Junior Gent Pencil? Really? Think so?

I had a visit a few weeks ago from a fellow IAP'er here in Crosby, and we ended up talking about mechanical pencils. How to make, kits vs pentel vs schmidt inserts, ect. Good time was had by all, I think. Anyway, as is usual in my office/shop/substitute womb, all the stuff we were playing with got left laying about, and after a while, a thought began to percolate up from my subconscious. I really like the idea of a pen/pencil set, and the public seems to as well, judging from my limited sales experience. Feel free to reply with your observations, corrections, experiences, ect. However I've never been happy with the kit pencils available out there. The custom pentel is a wonderful writing instrument, but doesn't really lend itself to matching up in a set with my usual offerings. The schmidt inserts have worked well for me once you get them set up and working in a particular pen, but the promise of an easy, consistent, no tinkering conversion from parker refill to insert just never seems to work out for me. And it only works for ballpoint pens. I wonder why that is? Sure would be nice if you could make one that would be a better match for a Rollerball or Fountain pen. I wonder, if you could............ at some point around midnight I returned to the realm of coherent thought (well, within shouting distance anyway, which is about as close as I usually get) with this.

Let me know what you think. Sorry about the photo quality, going to have to rebuild that lightbox at some point. It does work, that much I can say, but is it worth the trouble, would it sell? Has somebody done it before, and I've just reinvented the wheel?

Very interesting. How well does it function? By that I mean, does the click feel solid, refilling leads intuitive, etc?

The button I'd probably do out of solid aluminum or brass. But I think you've got something here. I'd love to be able to offer truly matched pens and pencils using something other than slim kits.

You are aware that a Jr. Gent pencil is already made as a kit from CSUSA?

I didn't.

:redface:

It won't be available for long. It's on closeout.

The button action is quite good, with both tactile and audible feedback. This is however dependent on correctly fabricating the insert. I agree, coordinating material for the button on a finished product, but this one is just a proof of concept, and that antler tip was laying right there by the lathe when I started looking for something My second thought for the button was black ebonite, to match the custom section on the matching FP. The pen was one I also just happened to have on hand, and had an extra non posting endcap for, from doing closed end pens recently.

Lead refill is by unscrewing the endcap/button assy, removing the insert, removing the black plastic end rod/cap assy of the mech, and dropping in more lead. Easy peasy!

The Jr. Gent pencil is indeed on closeout. It is really just the Jr. Gent ballpoint with this same schmidt mechanism, and was only available in rhodium. I've done a couple sets with them, links:

http://www.penturners.org/forum/showthread.php?t=60227 and
http://www.penturners.org/forum/showthread.php?t=42449

But I never really thought that the big silver nib from the silver bullet pens matched that well with the screw cap versions. The ballpoint pen is longer than the Jr, and thinner than the full size. A pair of screw cap Jr's just looks like a better match to me. Actually, I don't think there is any reason you couldn't mod a full size Gent RB this way too, I just don't have one around to check.

wolftat said:

You are aware that a Jr. Gent pencil is already made as a kit from CSUSA?

Click to expand...

Yeah, but it looks different than the pen since it doesn't have a removable cap. I think he's going for a pen/pencil set that look pretty much just alike.