I received my order of ten of these kits from Ed at Exoticblanks today. I just couldn't wait to make one so I did one out of an old ebonite blank I had. Did not want to wait for cigar bands to dry and such.
I think the pen came out very nice. It has the same quality look and feel to it that we have all come to expect from the Gent and Statesman series (at least the older versions). Other than the fact Ebonite is a bear for me to turn, very very very messy and stinky.
Although the upper barrel is a larger size than the upper on the cigar pen kit, it was still small enough to drill easily. It takes different size bits than the regular Jr. Gent kit, so if you are going to make one, be sure you have a 25/64 and a 15/32 bit. I think the tubes are slightly shorter than the cigar kit as well. I did not have any TBC bushings and used the stock bushings. I had a minor out of round issue, but it is not noticable on the assembled pen.
The pen kit only has 6 parts. The nib and nib coupler, a threaded coupler for the upper end of the lower barrel, a centerband coupler, an end cap, clip and twist mechanism. The twist mechanism looked unfamiliar to me, but I think it is of high quality and works very smoothly. It only works in one direction unlike the cigar kit which works in both. All that said it was quick to assemble.
As some have said it is a tiny bit top heavy, but unless you are looking for that, you wont notice it. It has a nice quality heft to it. I prefer it over the perfect fit, Americana bullet and some other two piece twist pens I have made. It was far easier to make, no tenons to cut.
If I would change one thing about the kit I would add some ring to break up the nib. It is probably the largest nib I have seen on a twist pen.
All in all, I would recommend it for an upscale twist pen. On the one I made the hardware goes perfectly with the ebonite I used. I think for my cigar line of pens I might try one in all black and all white and decal the cigar label onto the lower barrel.
I put a couple of pictures of the finished pen in the post.
I think the pen came out very nice. It has the same quality look and feel to it that we have all come to expect from the Gent and Statesman series (at least the older versions). Other than the fact Ebonite is a bear for me to turn, very very very messy and stinky.
Although the upper barrel is a larger size than the upper on the cigar pen kit, it was still small enough to drill easily. It takes different size bits than the regular Jr. Gent kit, so if you are going to make one, be sure you have a 25/64 and a 15/32 bit. I think the tubes are slightly shorter than the cigar kit as well. I did not have any TBC bushings and used the stock bushings. I had a minor out of round issue, but it is not noticable on the assembled pen.
The pen kit only has 6 parts. The nib and nib coupler, a threaded coupler for the upper end of the lower barrel, a centerband coupler, an end cap, clip and twist mechanism. The twist mechanism looked unfamiliar to me, but I think it is of high quality and works very smoothly. It only works in one direction unlike the cigar kit which works in both. All that said it was quick to assemble.
As some have said it is a tiny bit top heavy, but unless you are looking for that, you wont notice it. It has a nice quality heft to it. I prefer it over the perfect fit, Americana bullet and some other two piece twist pens I have made. It was far easier to make, no tenons to cut.
If I would change one thing about the kit I would add some ring to break up the nib. It is probably the largest nib I have seen on a twist pen.
All in all, I would recommend it for an upscale twist pen. On the one I made the hardware goes perfectly with the ebonite I used. I think for my cigar line of pens I might try one in all black and all white and decal the cigar label onto the lower barrel.
I put a couple of pictures of the finished pen in the post.
