Thanks very much for your welcome and your suggestions! I did find those prior to posting, but both have elements I don't particularly care for and I'm just not sure which I'd be able to leave out if I wanted to. The PenBlanks.ca kit all have metal caps - I want to be able to turn a wooden cap. The Berea has that long post on the end that I'm not terribly fond of. If I could use parts of either and just adapt them to a turned cap, my problem would be solved (well... this problem, anyway)! Any insights on that?
Thing is . . . unless you make the components yourself (which is a pretty advanced undertaking) we have to rely on components manufactured and sold per usual channels.
Our "usual channels" are pen kit companies. . And of course that means "making do" with what's already available, and possibly modifying those parts.
I understand that you want to get creative, but before you can do that most of us need to practice on learning skills with components that are readily available.
After making a few dozen "kit pens", such as those I mentioned above, it may be possible to move on to what we call "custom" or "bespoke" pens using specialized components or components that we make ourselves. . It takes quite a while to learn the required skills and not many of us reach the levels of competence required.
Another factor is that there may be some specialized equipment required . . . equipment for plating.
Not every pen design that you would come up with is readily accessible to us with amateur skills and home-based equipment.
To make your own pen components it would be almost mandatory to have a metal-working lathe to even fabricate the parts, before we even talk about decorative features
and plating.
Long story short . . . . kit pens are a common starting point for pen makers before they branch into more creative ventures in pen-making.
