Amazing pens

[rayf6604]

According to his site he's snowed under with commissions so people must be prepared to pay that kind of money.

 

[Vic Perrin]

According to his site he's snowed under with commissions so people must be prepared to pay that kind of money.

Go see if you can find em Ray. I can assure you there are none of them people's around me !

Vic

 

[rayf6604]

Go see if you can find em Ray. I can assure you there are none of them people's around me !

Vic

Neither are they around me Vic, but they are this chap. He must have a damn good reputation in pens.

 

[Jimjam66]

Is it not possible, even if I were to get the tap and die, to hold the blank in a normal chuck with the tap or die in the tail stock and cut the thread by turning the chuck by hand? I assume that trying to cut a thread like that at 400rpm, my slowest just wouldn't work?

Ray, take a look at this thread which illustrates the method you are referring to. Don't try it with the lathe running unless you can lower your speeds to sub 50rpm. Just turn the chuck by hand.

 

[Jimjam66]

Selling a kitless pen for around £170 is neither highway robbery nor particularly difficult, and YES, there are those people around you Vic - and you, Ray. You're just not selling to them at the minute. I'm put in mind of Stella Artois, which used to be a high-priced beer many years ago. Then they started wanting to expand into mass-market so lowered their prices 'temporarily'. They've never succeeded in getting them back up, because nobody sees them as a premium brand anymore.

If you want to sell kitless pens you CANNOT be charging £12.50 like I see a lot of folk doing with their kit pens. Kitless take a lot of time and a measure of skill and to underprice that work would be stupid. I charge £200 a pen and even then I barely break even - which is why I don't sell more than I can comfortably make while enjoying my hobby. If I wanted to sell more I wouldn't be displaying them alongside my £12.50 streamlines - I'd be marketing to an entirely different audience.

Oh, and BTW - if you EVER see me selling a £12.50 streamline please shoot me ...

 

[flexi]

Hi Ray, Jim a guy on E bay was selling bits and pieces so i bought some nib assemblys and pen assemblys, they seem a direct fit in some of my other kits, i also bought some some blanks but not had enough time for what i want to do

 

[rayf6604]

Selling a kitless pen for around £170 is neither highway robbery nor particularly difficult, and YES, there are those people around you Vic - and you, Ray. You're just not selling to them at the minute. I'm put in mind of Stella Artois, which used to be a high-priced beer many years ago. Then they started wanting to expand into mass-market so lowered their prices 'temporarily'. They've never succeeded in getting them back up, because nobody sees them as a premium brand anymore.

If you want to sell kitless pens you CANNOT be charging £12.50 like I see a lot of folk doing with their kit pens. Kitless take a lot of time and a measure of skill and to underprice that work would be stupid. I charge £200 a pen and even then I barely break even - which is why I don't sell more than I can comfortably make while enjoying my hobby. If I wanted to sell more I wouldn't be displaying them alongside my £12.50 streamlines - I'd be marketing to an entirely different audience.

Oh, and BTW - if you EVER see me selling a £12.50 streamline please shoot me ...

I hope nothing I've said on this thread has implied I think his prices are robbery because I don't. I am full of admiration for his work and my point in starting this was to share that with others. I know some of you already make high end pens but it's simply an admiration for great work