What Makes a Pen a Pen?
Why would you buy a custom one-of-a-kind pen from me instead of buying, for instance, a bic from the quick-stop down the street? Lets take a look at how these two pens are similar and how they are different, and hopefully you'll know by the time we're through.
First, let's look at the lowly bic:
A bic pen is a piece of extruded plastic tubing with ink inside and a ball point at one end. This is inserted into another piece of extruded plastic, and then a small plastic cap is put in the top (nobody knows quite why this piece is here, and thousands upon thousands of school kids have pulled these out with their teeth in the process of making a spit wad shooter).
They are cheap, easy to come by, and as mentioned above, ideal for getting kids in trouble in school for shooting paper wads at each other and the teacher (don't ask me how I know this).
Now, let's take a look at a custom pen:
A custom pen is made up of a refill (rollerball or ballpoint), Hardware (finial, nib, clip, center band, springs, etc.), either a cap or a transmission (in the case of twist and click pens), and a body. My refills are made by German Ink maker Schmidt. My pens feature hardware plated in titanium, rhodium, or chrome for durability and beauty. the transmissions I use are the best available to me, as are the springs. The body starts as a solid block of wood, acrylic, bone, horn, tru-store, or some other material. For more information on how my pens are made, check out The Process.