Rippled Ebonite - with seemingly rare colors

Most recently, I had purchased rods of Brick Red ebonite from my usual supplier, who sells industrial ebonite. The brick red ebonite goes really well with Sandalwood pens. These rods look darker than the actual color of the material and at times it's hard to tell what they are going to look like ones turned.

One such rod I had purchased looked as if its the same brick red ebonite, but was slightly darker. Upon turning, it revealed a beautiful brown ebonite with rippled pattern. What's unusual about it is the colors. This rod has two color ripples. I have seen single color (typically black) ripples in a base color of brown, green, red etc or the reverse. But I have never seen a two color rippled pattern.

I had to make a pen and see what it looked like once polished. And here is the end result:

You can clearly see the multi-color ripples which are rather unusual. I have searched the internet for similar material, and have not come across this pattern. The base color is also different. It is brownish red, as compared to brownish yellow, typically found on India ebonite pens.

This comparison shot will highlight the difference:

I have added Gunmetal Bronze accents to mine which goes well with this material. The Snake clip is from a vintage pen.

Here are the dimensions of my pen:

• Overall size: 150mm x 14.9mm
• Body: 134mm x 12.1mm
• Cap: 62mm x 14.9mm
• Cap to Barrel Threads: 12mm x 0.8mm double start
• Weight: 22g

Fosfor pens now available in Europe

I am pleased to announce that Fosfor's colorful resin pens are now available in Europe. Here is a link to where you can see the new pens http://www.fpnibs.com/en/45-fosfor-pens.

There are also various value added services, such as nib engraving, pen engraving and personalization. Pen fans in Europe can now get full service for these Fosfor pens.

Diwali - the festival of lights is here

Yes, its that time of the year already. Diwali, which signifies the victory of good over evil, has just started. Streets are lined up with stalls selling Lanterns and fire crackers.

The rest of the week will be spent meeting relatives and loved ones, children enjoying the fire crackers and the special Diwali "faraal".

Things will almost be at a stand-still here as far as pen making is concerned. But, will surely pickup pace starting next week.

Happy Diwali to everyone!

In-house cast Polyester Resin pens

The market is flooded with pen blanks made from Acrylic, Polyester and a few more synthetic materials. I am always pursuing innovative ways to differentiate the pens I am offering. Casting my own pen blanks was something I had in mind for a long time. Finally, after much trial and error, I am able to make polyester resin (PR) blanks that I can offer to the fountain pen fans.

Casting PR may seem easy, based on numerous videos posted online. However, there are a few challenges you come across. First, and most critical, is the issue of bubbles in your material. Second, is the mold itself and making sure that you get a cast released from the mold. Third, making sure you are doing something different than many others who are casting the blanks.

The bubbles issue needs most attention. I have had many blanks wasted because of this issue. There are two ways to address this, one is to use pressure casting and the other to de-vac the material before casting. I chose to de-vac the material before casting, which means I use a vacuum chamber to remove all the bubbles while the material is still unset. So far, this has proven quite effective.

Mold release was another challenge. The use of PVC pipes did not prove to be as affective. Use of paper tubes instead worked great and there is no need to release the cast, you simply machine the paper out.

To make blanks that are different from the rest, I developed my own method of pouring the material into the mold. This is the USP and something I would not like to discuss right now.

Here are a few pictures of the pens:

Islander with Sterllng Silver Clip

Often times, I am asked to add a clip to the Islander pen. So far, I have been putting a stock clip. However, the mismatch between the sterling silver band and the chrome plated clip was obvious. So I designed a clip and had it hand made by an artist.

So now, the Islander pen can be equipped with a matching Sterling Silver clip. Here is how it looks:

Mumbai Pen Show 2014 - August 8-11

Dear Pen fans,

There is a pen show in Mumbai next week, August 8-11 and Fosfor Pens will be there with new pen models never seen before. The show is taking place at Nehru Center, Worli. Please do visit the exhibition and stop over at Fosfor Pens stall F5-A on the second floor.

Please note the timings below for visitors.

Red Sanders pen with Polyester Resin casting

When a friend approached me to make a pen with red sanders, I wasn't sure where to get the material from. I actually didn't know much about the wood itself, but after reading, realized that it was what our grandparents used to have as part of their home remedy. Red sanders is a medicinal herb and its powder is used for healing wounds as well as other illnesses. So, when I mentioned about this pen to my parents, they quickly suggested to look for stores selling herbal and ayurvedic medicine. Well, with changing times, this also has changed. They don't sell it as wooden billets anymore but in the powder form. After searching more, I found strips of this wood available with stores that are selling incense sticks and related items.

So, this is what I brought home, with the idea that I will find a way to make a pen out of this:

These strips were about 5-6 inches long and no more than 10mm thickness. As you can see, they are rough cut and no single strip was big enough to make a pen part from. So, I decided to cast them in Polyester resin (PR).

I aligned two strips in a pair as close to each other as possible and tied them up.

This was then cast in resin. The resin block with wood embedded in it was then turned on a lathe. The resin block did exhibit a few cracks, mostly due to the lack of pressure pot during casting. However, these cracks didn't affect the final product. Enough of the wood was covered in PR and had gotten into the gap.

The blank had to be stabilized along the way, just to ensure that the wood and PR does not separate. After much turning and polishing, this is the end result:

You can see the PR along the length of the pen. I had tried to match the color of PR with the wood, but I did not know what color the wood will turn. Surprisingly, it looked much lighter than the wood strips and also had amazing grain.

Sandalwood Pen

Recently, I was asked to make a pen from sandalwood. This was a material that I had not used before, so I did not know its properties. Also, sandalwood is not easily available in pen blank sizes, and import would be troublesome. So I searched locally for sandalwood and to my surprise found sticks of the wood available with stores that are selling incense sticks. So, I bought two sticks that I thought would serve the purpose, shorter one for the cap and longer one for the barrel:

This particular wood is hallmarked, which indicates that it is (most likely!) genuine.

The challenge now was that they we not exactly round. I used the hallmark as a guide as it appeared to be placed where the wood was round. I was lucky that both pieces turned down to the dimension I wanted without leaving any gouges.

The wood was extremely aromatic while turning. Yes, I did save a few shavings!
I did not use any CA or any other method to stabilize the wood, because maintaining the fragrance was critical. The only adhesive used is for the Ebonite inserts.

It is a relatively soft wood and drills very easily. I was able to sand it and leave it with a nice smooth surface.

Here is the finished pen, installed with a custom nib section that was supplied to me:

Teakwood Burl... rare find here in India

I was getting my Afzelia burl block cut from a furniture workshop. I have known the owner for many years now. He had done most of the furniture in our house. While looking around, I picked up a piece of teakwood. It appeared to be an ordinary piece and had it cut into blank size pieces. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the blanks. It was actually a burl. This afternoon, I rounded the pieces and covered them with CA glue. I was quit stunned with the outcome. I am sure they will make a nice pen (or two) one day.

If someone knows where to find more burl here in India, please contact me.

New Islanders - exotic Afzelia Burl wood and hand polishing

As I continue to explore new ways and materials for my pens, I am also experimenting with various techniques. The Islander pen design goes through this journey along with me. For the next set of pens, I made a few changes to the original process:

1. The pens were hand polished at the end while maintaining their shiny quote of CA glue. This was different from the early Islanders there the CA was completely stripped off and then a coat of walnut oil was applied. This new technique is better suited for highly figured wood where the grain can enhance the beauty of the pen dramatically.
2. There is a chrome band between the barrel and the the cap. This enables smoother transition from the section onto the barrel threads and then onto the barrel itself.
3. The end cap is slightly larger than the original. This again is useful where more wood needs to show.

Here are a few pictures of the Islanders using this new process: