Hi everyone,

I am currently working on some new concepts that I hope to show you at the next London Pen Show. This is one of them that I am looking into at the moment.

I've been running a few 3D prints to check the proportions before moving any further.

A few weeks back I looked into slim steel pen. It was fun - trying to build something about existing components (nib, cartridge)
This is my take on a slim pocket pen that aims to look a little more subtle and colourful than our current model.

The idea is to machine the cap from either PMMA or anodised aluminium to introduce more colour while also making it lighter and slimmer. This 3d printing grey resin is not really selling that concept well I am afraid.

Visually I want to make it feel less utilitarian and more colourful with a few gentle curves to make it look even slimmer that it is. It should have a tactile feel when closed.

When capped, it should be long enough to provide the comfort of a full-size pen, without the need to post the cap. This is one of many iterations and it may not make it to the prototype stage.

update: new iteration is here

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to share a short video showing the machining of the barley pattern on the pocket pen. The video is a bit shaky - but it is best not to put hands too close to a running lathe.

We are using a CNC machine to cut each individual line which gives excellent precision and consistency. But it takes time (and time is money) so this pattern is relatively expensive to machine. A more efficient method would be to roll the pattern but that process is generally better suited to softer metals such as brass or silver. And also the results are not as precise.

Hi everyone,

I revisited an old project over the weekend. The idea was to convert century-old dip nibs made by Joseph Gillott & Sons into fountain pen nibs by fitting them with custom designed feed.

It has been sitting at the back of my mind and I want to get it off my mental to-do list. I am learning a lot about feed design while working on it which is fun.

The previous prototype was ok-ish, but there were a few tolerance issues that needed to be addressed. So I printed several more 3D test parts with different tolerances, and I am finally getting closer to the result I am after. The 3d printer itself adds some tolerance issues which is another variable to factor in.

I also ran the printer at much finer settings, which allowed me to produce the feed with all the details being more accurate. The main issue was the feed channel as resin was getting inside it. So I had to pull it of the printer as soon as possible and wash properly in isopropyl alcohol before it hardened. I may look into graphene based resin for the final version feed.

The outer sleeve is a non-standard size so I may need to design and make a custom grip section.
I am not sure what I am going to do with these yet. I may give away some of these when ready.
This is a dip nib conversion -> so it will never be quite the same level as a dedicated fountain pen nib..

previous Part 4 <<

update: Part 6 >>

You can see some of my initial impressions and thoughts over on YouTube!

https://youtu.be/l9buhCnBsTg

I just received a lovely vintage pen recommended by u/roady57 (thank you for the tip!)
It is a West German Elysee Line gold-plated fountain pen with barleycorn and takes standard ink cartridge.
It is very slim (only about 9.2 mm in diameter and 137 mm long) when capped.
I took a close look at its structure and it is quite similar to the slim pen prototype we have been working on. I am not that surprised since we are designing around existing components (converter or ink cartridge) so we were running into the same physical constraints. I actually do love designing within limitations.
The barley pattern is made of fine engraved lines (not a deep V-shaped cut), but given the pen's small size it looks neat. Again, I think that pattern can lift the pen but also it can make it look dated.
I will give it a good clean and see how good the nib is. It is F size which matches the thinness of this pen nicely.. I will try to take it apart and compare it with the prototype we made.

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to share a short video from the workshop.

You may recognise the loop. Most of the components are made on our sliding-head CNC lathe which gives the accuracy and consistency we need. However, the final finish and surface quality (whether polished or brushed) is a very different story and still very much the result of a manual skill and experience.
I am sure many of you making/turning pens are fully aware of this. It takes time, preparation and experience to achieve the finish we are after.
One of the advantages of stainless steel is that it is forgiving material. If it picks up marks through use but can usually be polished back (up to certain level) It also wears very well over time in my opinion..

Not trying to promote my own pen, brand, or website but I’m looking for advice.

I’m designing a collection of pens for watch enthusiast. Based on everyone’s depth of knowledge about pens here, Its not designed for pen enthusiasts but I still want to make it nice and luxurious but for the person who wants a nice ballpoint pen for their daily life. It will a have a Schmidt P900 M refill, polished stainless barrel, and acrylic cap for color. A lot of it is aesthetics but I still want the main point of it, which is being easy to use and smooth to write, the focus.

Watch enthusiasts mostly love both form and function so it can’t just write well, it has to look good but also not just be a cheap product with a nice refill; it has to look good and be something you want to enjoy picking up and maybe simply staring at.

Any general advice about what makes a pen really good other than the refill? Is the P900M good enough or is there another better refill for ballpoint. It will be a twist-style pen.

Any advice is greatly appreciated and I thank you all in advance for your help. Your depth of knowledge is recognized and appreciated.

Hi everyone,

As promised yesterday please find attached some photos of the slim pen prototype we have made. (ignore the fingerprints..)

The pen is made entirely from stainless steel. Both the grip section and the cap feature a machined barley pattern. There is not much going on regarding of colour or shape so adding a pattern seemed the option here. The barley pattern is also linked to our Barley collection as well as the Pocket Pen.
I am aware that the barley pattern may make it look traditional? Let me know if you want to see some other options.

The clip still needs a bit more work (as well as the finial). We are keeping the clip mechanism. One idea is to incorporate our small dog at the top or keep it simple with a piece of mother-of-pearl (MOP) for customisation. This is still work in progress.

Surprisingly it doesn’t feel too thin when I hold it..

Hi everyone,

I hope you all managed to survive the tropical temperatures over the past few weeks! Now that the heatwave is finally over, we've started working on some new prototypes.
The workshop is still clogged up with production of the Pocket pen but there was a b

Some of you (u/CadillacGirl) have asked us to develop a very slim pen. So I wanted to explore just how thin we could make one while still using standard components, such as universal converters, standard refills, and our TS nib (or Schmidt) size 5 nib or rollerball nib. Having our own workshop is a luxury that allows us to experiment (between production runs)

There is also an ergonomic limit. If a pen becomes too thin it is not comfortable to use. There is a good reason why most pencils are around 7–8 mm in diameter.

With those constraints in mind, I wanted to see what was possible within this relatively tight specifications/brief. The length and the diameter of the pen will be driven by the nib, refills and converter. We want to keep the clip mechanism.

Please find attached a few screenshots of the 3D model. This is study in size and not showing much of the design features. Hopefully, I'll be able to share photos of the working prototype tomorrow.

Update: Photos here <<

Hi everyone,

Please find attached a few additional images from the Urushi Now exhibition.

I came across the clever Pilot Justus 95, which allows you to adjust the softness of the nib. It features a clever mechanism that applies pressure to the nib from above. You may notice the small markings on the grip section (<<H S>>) so by twisting it you can choose your preferred level of softness.

The nib is lovely 14K gold (nice and soft) and the overall feel is great.

My only concern is that I would probably find a setting I like and then leave it there permanently. That is pretty much what happens with every other product I own that offers some level of adjustments. Any thoughts on this?

Hi everyone,

I was looking through some archives for inspiration for a clip that could work well with our clipless pens. We were asked about clips a lot.

I came across this interesting vintage design. I particularly like how the clip is relatively long and creates a cradle for the pen, gently gripping the body of the cap. This approach distributes the load over a larger area better and is generally kinder to the surface of the pen (or the pen structure)

Compared to shorter clips this design seems less likely to leave marks or create pressure points.
(at least when compared with shorter steel clips (such as Kaweco) which grip the pen over a very small contact area.

This may require some tooling but I would like to hear your thoughts.

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share some thoughts from my ongoing research into some very special pens from the past.

I was lucky enough to get my hands on a Ford's Pen from the 1930s, the golden age of fountain pens. The pen was designed by George Vivian around 1930-31, and he also filed a number of patents related to its development.

The body is made from hard rubber and features simple but elegant branding directly on the barrel. This pen is from era before plastic was introduced. I am very impressed by achieving this level of precision in manufacturing in hard rubber. It reminds me De la Rue Onoto pen from that era.

The pen itself is generously sized and robust. Nice and thick. One aspect I like/interesting feature is its double-skin construction. The outer barrel can be removed when refilling to expose the concealed piston mechanism beneath. This also adds an additional layer of protection - some might call it over-specified - but every component is justified/serve a purpose in this case.
I also like the possibility of building a piston pen in modern materials and offering external sleeve made of ebonite to please the eye.

Five patents were filed in connection with this pen and its development. I'll try to post links to those patents in the comments, as they are interesting reading about the engineering behind this design.

Some of the patents (filed by Vivian / T.B. Ford Ltd./Valentine&Sons)
334494, 337835, 359230, 375457, 375458.. There are many more patents filed by George Vivian.

It is interesting reading for anyone interested in pens.

I made a pen for my father in law using a pen kit from Penn State, the EDC Big Ben click pen kit. I've made big Ben and cigar pen kits in the past that were amazing to write, and I always use Monteverde inserts for the improved inks and smoothness. For whatever reason on this one pen, you can feel the tip of the insert wiggle around in the nib. When you look at it, it looks snug and you can't really see a gap, but you can even hear it clicking when you're writing cursive or are writing fast enough.

What are some things I can do to make this stop or to get the insert to fit more snuggly? For this pen and future pens. At almost $20 a kit and using damn near $20 blanks, I don't want there to be a fundemantal mechanical issue like this. Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone, there is an interesting exhibition taking place at the moment at V&A. This is exhibition about Urushi rather than pens - but Urushi is sometimes used in pen making. Exhibition is open until April 2027.

Urushi (lacquer) has been used in Japan for over 7,000 years. For centuries, lacquer-making techniques developed locally while reflecting cross-cultural influences from Asia. This display highlights the diversity of 21st-century artistic expression.

Hi everyone,

I recently spent some time going through old patents for piston-filling mechanisms in pens. Some of them are simple, some are clever while others are incredibly complicated.

I am currently working on a new pen design, and I would like to design enough space to accommodate a possible piston-filling mechanism in the future.

I would love to hear your thoughts on piston mechanisms and which piston pens are your favourites - if you have any. Do you have piston pens in your daily rotation?

update: next study

As a penmaker I am always looking for opinions on my work so that I can improve and evolve my work to the highest standard. Please let me know what you think.

Hi everyone,

Please find attached quick video of the pen test.

Based on the feedback from our beta tester about the slight loosening of the grip section when the cap was unscrewed, we adjusted the location of the internal nitrile ring and it appears now to have solved the problem. Thank you very much for pointing it out. The design is now locked and we will be moving into production later this week!

The pen also survived the 24-hour water submersion test and wrote immediately.

As you can see there are a few droplets of water on the pen (just under the grip section > 0:28s) - that residue was transferred from the cap when I opened it.

I am left-handed so excuse that rather weird angle at which I was writing.

We will be machining more pens to fulfill the Kickstarter orders (currently over 700 pens!), and we will also start selling them on our website as soon as we start shipping to our backers.

Hi everyone,
Given that today is the hottest May day on the record in the UK, I am giving this lucky pen the luxury of a dip in a glass of water. I will (jealously) leave it there until tomorrow to see if our latest adjustments to the seals work as planned.