Sunday 3 November 2013
Tycoon Kit- Handmade
This is mistakenly written as Olympian Elite. No, this kit is called Tycoon. Sorry for the mistake.
A small story
Following is a re-post of one write up that I had sent to IAP when I joined them . Some people liked the story. Please let me also know you all feel about it.
Of pens and kits
Of pens and kits
My last three months journey in the world of
fountain pens started with my 12 year son asking
to buy him Lamy and Cross pens in Calcutta, India. I was surprized by his interest in fountain
pens as most of his generation write with Gel-pens and ball point pens.I did purchase a couple
of Lamy safary pens for him, costs about USD 36 in our local money. I personally did not know
the Lamy brand earlier.
But in my school days there used to be a myriad of local made fountain pens , all plastic body
exposed nib pens , mostly eyedropper filled. There were some from slightly expesive local makers
included hooded and partial hooded nibs and aerometric type or slide/screw type plunger fillers.
Then, there were these Chinese pens WingSung and Hero models. My father used to collect pens and
I have seen Pilot and some other Japanese pens, some Parker pens etc.
My son and his friends had no idea of these brands. I did a local market check and found none
of these brands are sold retail anymore.
Fountain pens are one hobby somebody can carry to adult life as I can feel by seeing my own school days
hobby making a comeback. A good habit to encourage.
In the internet I could find all the Chinese vintage models and many more new brands from china.
e-bay is the bset place for these pens, costing between two to forty USD for a pen. In last three
months I have purchased about 400 pens from here, I can now recognize most models by their fine
details.
The vintage Indian models from our times are rarely available in retail, ocassional listings were
found in ebay.in as vintage and collectibles. One US site called Pen revolution or similar does
sell many older Indian pens. I could not buy much from these as my paypal account is restricted
about paying sellers based in India and my bank has introduced some sms verification code which
I can get only next vacation.
With more internet search. I became introduced to wood pen turning and then the International
penturners forum who helped me learn about all the finer aspects. I became very interested in
making a few by myself. I was only limited by the absence of any dimensioned drawing, also did
not have many real pens with me to compare and mimmic.
Luck helped a bit as ship went to US and with help of some local gentleman I was able to buy some
11 fountain pen kits and some basic supplies. Studied the kits, an managed to get some basic idea
of dimensions and thread standards. Finished those pens anyway. And now want to make more.
Ship went to Holland and UK, time constraints ,and internet availabilty not in my favour- so no kits and
supplies. For Brazil, one famous USA supplier refunded my money citing at least 6 week required for international shipping. Ship went to Sepatiba in Brazil,people there have only seen "Caneta Nankin" ie fountain pen
in movies!! In the town only one paperillia could sell me a single unit of what looks like a chinese
made semihooded for USD 10. I get many of these design in ebay auctioned for 65 cents to 5 USD.
I do not buy many more pens from ebay now, my interest being concentrated on what I can make by myself.
Moreover, The ones above 25 USD are more of jewelery than pens, does not interest me technically.
Recently though I bought a wooden pen, redwood/black for 27.5 USD with a chinese Jinhao kit.This to introduce
my better half to the charm of wood pens.
E-mailed the seller to sell me chinese pen kits, but got replied in the neagtive by china pen sellers
association. Full pens yes, kits no.!!!
please note this is the only china made wood pen in ebay! Most china pens are plastic and acrylic, in
the modest range. So point to note is wooden pen making is begining to get marketed.
In India, surprizingly, hobby pen making and woodturning has not caught up, is this not a good idea to
start? My search is of course limited by my 50mb internet ration doled on board, but the trend does show.
Where are pen kits made and sold in retail, out side US/Canada/UK ? Perhaps some information are available
in Alibaba.com - but this site is blocked in the ships internet. Another similar site called indiamart.com
only has bulk ready made pens, but no mention of kits.
What intrigues me is that every possible item is manufactured in India/China and sold off to everywhere.
Are these kits sold in UK/US/Canada made locally? IMHO, that is very unlikely. I would expect these to
be bulk supplied from India/China and retailed by the retail websites.
Please could some forum members tell me more ?
to buy him Lamy and Cross pens in Calcutta, India. I was surprized by his interest in fountain
pens as most of his generation write with Gel-pens and ball point pens.I did purchase a couple
of Lamy safary pens for him, costs about USD 36 in our local money. I personally did not know
the Lamy brand earlier.
But in my school days there used to be a myriad of local made fountain pens , all plastic body
exposed nib pens , mostly eyedropper filled. There were some from slightly expesive local makers
included hooded and partial hooded nibs and aerometric type or slide/screw type plunger fillers.
Then, there were these Chinese pens WingSung and Hero models. My father used to collect pens and
I have seen Pilot and some other Japanese pens, some Parker pens etc.
My son and his friends had no idea of these brands. I did a local market check and found none
of these brands are sold retail anymore.
Fountain pens are one hobby somebody can carry to adult life as I can feel by seeing my own school days
hobby making a comeback. A good habit to encourage.
In the internet I could find all the Chinese vintage models and many more new brands from china.
e-bay is the bset place for these pens, costing between two to forty USD for a pen. In last three
months I have purchased about 400 pens from here, I can now recognize most models by their fine
details.
The vintage Indian models from our times are rarely available in retail, ocassional listings were
found in ebay.in as vintage and collectibles. One US site called Pen revolution or similar does
sell many older Indian pens. I could not buy much from these as my paypal account is restricted
about paying sellers based in India and my bank has introduced some sms verification code which
I can get only next vacation.
With more internet search. I became introduced to wood pen turning and then the International
penturners forum who helped me learn about all the finer aspects. I became very interested in
making a few by myself. I was only limited by the absence of any dimensioned drawing, also did
not have many real pens with me to compare and mimmic.
Luck helped a bit as ship went to US and with help of some local gentleman I was able to buy some
11 fountain pen kits and some basic supplies. Studied the kits, an managed to get some basic idea
of dimensions and thread standards. Finished those pens anyway. And now want to make more.
Ship went to Holland and UK, time constraints ,and internet availabilty not in my favour- so no kits and
supplies. For Brazil, one famous USA supplier refunded my money citing at least 6 week required for international shipping. Ship went to Sepatiba in Brazil,people there have only seen "Caneta Nankin" ie fountain pen
in movies!! In the town only one paperillia could sell me a single unit of what looks like a chinese
made semihooded for USD 10. I get many of these design in ebay auctioned for 65 cents to 5 USD.
I do not buy many more pens from ebay now, my interest being concentrated on what I can make by myself.
Moreover, The ones above 25 USD are more of jewelery than pens, does not interest me technically.
Recently though I bought a wooden pen, redwood/black for 27.5 USD with a chinese Jinhao kit.This to introduce
my better half to the charm of wood pens.
E-mailed the seller to sell me chinese pen kits, but got replied in the neagtive by china pen sellers
association. Full pens yes, kits no.!!!
please note this is the only china made wood pen in ebay! Most china pens are plastic and acrylic, in
the modest range. So point to note is wooden pen making is begining to get marketed.
In India, surprizingly, hobby pen making and woodturning has not caught up, is this not a good idea to
start? My search is of course limited by my 50mb internet ration doled on board, but the trend does show.
Where are pen kits made and sold in retail, out side US/Canada/UK ? Perhaps some information are available
in Alibaba.com - but this site is blocked in the ships internet. Another similar site called indiamart.com
only has bulk ready made pens, but no mention of kits.
What intrigues me is that every possible item is manufactured in India/China and sold off to everywhere.
Are these kits sold in UK/US/Canada made locally? IMHO, that is very unlikely. I would expect these to
be bulk supplied from India/China and retailed by the retail websites.
Please could some forum members tell me more ?
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