose to write with, just keep writing.

On Writing 7: My Preferred Writing Instruments

 

I’ve probably covered this is multiple posts and topics throughout the 6 or 7 years I’ve been talking about writing instruments. While some things left the list and others were added, most likely you can put this list together from my older posts, but I’m going to go all out on this one and try to include everything: paper, pens, pencils, ink, technology, etc. It’s gonna be a bigger post so we might as well get started.

I’ve never started this type of post with paper, and that’s where this one will begin. I’ve babbled on profusely with praise leveled at Nanami Paper Seven Seas notebooks probably more than any other paper source out there. It should come as no surprise that’s where we’ll start. The Seven Seas products are simply some of the best on the market in terms of page count, paper quality, lie-flat ability, and stylistically. They are simply put perfect for writing. The A5 size is easy to carry, they have lined, dot grip, cross-hair grid, and blank. I prefer the dot (Micro Dot) and cross-hair (Crossfield) for pretty much any writing I do with a pen and paper that isn’t note-taking for work. If I’m journalling, writing poetry, writing a story, or anything personal, that all goes in a Seven Seas. I probably have 10 or 12 of them, two of which are full, another 4 have been started, and the others are brand new.

For work notes I tend to use Nemosyne notebook and Rhodia notebooks. I use a Rhodia planner for most of my meetings. But I have three or four Nemosyne books for planning out product releases, video topics, making lists of anodize shipments, special release names, and all other topics of importance go in my Nemosyne books. On the go I tend to use our Story Supply Company pocket notebooks. I have three, each one for a different topic that way if I have an idea or need to take notes I use the correct pocket notebook and then transfer the notes into my Nemosyne books when I get to work. It’s a system that works for me, but it can be somewhat cumbersome.

In terms of digital “paper” I use a Macbook Air 13” with LibreOffice for word processing at home. At work I have a Dell desktop and monitor and tend to use Word though I also use Google Docs from time to time though I’m not a fan of Google Docs as much as I am with Google Sheets and Forms. I have also started to use my Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra for note-taking as it can use the S-Pen technology. But this experimentation is still early days and I’m not sure I’ll use it very often. It just isn’t as user friendly and easy as I would like it to be.

While I use a ton of different pens, my preferred writing instruments are the Lamy 2000, Montblanc 146, and a late 40s/early 50s Sheaffer Snorkel. But I do have preferred Karas Pen Co pens as well. My two go-to pens are the Delrin Vertex fountain pen or rollerball and our older ringed Retrakts. The Vertex is a no-brainer in my opinion, it’s the most comfortable pen I’ve ever written with. The section shape, length, width, and weight are all just perfect for my grip. I can write forever with the Vertex, and my hand never tires. I used to hate the Retrakt because it felt too skinny, but the ringed version for some reason feels great. Just enough extra grip to keep my hands on the pen, and with a little tweaking it takes the Pilot Precise refills which are my favorite rollerball refills of all time.

I use our Retraktable Slim mechanical pencils for any pencil work I need to do. Previously I preferred Uni Kura Toga mechanical pencils, but I actually find them too light and my hand starts to hurt after a short while when I’m writing with one. The weight and width of the Retraktable Slim is where it’s at for me, plus I use large hi polymer erasers and the Kura Toga eraser is pretty much garbage if you need to erase anything. I also use Blackwing pencils from time to time when I’m feeling posh or I have one in front of me. I don’t go out of my way to buy hardcase pencils, but I have a few in my drawer at work.

I’ve already covered my favorite rollerball refill, the Pilot Precise, and generally I prefer the 0.7mm refill to the 0.5mm but it depends on the task. I use a variety of fountain pen inks, from Namiki Blue to Montblanc Shakespeare Red to Karas Pen Co Desert Varnish to Sailor Yama Dori and a bunch in between all of those I can’t count how many bottles of ink I have. Namiki Blue and Waterman Serenity Blue are probably the two standbys that I always keep on hand. They work in just about any pen; modern or vintage and both look great on paper. I also like Akkerman Shocking Blue but because it sheens a lot, I tend to only use it in cheaper pens or converter pens like the INK V2.

Lastly my cases are almost solely Rickshaw Bagworks cases. I have a coozie holder, several Waldos, one of the breifcase bags, multiple single pen sleeves, and none of them have failed me yet. They are stylish and keep my pens safe plus they are do what they are supposed to do and are great quality. I also have a bunch of Rickshaw masks that I have been wearing in the pandemic and plan on adding a few larger pen holders to the list of Rickshaw items I carry on a regular basis.

That about wraps up the list of writing instruments that get the most amount of mileage put on them. I’m sure I’ve forgotten something and it will dawn on me in a few hours after I’ve posted this. But this is the best I can do on 4 hours of sleep. I think I’ve covered all the most popular items outside of colored pencils and crayons. I’ll save those for April Fools.

Whatever your preferred instrument is, keep writing!

Some Recent Questions Among Fountain Pen Users

I’m not super active on fountain pen social media platforms, though I am around and reading posts and responses. I tend to ignore a lot of the stuff that doesn’t specifically deal with Karas Pen Co, but recently I’ve been intrigued by a lot of the posts with interesting questions and many of the assumptions posing as answers to those questions. I’ve pulled a few from the last week that really grabbed my attention, and I’ll discuss them here for a variety of reasons.

A recent post on a major fountain pen Facebook group warned users of removing their converters to clean and refill their pens. This post was put up by Richard Binder, who many consider THE gatekeeper of fountain pen knowledge. Binder has a TON of knowledge in almost every facet of fountain pens so I’m not going after him in terms of his reasoning behind this post, I’m merely citing my personal preference AND the reasons behind the way I clean and fill by converter pens. Here’s a breakdown of the argument and recommendation stated by Mr. Binder: some people remove their converter to clean it before replacing it and filling it with ink. He doesn’t do that and he doesn’t recommend doing that due to the damage that can be caused to the plastic adapter on the converter, nib unit piercing tube, and feed capillary tongue. He did show a badly damaged converter and nib unit receptacle.

This isn’t really my response to him, rather it’s an explanation of how I fill, clean, and assemble my pens with converters and why I do these things. Firstly, I don’t fill my pens through the nib unit, rather I fill directly into the converter. I prefer this method specifically because it allows a more complete fill and minimizes the air inside the converter. I realize this requires manually saturating the feed once the converter is attached, but I don’t mind this process. I also clean my pens this way, removing the converter to clean it separately and using a bulb syringe to squirt water through the nib unit.

To be fair, I have not cleaned nearly as many pens as Mr. Binder, but I’ve cleaned a LOT of them in my time working for Karas. I’ve also assembled a ton of pens. I have only twice seen a converter with a damaged plastic converter adapter (the area that connects to the nib unit). Once was on my own pen and was due to being left on the pen too long resulting in the plastic “learning” the larger diameter of the nib unit piercing tube and no longer fitting snugly, in fact, the converter simply fell off and couldn’t be used on any pen. The second was a customer’s pen and his was due to improper cleaning which allowed the ink to collect to a point where the plastic became brittle and snapped off.  

I have seen many more damaged nib unit piercing tube and feed capillary tongue. I can’t speculate to all of the reasons why they were damaged; however, the feed capillary tongue is easily snapped off when improperly removing the nib and feed from the collar or improperly reinstalling the nib and feed into the collar. Most of the damaged nib unit piercing tubes I’ve seen have been due to lack of cleaning and the buildup of ink on these parts. It is my supposition that ink buildup can cause this type of plastic to become brittle over time. Then at some point when installing a converter or more likely a cartridge, too much force is used and the nib unit piercing tube is deformed or in some cases completely snapped off. Some nib manufacturers have better designs on their nib units than others, but all nib units are susceptible to this.

My final remarks are as follows. First, clean your pens often. Don’t allow ink buildup on any of the plastic parts, and use warm water and mild detergent to clean these parts (this is specific to modern pens, consult an expert on vintage pen cleaning techniques). Second, do some research on inks and the pH balance of the inks you are using and find inks that lean more pH neutral. If you’re using a pen that doesn’t completely disassemble like ours do, then take extra care when removing, cleaning, and reinstalling parts. BUT a converter is a $5 dollar part if you need to replace it, and in our case, if you send us a pen to repair, we’ll normally replace damaged plastic parts like the nib unit for free. Damage to nibs can be costly, but in 99% of the pens sent to us we’ll repair or replace parts for no fee (unless negligence or misuse are evident). In principle, if you clean your pens often, I tend to agree with Mr. Binder in that you probably don’t need to disassemble everything, but I also know that if you disassemble all the pieces the cleaning time is dramatically decreased. Exercise care when disassembling and assembling your pens, but I’m still going to continue to fill to my converter directly and trust that I have yet to see enough examples of this type of damage to warn me off of this method of filling and cleaning my pens.

Another question that comes up a lot is in regards to nib manufacture and pricing. Before I worked for Karas I probably voiced a similar question about why companies didn’t make their own nibs and why flex nibs weren’t more readily available. Now that I’ve been involved in the process of sourcing nibs for a number of years, I understand a lot more of the peculiarities that exist where these questions are concerned. First and foremost, nib manufacturing on a large enough scale to be considered anything other than boutique, if not bespoke, would require a rather large investment of money. On its surface, nib manufacturing seems rather straightforward. You need some stamping machines, a rudimentary design that can be placed on the nib, some slitting machines, and a way to attach the tipping to the nib. In reality, there are quite a few hurdles to accomplishing this endeavor. Stamping nibs out of raw material is easy enough, and a design that can be then stamped into the pens is just as easy. However, special tools are required for nib slitting and especially for nib tipping. Not only that, but those machines and tools are no longer in production.

In 2017 and 2018, we invested in the initial phases of research and development towards a goal of manufacturing our own nibs. We spent time designing and stamping out some prototype nibs. Contacted companies that used to manufacture nib tipping machines, sourced tipping material. Researched alternative methods of tipping a nib, sent numerous samples out to companies that made devices that would replicate the tipping machines. And ultimately, we abandoned the project in late 2018. Our conclusion was that we’d never be able to manufacture steel nibs cheaper than what current third-party (Bock, JOWO, Schmidt, etc) sell their bulk nibs for. Setting aside the initial investment in machine, design, and development costs; the raw cost of materials would be nearly as expensive per nib as we are paying to have them made by another company.

This ties directly into nib pricing. There are often a lot of questions as to why modified nibs, custom ground or altered-for-flex, are so expensive. The assumption by many is that a nib that has been modified should have only a moderate increase in price. Custom nib grinds can run anywhere from $30 to $75 dollars depending on the nib grinder, type of grind, type of nib, etc. Altered-for-flex nibs cost in the range of $150 dollars for a steel nib. These price increases to a $20 dollar nib are seen by some to be vastly more than they should. They fail to take into account the fact that ALL of this work is done by hand, requires specific skills that are not easily attainable, require specific tools, and currently, the demand is far higher than the supply. It can take hours to create an altered-for-flex nib and get it tuned and writing correctly. Even a skilled nib grinder takes quite some time to grind a nib bit by bit, testing as they go, until the nib is to the correct width and writing well. The price reflects the time, effort, and skill of the artisan working on the nib. Lastly, the market can bear the price, which can seem frustrating but as long as there are abundant consumers willing to pay the price, it won’t come down.

I have several more questions, but we’ll end this post here and hopefully, I haven’t caused all kinds of issues with these statements. I just felt like putting a bit more effort into answering and addressing some questions I found interesting that could be applied to Karas Pen Co and our pens. 

Why We Use Reviewers

We get asked why we provide pen samples to reviewers quite a bit. It’s one of the top questions we get right behind “Are you going to use titanium any time soon?” and “How can I become a reviewer?”. To my knowledge, it’s not a question we’ve answered before. I figured I could take a quick break from the “On Writing” series, and I’d address this question.

The simplest answer to this question is that when we went out on a limb with the design and release of the Render K pen, we had no “clout” in the pen community. Karas Kustoms was a nobody in the realm of writing instruments, but we had started building relationships in the Everyday Carry community on several forums that catered to the watch/knife/backpack/etc. collector crowd. Several people that were active in these communities had started or would go on to start “pen blogs”, so our relationships with these people were made relatively early on in both our journey and in their journeys. It was mutually beneficial for us to send samples to these bloggers and reviewers because it helped grow our brand and helped them establish themselves in an industry that was in its infancy.

People can and do have all kinds of feelings about “professional product reviewers”. Distrust and even animosity are commonplace when it comes to how people view pen reviewers. As time has gone on the line between unbiased-person-reviewing-a-pen and reviewer-that-receives-paid-sponsorships-from-pen-companies has been blurred quite a bit. We take all of that into account when we are approached by a reviewer asking us to provide sample pens, or when we’re approached by a reviewer asking us to advertise on their platform.

The fact is our product reaches a limited number of eyeballs organically or via our marketing platforms. Providing sample pens to reviewers that have small, medium, or large audiences expands our reach but also continues to lend our brand credence in a niche but growing market. It’s a strategic decision on our part to engage, not only with the community at large but with a select group of people that have been appointed gatekeepers of the pen community.

I can’t comment on how other companies interact with these reviewers and what they ask or demand the reviewers write or don’t write about their product. I can honestly say we are extremely upfront about our desire that the review is completely free of pressure and bias from our company. We’ll provide product and company background information along with the item, but we like to stay as hands-off as we can during the process. If the reviewer has specific information they want or need, we’ll provide them the information if we’re able to, but we don’t ever want to be accused of influencing a review. I’m very careful to stress that there are no requirements being placed on the reviewer in their receipt of product from us. We don’t expect a review, but we’re hopeful of one, and we rely on the quality of our product to influence the final outcome of the review itself.

This has led us to a point where we feel we have really good relationships with a large majority of the reviewers that are active both as bloggers and vloggers. We value these relationships and just as much as we love the chance to have our product be featured to their audiences, we enjoy supporting these people that helped us on our journey as a pen manufacturer. To say it’s a symbiotic relationship removes the friendship and emotions aspect from the equation. It’s similar to our dedication to working with other small manufacturers like Rickshaw Bagworks, Jonathon Brooks, Turner’s Workshop, and many others. As big as the pen community has grown, it’s still pretty small and tight-knit. It’s still a lot more like a family than a fandom in some aspects, and this is one of those aspects.

A decade after we made our first pen, we're at a completely different spot as a pen manufacturer and retail brand. It's not as vital that we have interaction with pen people everywhere they gather. We'd love to be able to get featured on every blog, vlog, magazine, podcast, and other outlets that talk about pens. We also understand that just isn't a reality. We're REALLY busy and while we make time to hit up virtual pen meet-ups, podcasts, and blogs we can't be everywhere. But we value the friendships and relationships we have with a handful of pen reviewers, and we'll offer them products when they ask or when we release something we feel they'd enjoy featuring. We feel that these relationships mean too much to us as people to simply abandon them, and that's why we continue to send products to pen reviewers.