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.