Eco Zens

I've never made a regular Zen, but I thought I'd give these eco versions a shot to see if I like that style. I like them better than I expected. Normally, I don't go for stuff with an all metal cap. It takes away from what I can customize, but these are pretty nice and also simple to make. I guess we'll see if customers are interested. Both are finished with CA (and took some CA stabilization while turning, too.

The FP is more of the spalted maple from my neighbor's tree that I recently cut up after drying for a couple years. (The same stuff I made the bowl for her with that I posted last week). This I polished with the first 5 grits of Zona paper.







The RB is from a walnut tree in my yard that was cut up 2-1/2 or so years ago. I really liked the way the sapwood blended into it and there was a branch growing diagonally through that section. It came out pretty cool. It's really hard to show the true beauty of it here, but the purple shades look really cool in the saddle pattern caused by that branch through it. This was polished with all 6 Zona paper grits and then with Maguire's plastic polish.

Here's the walnut blank I started with.

Those turned out beautifully, Todd.

Who makes those kits? Magnetic caps, I presume?

Very Cool - Your pictures (and layout) are outstanding! - Dave

derekdd said:

Those turned out beautifully, Todd.

Who makes those kits? Magnetic caps, I presume?

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Yes, they are magnetic. Dayacom makes the regular Zen. I would guess they do the Eco Zen also, considering there would probably be some copyright to the name. I got them from exoticblanks. Here is a link with all the Zen offerings.

sorcerertd said:

Yes, they are magnetic. Dayacom makes the regular Zen. I would guess they do the Eco Zen also, considering there would probably be some copyright to the name. I got them from exoticblanks. Here is a link with all the Zen offerings.

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Thanks, so much, Todd.

Enjoy your afternoon.

Great looking pens!

Cracking looking pens. I rejoined the forum after a break away from pens but I found 4 Zen kits in our spare room that I'm hoping to get stuck into. What size drill is required to bore the blanks for the tubes?

keithkarl2007 said:

Cracking looking pens. I rejoined the forum after a break away from pens but I found 4 Zen kits in our spare room that I'm hoping to get stuck into. What size drill is required to bore the blanks for the tubes?

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Thanks. These take a 10.5 mm

Eco Zens are the way to go. Dollar for dollar and cost vs sale price, I don't have a better option so far. If they came out in antique finishes I'd probably but dozens more immediately. It's my favorite fountain kit to offer a "cheaper" option to things like Jr Statesmans (generally the most expensive kit I sell) and in my opinion it leads to me selling more of both. People want a fountain pen, see they can get an eco zen for themselves at a lower price and then come back later to get a higher end pen as a gift. I've found people are generally far more likely to buy a high end pen for someone else before ever buying one for themselves.

At this time, a gun metal eco zen fountain pen is sitting in my pocket as my edc.