Look what we are up against

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skiprat

skiprat

Passed Away Mar 22, 2022
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I'm sure most will recognise these for exactly what they are, mass produced pens. But what first caught my interest was the acrylic blanks. Just like the ones we like to use. They are all twists with the parker type refill. They cost less than £2 ($4 ) each. If they are going to start selling completed pens as well as kits, then there is no way I could ever sell a pen.:( I have to admit that some of them are quite interesting.[:I] The bottom one even came in a padded presentation box!!!

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It was just a matter of time. There isn't ANY hot market that they haven't gone after and filled with cheap junk that looks as good as the good stuff.

GK
 
I've seen stuff similar to this at Office Depot, but they're competition only if you allow them to be in your own mind.
 
I see those in a very upscale hobby craft supply store here in Japan all the time. Some (nibs, barrel, clip, etc.) are made from cheap material and some from expensive material. However the more expensive ones are the USD equivalent of $200 to $400. I haven't seen the real cheap ones like you posted yet. The hobby craft store sells the cheapest of those at about US $20 - $50.

I haven't gotten into selling my pens here, just giving away. I will sell when I retire back in the States (4 years, hopefully.)

As to hand crafted pens, it is going to refine us when the cheap pens proliferate, and drive us to higher quality and unusual blanks and back into wood. It is easy to derive a fine "looking" finish on acrylic and plastic, but I have yet to see fine quality finish on wood that is mass produced and I have been around wood since birth, (60 years.) I believe most people WILL notice the quality of a good hand crafted pen and be able to tell the difference. The cheap pens at walmarts and cheaper office supply pens will bite into the sales of hand made pens from people who are satisfied with "its good enough". That mentality ("Its good enough") is squarely in the "mediocrity" category, which IMHO is where the pens above will sell and compete.

Let it refine our work! [:)]
 
Waterford just put a line of their new pens in a dealer of mine. Very bright acrylics. So far nothing like ours but all in all very nice looking acrylics.

I was out selling their pens 7 to 1 last year. I saw I still have some of the older acrylics in the store. I going to have a new line come the middle of September that I think again will out sell their line. That's the goal for this store.

Alan
 
I wouldn't worry about it. I work in a bike shop and I have found, those who are going to buy a bike in wally world, are gonna buy it, no matter how good ours is. And it will be the same with pens. If someone are gonna buy the cheap knock offs, you not gonna convince them not to. This is no diffrent than us trying to convince someone why to buy ours and not the bic in the office supply.

We need to stay the course, sell our product as we always have and not worry about the cheap knock offs. [:D]
 
As mentioned, these are threat to those who make so-so pens. That said, it is also a threat to those who make regular pens (like me) and I see a lot of sellers on that category. All I can say is that I am glad this is just a hobby for me and I am not counting on my pen sales to survive.

Whatever you say about their quality, it still make it more difficult to justify the price difference now since the style is also shared. Note too that there are some pens shown/shared here that are less perfect than these. Heck, some of mine are less perfect than these...especially when I was just starting.

For me, wooden pens shines even more now. JMPO
 
I hate to be the one to say this but some of you need to get your head out of the sand and face reality!

Refering to these as mass produced junk or cheap knockoffs may make yourself feel better saying so but it's not realistic. Dissasemble one of these, open a bag of parts in a typical $5 kit and compare quality.... you might be amazed! Actually, you might just have found a new cheaper source for parts!

Had Skiprat posted these in the SOYP saying "Some of my new creations" I would be willing to wager that he would have gotten lots of comments like "great looking pens", "beautiful blanks", "excellent work", "I like the third one" or "I love the way you did the finale on the first and third one", "where did you find the clip on the snazzy chrome pen", etc.

I for one, would hate to be the one at a craft show sitting two booths down from the guy selling these for $4 apiece. It would be sad listening to you try to convince a customer why they should buy your Polaris or Atlas pen for $30 rather than buying that slick looking pen second from the bottom with the neat looking clip for $4!

Skiprat is absolutely correct, these are a threat to those trying to make a living selling pens, especially at shows where a vendor selling these might pop up.

Could you imagine a rack of these on the counter of every 7-11 in the country?
 
That's nothing. Europeans "hand turned" (presumably en masse in some third world country) are available, in quantity, with boxes, both made from Rosewood, for just a couple dollars. Until recently I kept the source in my Favorites.
 
OK, in the name of curiosity, I stripped the pen at the top of the pic. The dark blue tubes are in fact our normal thin brass tubes that appear powder coated in the metallic blue. The top one is notched to accept the clip. There are a total of 15 parts in this pen. There is no glue holding the parts together, everything is press fitted or threaded. I couldn't get a good grip on some bits so just left them. Some of the joints took a real pounding to get apart.[B)] No damage to any parts though. The twist mech is reverse mounted, (something I've been toying with too and now know how to do[:D]) The connecting bushes are all pretty sturdy and the threads are all much longer than I expected. I have no idea how good the chrome finish is, but after the pounding to get it apart, I'm pretty impressed.
The acrylic appears to be the same as one I have from CSUSA, a blue/black # 26.
All in all, I would have been VERY happy to to buy a kit like this.
I would be equally happy if ALL my parts fitted as well too.[:I]



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Originally posted by skiprat
<br />...The connecting bushes are all pretty sturdy and the threads are all much longer than I expected. I have no idea how good the chrome finish is, but after the pounding to get it apart, I'm pretty impressed.
The acrylic appears to be the same as one I have from CSUSA, a blue/black # 26.
All in all, I would have been VERY happy to to buy a kit like this.
I would be equally happy if ALL my parts fitted as well too.[:I]
Click to expand...

Crikey...just as I was getting interested in acrylics. This would make it hard to justify to anyone why I'm spending time working on what looks to be the same as a $4-$5 dollar pen. Guess I'll be concentrating on relatively rare domestic woods or burls.

The kit manufacturers are going to have to provide kits with some observable differences in design, fit and finish from the pens Skiprat shows above to keep people interested in this hobby.
 
Have a look at HF # 54418
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?function=Search hope this works. It is a nice looking and writting pen, a little top heave for my liking. I got one just to see what it was.
Bob
after you get to HF tyre in 54418 in the # block and click go.
 
I live near a shop that sells a pen that looks exactly like the Patriot/Atlas and one of the blanks used was AA28 (the yellow with black veining).
Price £5 and the shop is still making a small mark up on them.[:0]
 
Hi,

This problem as been around for a while. I don't know how many times i've been told at show that the dollar store sells wood pens for a $1. So i went and buy one, dissassemble it. This was a standard chrome euro pen !!!!![:0]. Parts where the same, plating was as good and to be honest, i,m sure the gold version will be as good as any 24 or 10k or upgrade gold that we have around. The wood looks like rosewood, that cost me .75 just fo the blank[:(!]

Guess where i go now when i need a transmission in a rush for any of my 7mm pens[:(].

If i can find a way to remove the center band without dammaging it, i would have a perfect Euro 7mm pen in chrome for a buck and canadian dollars too!!!!!!!!![:eek:)]

Even worst, i could probably just refinish the barrels to make them shine a little more and they would look exactly like the ones i sell $30.

The advantage we have is to offer higher end plating, some original pen style, a better choice of wood and some "artistic" value to our work. People usually can see the difference but not everybody.

Alfred
 
It's the same as fine woodworking - some people want to buy a custom made cherry armoire, others will be happy with veneered cherry over MDF from Ikea or Walmart...

Add to that the fact that there's no choice. Half the fun of getting/making a pen is picking out the wood and plating colours, I think...so I think the industry will always have room for the individual craftsman.
 
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