Gisi Pen Collection Pix

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Parson

Parson

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At the Dallas Pen Show last year, I stumbled across a very nice collection of Gisi pens for sale. Most were in the $400~$600 range, which had to do with the type of fountain pen nib on it (steel or 14k or 18k gold).

The "arts and crafts" pen (two of them are in the collection pic on the far right) are my favorite of the bunch, so I took a close up of it so I could duplicate it.

I'm posting these pics because I would love some of you more advanced segmenting pen makers to pick out features and describe how you think Gisi made the pen or how you'd go about making the same design.

My specific question are as follows:

1. In the Arts and Crafts pen, I thought he used dymondwood variants but I no longer think this because the end grain on them goes quite dark when finished with just about anything. Do you think he used dyed veneers and glued them up?

2. Some of the pens have little dots going all around the barrel. I'm thinking he used the indexing feature on his lathe to lock down the work and drill a small hole in the pen and drive a piece of aluminum rod (very small and thin) through it. Do you have a different thought on how it was done?

[Before you comment, I really do not care if you dislike the designs. I know they are busy and some IAP members have stated emphatically they don't care for the Gisi brothers' work. If they're not your taste or you don't have anything productive to add about their creation, please withhold your comments. I do like their designs and want to make similar pens for my collection and need help to learn how they made these pens! Thank you in advance!]
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Oh, I could be wrong.

I think you're probably correct in your assumptions, either veeners or dymondwood, which is nothing but veneers anyway. And probably an indexing feature for drilling the holes and using a metal rod...
 
The first question. I am pretty sure they are dymond wood or spectraply or something like that. I have done pens in that style (obviously not near as good or polished but I have toyed with the process) and the dymond wood stuff looks similar.
zensegment.jpg
 
Well let's see if Brian chips in any secrets. He might just lurk though... his trade secrets are indeed his trade secrets!
 
Thanks for that, Bruce. I used that tutorial last year and it was really helpful. How he made the pen I shot closeups of is a totally different level of work though, huh?
 
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Almost forgot to share something that kinda set me back when I stumbled upon the pens at the show...

These are not one of a kind pens. He produced numerous pens of the same design. I'm betting he was able to cut down his per-pen time considerably by making many at a time.
 
1.) They use the statabond material that CSUSA sells. This is the all black layered material (comes in brown as well). The other stuff is called Color Grain and it is from PSI. It comes in a variety of color combos and does not darken when finished.

2.) The dots are sterling silver wire. You could use aluminum as a substitute. I would guess they use an indexing plate to get equal spacing. I was able to do the same thing without an index plate by shaping my material into an octagon and then drilling at the drill press on each side and then gluing in the material. Of course this only gave me 8 dots.

They do all their own silver casting for the clips and bands. The clip is bolted to the upper barrel using very tiny model railroad bolts. I was able to replicate this with some scarp brass and it holds very well.

I think they do an excellent job of combining different woods and resins together but it is the precision of their joinery that amazes me!
 
I love the openness of the woodturning world. I've been in the art community for some time and it's looked down upon to take a photo of someones work so that one can try to duplicate it. But on here - we give/take photos and share in a tutorial how we do things. (for the most part. Always a few exceptions) Thanks for sharing the pics and for the person who included the link to the segmenting pdf. Great stuff!

Martin
 
The Gisi Brothers and Eagle were some of the first truly amazing segmented pens I had seen pictures of, Now Herbertjoe is knocking on the Gisi Brothers door, and there are a few other segment turners here on the forum that do some amazing work, but the Gisi's still flip me out with their intricacy.
 
Gisi brothers? They are father and son. As far as I know they do not sell blanks. I do know that their segments are wood, acrylics, trustone, and other materials and as far as I know they do not use dymondwood or other products similar to dymondwood. The cut small pieces and glue them back together using thin veneer of various materials.

Check out info about them and see more pens at http://gisipencompany.com/

Do a good turn daily!
Don
 
There was a vendor with a small collection of Gisi pens at the Chicago show and they were far more outrageous than the ones shown here. The prices were however very similar. I was particularly attracted to the one with all the skull work had carved into it, which although I do not know, it sure looked like it was real bone of some sort. What I do not care for with Gisi pens is the short and fat stature of many of them. Many of them remind me of the El Toro pens.
 
Those guys are in a class by themselves. I love their work and am envious of their skill. If you are going to try to make some of the similar blank styles you should remember to use like materials. In my experience, stabilized wood works best when using plastic pick guards and acrylic blanks. Non stabilized wood with wood veneers. Just my .02.
 
I'm 90% done with my double closed end Gisi pen, using a titanium Statesman kit for the tubes and the nib feed. I swapped out the nib for a good steel one, and I'm having a friend who makes jewelry craft a sterling silver clip for me. I'll post pix when it's done.
 
Randall, Few Questions.
1- Are they allowing any copies of their work? Or, are they copy righted?
2- I went to their site and read some of the explanations about the pens. Aren't they incorporating carving as well as segmenting and casting and the metal works?
3- they said that their nibs are German made specifically for their company. How would you get the nibs close to their or the same quality?
4- in that tutorial eh mentioned about the blank cut in half then again and then segmenting. I gather that either they have some specially made saw with a very special blade that allows them to cut such clean cuts that when they glue the segments together the glue joints look as they are one piece.
5- would't it be hard to carve all of those carvings on a round shaped item after it's turned. to me it looks like they are making it on a sheet then taking the sheet of the art work and putting it on the tube like a skin. that's just my observation. I haven't sen them up close. but yours don't look that bad and you are getting there pretty fast. they may not divulge their trade secret if they get to sell a pen for $1200 . I am sure he wouldn't want that to be copied and sold for less than they sell it for.
 
Phillip, I'm not planning to sell this pen. It's for my personal collection. However, I may make additional pens with the same level of complexity of my own design for sale for big bucks. I have some high end storefronts in Houston that want very unique one of a kind fat fountain pens for consignment sales. And they have the "more money than common sense" clientele to move the merchandise.

Good quality 14k and 18k German nibs can be purchased from forum members for less than a hundred bucks. No need to have them custom made in my opinion.

I would imagine Gisi is using expensive, precision model ship building tools from Byrnes to get thin precision cuts, but I have managed to get the same level with normal shop equipment and more waste and time invested. Here's what I'm talking about:

http://www.byrnesmodelmachines.com/index.html

Kaspar turned me on to these tools. When I get rich I will buy them!

I have no idea about the carving and casting work Gisi does. It is spectacular though. I'm just interested in making segmented pens without the gothic silverwork and skulls and such.
 
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Here it is sans a clip! I didn't nail all the chevrons where they come to a point, but I noticed Gisi didn't either, so I don't feel too bad :)

The color in the second close up of the cap is closer to the actual color, but neither really do the pen justice.

BTW, this is one FAT desk pen. A majestic kit is quite small next to it, believe it or not...
 

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Excellent work!

It is no small feat to get all the points to line up and drill the blank down the center of the pattern, I think you did an awesome job with it. Are you keeping for yourself or selling it?

I can't wait to see it with the clip on! I bet you are already losing sleep over drilling holes in it to bolt it on.
 
Wonderful, lots of hours in that pen. I like the swirl effects on the laminated dymond wood.
 
Hebertjo turned me on to the fact that Gisi used "color grain" instead of dymondwood so I went with that instead, and I'm glad I did. Dymond wood is not nearly as good a product and darkens with CA glue finishes when cut at certain angles AND cracks!

I initially bought "super blanks" from PSI of this stuff and it wasn't super sized at all, so I bought bottle stopper blanks and cut that up. Then I discovered the red and black striped laminate that Gisi used is not available, so I swapped it out for more of of the color grain with a different cut. I took the two skinny pen blanks, glued them together, and sliced them up into strips.

I will not sell this pen. It will be part of my showcase of work I can do for those who are willing to pay for future custom designs we come up with together.

I am still scratching my head as to whether I want to use the statesman clip and make it hidden (never done that before) or have a clip crafted and screw it to the face of the pen the way Gisi did it. The pen is so freakin' big the clip is only for show and to help folks know it's a pen ... and to keep it from rolling off my desk.

I should post a comparison picture so you can see what I mean.
 
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Color grain is a different product as much as I know. The colors in the color grain are more vibrant the dymond wood. PSI sells the color grain and as Parson said above it is best to buy the bottle stopper blanks and cut those up. PSI sells these.

EDIT: If anyone finds this material in larger blocks I would love to know where to buy it.
 
Parson said:
Phillip,

I would imagine Gisi is using expensive, precision model ship building tools from Byrnes to get thin precision cuts, but I have managed to get the same level with normal shop equipment and more waste and time invested. Here's what I'm talking about:

http://www.byrnesmodelmachines.com/index.html
Click to expand...

If i recal, i read somewhere that they are using only hand tool, like the japanese pull saw and small mitter box for their cutting. Thats why they are so precise cut.
 
Parson said:
Here it is sans a clip! I didn't nail all the chevrons where they come to a point, but I noticed Gisi didn't either, so I don't feel too bad :)

The color in the second close up of the cap is closer to the actual color, but neither really do the pen justice.

BTW, this is one FAT desk pen. A majestic kit is quite small next to it, believe it or not...
Click to expand...

Randall. my eyes are watering stirring at the 19" screen to look at that pen, i tell you what I am too far from you. I'll drive in person and pick it up, bring it here if you want a safe and secure place to keep that pen. then I can put a high dollar electronic camera for you to monitor it so you can see it every day. Plus my schnauzer won't let anyone close to it.
that's a nice looking indeed fat pen.









http://www.sweetim.com/s.asp?im=gen&lpver=3&ref=12&p={43775E35-E640-4A49-80C4-83B7E68B9580}
 
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