Neil
Fellow
Review.
Dan has asked me to review a black and gold sierra style kit.
Let me start this very critical look at Dans Sierra by inspecting the components. Firstly the colour. I distinguish between the black and the gun metal of other kits. I don’t really want to enter into a debate as to whether it is black or not, but the point I make is that it is a darker shade gun metal of others. Its dark enough to differentiate itself from the Gun Metal and is almost black. This is a problem to me. The body of the pen is too black and this limits the choice of woods that you can use to create a dramatic effect. Acrylics tend not to give such a choice issue as they are much more vibrant. I have chosen to make the pen in Birds eye maple to provide maximum contrast.
I don’t like the black sierras for this reason and wouldn’t buy it as my sales records over the last three years show categorically that the gold/gumetal/chrome combinations significantly outsell black sierras which I have previously bought from woodturningz who market the kit as the Mesa (and which once I have slowly sold out of I wont be replacing from that source).
However, a few of them on the stand provide the necessary options, and I have a few black sierras so that a customer can see the options. A bit like a salesman’s open question, offering the black option or the chrome, “which one do you like best” and the customer gives an answer and you can then close the sale. With no option the only question you can ask, is an awkward, “Do you like it?”, so I have a few black ones but they are a bit of a sacrificial offering!
The rest of the kit. The top is no different than others and is of good quality. The fit of the mechanism into the cap is smooth, and tight enough so that the mechanism wont revolve within the cap, a problem I have experienced with woodturningz Mesa (to solve that you can squeeze the top of the mechanism to be slightly oval). So good fit.
The tube worries me as if you fit the tube onto the business end before you glue it into a blank, it falls off, there is no friction contact between the tube and the nib end. It is in fact so sloppy that you can move the tube from side to side and you can feel the rattle as it touches either side. Cannot be good?
I’ve harped on about Sierra centrebands in the past and I’m about to do it again. The designers of this pen have failed to design it, they have come to cobble together a series of components with no regard as to why they were designed originally in the way they were.
This component provides the interface between the turned barrel and the nib end and needs to hide the dimensional tolerance between the two. It fails on several fronts on this point. It has no significant texture and a finger passing over the area would concentrate on the interface between the barrel and the centre band and not the designed texture of the centreband. It is flat as opposed to slightly radiused, again allowing concentration on the barrel/centreband interface. Colourwise it looks cheap as there is no contrast and the pressing is not that significant, it looks cheap and not of high quality.
I couldn’t really work out what I didn’t like about this kit until I examined the shape of the nib end. For those of you who turn the sierra style to be somewhat bulbous, that is up to you. The claim is that this sales trend is disguised as a regional preference. Bollocks. Or should that be Bollocks IMHO. Better off as Bollocks IMAO. (arrogant!) It is my belief that a pen has been bought that shape is because it is different and the like of the material in general has outweighed the degree with which the shape is liked or not to the point that the client is willing to buy it whatever shape it is (within reason). This confidence in the sale has led to repeat shapes and repeat sales and things continue.
Bear with me before writing a torrid reply!
I think this tendency to make the sierra a bulbous pen is because the barrel is turned without occasional or continuous reference to the shape of the adjacent parts and a concern not to turn away too much material.
Now here’s the point. Compare the shape of the adjacent parts of this pen with others. The best way to do this is to hold a straight edge such as a business card against and level with the centre band and look what happens. Note the shape? Dans pen is almost straight and then it turns quite significantly toward the nib. This pen needs to be turned straight, no bevel, no bulbous bits. If it had a bulbous bit it would look even more hideous than the sierra that has a more continuously profiled shape.
Here’s the summary, sorry Dan, but my advice is that this won’t set you apart from the rest.
The colour’s wrong
The centre ban is horrible and smaller than other sierras so watch your bushes! The material left on the pen will be less, be it a small reduction than other sierras, making it even less suitable for acrylics (Use the Lucida instead or the Aero – same pen or the original elegant sierra (23/64 drill bit)
The shape is wrong for the style of the pen.
The friction grip between the cap and the top of the mechanism is good, the twist mechanism is excellent and works (be it I have only seen this one mechanism from this supplier) better than any other I have used.
Anyway, after all that I read this back and thought it was about time that I got to grips with Youtube so I made a video and here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrdwkVpJzEU
and here's the finished pen.
Dan has asked me to review a black and gold sierra style kit.
Let me start this very critical look at Dans Sierra by inspecting the components. Firstly the colour. I distinguish between the black and the gun metal of other kits. I don’t really want to enter into a debate as to whether it is black or not, but the point I make is that it is a darker shade gun metal of others. Its dark enough to differentiate itself from the Gun Metal and is almost black. This is a problem to me. The body of the pen is too black and this limits the choice of woods that you can use to create a dramatic effect. Acrylics tend not to give such a choice issue as they are much more vibrant. I have chosen to make the pen in Birds eye maple to provide maximum contrast.
I don’t like the black sierras for this reason and wouldn’t buy it as my sales records over the last three years show categorically that the gold/gumetal/chrome combinations significantly outsell black sierras which I have previously bought from woodturningz who market the kit as the Mesa (and which once I have slowly sold out of I wont be replacing from that source).
However, a few of them on the stand provide the necessary options, and I have a few black sierras so that a customer can see the options. A bit like a salesman’s open question, offering the black option or the chrome, “which one do you like best” and the customer gives an answer and you can then close the sale. With no option the only question you can ask, is an awkward, “Do you like it?”, so I have a few black ones but they are a bit of a sacrificial offering!
The rest of the kit. The top is no different than others and is of good quality. The fit of the mechanism into the cap is smooth, and tight enough so that the mechanism wont revolve within the cap, a problem I have experienced with woodturningz Mesa (to solve that you can squeeze the top of the mechanism to be slightly oval). So good fit.
The tube worries me as if you fit the tube onto the business end before you glue it into a blank, it falls off, there is no friction contact between the tube and the nib end. It is in fact so sloppy that you can move the tube from side to side and you can feel the rattle as it touches either side. Cannot be good?
I’ve harped on about Sierra centrebands in the past and I’m about to do it again. The designers of this pen have failed to design it, they have come to cobble together a series of components with no regard as to why they were designed originally in the way they were.
This component provides the interface between the turned barrel and the nib end and needs to hide the dimensional tolerance between the two. It fails on several fronts on this point. It has no significant texture and a finger passing over the area would concentrate on the interface between the barrel and the centre band and not the designed texture of the centreband. It is flat as opposed to slightly radiused, again allowing concentration on the barrel/centreband interface. Colourwise it looks cheap as there is no contrast and the pressing is not that significant, it looks cheap and not of high quality.
I couldn’t really work out what I didn’t like about this kit until I examined the shape of the nib end. For those of you who turn the sierra style to be somewhat bulbous, that is up to you. The claim is that this sales trend is disguised as a regional preference. Bollocks. Or should that be Bollocks IMHO. Better off as Bollocks IMAO. (arrogant!) It is my belief that a pen has been bought that shape is because it is different and the like of the material in general has outweighed the degree with which the shape is liked or not to the point that the client is willing to buy it whatever shape it is (within reason). This confidence in the sale has led to repeat shapes and repeat sales and things continue.
Bear with me before writing a torrid reply!
I think this tendency to make the sierra a bulbous pen is because the barrel is turned without occasional or continuous reference to the shape of the adjacent parts and a concern not to turn away too much material.
Now here’s the point. Compare the shape of the adjacent parts of this pen with others. The best way to do this is to hold a straight edge such as a business card against and level with the centre band and look what happens. Note the shape? Dans pen is almost straight and then it turns quite significantly toward the nib. This pen needs to be turned straight, no bevel, no bulbous bits. If it had a bulbous bit it would look even more hideous than the sierra that has a more continuously profiled shape.
Here’s the summary, sorry Dan, but my advice is that this won’t set you apart from the rest.
The colour’s wrong
The centre ban is horrible and smaller than other sierras so watch your bushes! The material left on the pen will be less, be it a small reduction than other sierras, making it even less suitable for acrylics (Use the Lucida instead or the Aero – same pen or the original elegant sierra (23/64 drill bit)
The shape is wrong for the style of the pen.
The friction grip between the cap and the top of the mechanism is good, the twist mechanism is excellent and works (be it I have only seen this one mechanism from this supplier) better than any other I have used.
Anyway, after all that I read this back and thought it was about time that I got to grips with Youtube so I made a video and here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrdwkVpJzEU
and here's the finished pen.
