oke
June 12th, 2013, 09:59 AM
Hi there,
New to the forum, but wanted to pick your brains about a "style" of pen which you may or may not have seen before. First, do folks here favor fountain pens over ballpoints? If so, then maybe I'm asking the wrong audience, so apologies in advance.
As a way of introduction (before I even get to talking about the subject-named topic), though, I suppose I should tell more about what sort of pens I like, to give some understanding of where I'm coming from. With ballpoints, some features or details which I've grown to appreciate are when the pens are machined from metal and are simple in their design (though that's subjective), and also when they're innovative or have some feature which helps set it apart or make things easier. (The whole evolution or history about how I got to liking and searching for those kinds of pens is somewhat longer, but the start of my collection of metal pens pretty much began with a rotring 600 series Trio Pen way back when...)
One well-thought-out and well-designed pen (imo) that I liked from the start was from Mike Scherer - his Inkling Pen Company's BOMAPen D6 (http://j.mp/BOMAPenD6) (The link goes to a pic of the multi-endcap D6 #3 - it has a tungsten barrel, and endcaps made of Titanium, Alloy X-750, and Tungsten, so one could choose the balance of the pen - back-balanced, centered, or tip-balanced - according to their preference)
Also in the mix are a few Porsche Design pens - I think the Shake is sorta gimmicky (and not original - the Recife Shake n' Write and old AutoMagic pens were around before it), but the TecFlex and Mikado are pretty creative in how the pen point is extended and retracted, and I got to "test drive" the LaserFlex (http://j.mp/PD_P3115LaserFlexAction), which had a fun mechanism, as well.
Recently, there have been a few pen projects on kickstarter (and the site's search isn't the best, so I made a google search of the site - j.mp/Pens_ks (http://j.mp/Pens_ks)), and among the interesting ones (to me) include the Ultimate Clicky Pen (http://j.mp/UltimateClickyPen) (I got the prototype one seen in the ks project page (http://j.mp/UltimateClickyPen_ks)'s initial pics and vids because I found with the BOMAPen that I preferred a more back-balanced pen, and the original prototype at least had a balance near the center, while the production version was more balanced toward the front or tip...) and the TiBolt, from Brian Fellhoelter (and a little more on that in a bit, since that's the actual topic...).
That was last year, and Jack Roman's improved on the Ultimate Clicky Pen (and the "clicker" is actually a pretty smooth Schmidt component which doesn't actually click :)), and now has the Ultimate Titanium Clicky Pen project at ks (http://j.mp/UltimateTitaniumClickyPenProject_ks) (or an improved design made from titanium), and, because of some snags to the TiBolt project at ks, Brian's now checking out a new crowdfunding site, Jump Start City, for his titanium, bolt-action ballpoint pen, or TiBolt. You can see it at the TiBolt project page at jsc (http://j.mp/TiBolt_jsc) What do you think of the TiBolt? I think it's fun that Fellhoelter decided that, with everything that could be made from titanium, he made from titanium (although, if you read Jack Roman's comments, titanium isn't a suitable springy clip material, and so for his pen, he used a material which is better suited for the application - spring steel). So only the spring, stylus material, o-rings, and pen refill are not made from titanium in his TiBolt. And the bolt-action mechanism is a fun or refreshingly (imo) different way to extend or retract the tip...
(Aside) While googling for innovative, machined pens, I came across a Bolt Pen at coroflot (http://j.mp/BoltPen_coroflot) - from a guy named Josh Little, but his was a one-off to show off his industrial design skills, and he said it was a great conversation starter at interviews, but that, to make another one, it would be about $720 - so even though I thought that design was cool, I won't ever get one to add to my collection...
Anyway, the main point was to ask what you thought of the TiBolt; there are a few elements (the material and the mechanism) which may be different than what you may be used to, but is that good or bad?
And, if that's not your fave combination, what materials, modes (fp, rb, felt-tip, Parker "5th technology" - though, isn't it just a fancy-looking felt-tip?) and features do you like in a pen?
Lo siento for the long first post...
:cool:
New to the forum, but wanted to pick your brains about a "style" of pen which you may or may not have seen before. First, do folks here favor fountain pens over ballpoints? If so, then maybe I'm asking the wrong audience, so apologies in advance.
As a way of introduction (before I even get to talking about the subject-named topic), though, I suppose I should tell more about what sort of pens I like, to give some understanding of where I'm coming from. With ballpoints, some features or details which I've grown to appreciate are when the pens are machined from metal and are simple in their design (though that's subjective), and also when they're innovative or have some feature which helps set it apart or make things easier. (The whole evolution or history about how I got to liking and searching for those kinds of pens is somewhat longer, but the start of my collection of metal pens pretty much began with a rotring 600 series Trio Pen way back when...)
One well-thought-out and well-designed pen (imo) that I liked from the start was from Mike Scherer - his Inkling Pen Company's BOMAPen D6 (http://j.mp/BOMAPenD6) (The link goes to a pic of the multi-endcap D6 #3 - it has a tungsten barrel, and endcaps made of Titanium, Alloy X-750, and Tungsten, so one could choose the balance of the pen - back-balanced, centered, or tip-balanced - according to their preference)
Also in the mix are a few Porsche Design pens - I think the Shake is sorta gimmicky (and not original - the Recife Shake n' Write and old AutoMagic pens were around before it), but the TecFlex and Mikado are pretty creative in how the pen point is extended and retracted, and I got to "test drive" the LaserFlex (http://j.mp/PD_P3115LaserFlexAction), which had a fun mechanism, as well.
Recently, there have been a few pen projects on kickstarter (and the site's search isn't the best, so I made a google search of the site - j.mp/Pens_ks (http://j.mp/Pens_ks)), and among the interesting ones (to me) include the Ultimate Clicky Pen (http://j.mp/UltimateClickyPen) (I got the prototype one seen in the ks project page (http://j.mp/UltimateClickyPen_ks)'s initial pics and vids because I found with the BOMAPen that I preferred a more back-balanced pen, and the original prototype at least had a balance near the center, while the production version was more balanced toward the front or tip...) and the TiBolt, from Brian Fellhoelter (and a little more on that in a bit, since that's the actual topic...).
That was last year, and Jack Roman's improved on the Ultimate Clicky Pen (and the "clicker" is actually a pretty smooth Schmidt component which doesn't actually click :)), and now has the Ultimate Titanium Clicky Pen project at ks (http://j.mp/UltimateTitaniumClickyPenProject_ks) (or an improved design made from titanium), and, because of some snags to the TiBolt project at ks, Brian's now checking out a new crowdfunding site, Jump Start City, for his titanium, bolt-action ballpoint pen, or TiBolt. You can see it at the TiBolt project page at jsc (http://j.mp/TiBolt_jsc) What do you think of the TiBolt? I think it's fun that Fellhoelter decided that, with everything that could be made from titanium, he made from titanium (although, if you read Jack Roman's comments, titanium isn't a suitable springy clip material, and so for his pen, he used a material which is better suited for the application - spring steel). So only the spring, stylus material, o-rings, and pen refill are not made from titanium in his TiBolt. And the bolt-action mechanism is a fun or refreshingly (imo) different way to extend or retract the tip...
(Aside) While googling for innovative, machined pens, I came across a Bolt Pen at coroflot (http://j.mp/BoltPen_coroflot) - from a guy named Josh Little, but his was a one-off to show off his industrial design skills, and he said it was a great conversation starter at interviews, but that, to make another one, it would be about $720 - so even though I thought that design was cool, I won't ever get one to add to my collection...
Anyway, the main point was to ask what you thought of the TiBolt; there are a few elements (the material and the mechanism) which may be different than what you may be used to, but is that good or bad?
And, if that's not your fave combination, what materials, modes (fp, rb, felt-tip, Parker "5th technology" - though, isn't it just a fancy-looking felt-tip?) and features do you like in a pen?
Lo siento for the long first post...
:cool: