Pen turning: Berea vs PSI kits

[Anna]

Are there any substantial differences between the two? Are the CSUSA kits even better than either one?

I find the PSI kits (from resellers) much cheaper, which sort of worries me with regards to the quality (especially since I've already bought some PSI kits). I've only been using slimline kits so far.

Anna

[Ken Massingale]

Hi Anna,
I've bought from Berea, Craft, PSI and most of the resellers and haven't seen any difference in quality in the kits received, or after a couple of years of the pens being in daily use.
Just in case you haven't visited Penturners.org, give it a look. Lots of helpful folks and some good deals on group buys. Also discounts at Craft and other vendors.

[Anna]

Hi, Ken,

Thanks for that reassurance. With most things, the price normally reflects the quality of the product, and it's a little worrisome to see that the "same" kits could vary anywhere up to 3 or 4 times in prices.

I'm having so much fun with the pen turning, but it's all slimlines for now. I'll probably badger you with more questions once I have enough confidence to try the more complicated styles.

I joined penturners.org a few days ago, and they're really nice folks. I couldn't get a straight answer to my original question from them earlier, so I decided to post it here. Someone over there did finally tell me what I was looking for, though, and your reply pretty much mirrors his.

Thanks again,
Anna

[Russianwolf]

Hey Anna,

I've been pen turning for all of about a month or so, and be honest, I find the Slimlines harder to turn than the Cigar/Big Ben or the Euro/Designer. I think it's due to how little wood is left, so if the wood isn't straight grained and perfectly parallel to the tube, it can shear off very easily.

Th only dificult part of the Euro/Designer is cutting a small tennon, which isn't too bad.

And the Cigars are flat out easy IMO.

[DonHo]

I've bought from many different suppliers and have found that for the most part the quality is pretty much the same( maybe made by the same company ) the only real difference I've found ( and I'm not sure if it applies to kits or not ) is in fountian pen nibs. I had made a couple of fountian pens from PSI kits and the nib unit was totally made of plastic, for some reason the nib unit on the one I made for my wife broke at the point where the threads end. I happened to see the Crafts Supply USA had nibs for sale and theirs has metal threads.

http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/cg...s=fountain-nib

I don't know what this means as to quality of the kits but I do feel in this case the nib was better quality.

DonHo

[Anna]

Hi, Mike,

This hobby is severely addictive. I was out in the shed late last night making a couple more pens, and then this morning, too. It still takes me more than an hour to make each pen. I use my lathe as my drill press since I don't have one. I've had my lathe for a year and a half, but I only started it running yesterday. Now I'll have to learn about bowl-turning and all those other things turners do.

I don't know enough about the other pen styles to make any meaningful comparison. Would you suggest I try the cigar style next? Is the assembly significantly different from the slimline? Do I have to get new bushings and mandrels?

The tenons in the Euro style is what turned me off (or scared me off). I'm hoping the PSI video will show me how to do this particular type of pen.

I work with the slimlines because, well, it's what we did during the WoodCraft class. I've used maple burl, purpleheart, walnut and some light-colored wood that's probably ash or maple. With the maple burl, I had to stop a few times to put CA glue on it to keep it from splitting.

I'm pretty much just picking up any piece of scrap I could find right now to try out different designs. So far, I've come to the conclusion that with slimlines, a simple straight or more-or-less-straight design looks best. I'm going to play some more later today. Also need to order more kits.

Anna

[Anna]

Hey, Don,

Thanks for that info. My husband was just telling me he'd like a fountain pen, so it's good to know about the different qualities of nibs out there. I have the impression that CSUSA probably sells the nicer pen kits, but they're also a bit more expensive. I really like the kit I got from Woodcraft, and I've been wondering if it's Berea or CSUSA because the PSI kits I have look less classy (in my opinion anyway).

Anna

[Ken Massingale]

Hey, Don,

Thanks for that info. My husband was just telling me he'd like a fountain pen, so it's good to know about the different qualities of nibs out there. I have the impression that CSUSA probably sells the nicer pen kits, but they're also a bit more expensive. I really like the kit I got from Woodcraft, and I've been wondering if it's Berea or CSUSA because the PSI kits I have look less classy (in my opinion anyway).

Anna

Unless there has been a change recently, the WC kits are from Berea.

[Anna]

One last question, please: Are the cigar blanks the same size or stouter than the slimline blanks?

Thanks,
Anna

[DonHo]

I think you'll find you need bigger blanks for cigar and some of the other pens. The slimline and any kit that uses a 7mm drill can go in the smaller ( 1/2" or 5/8" I think) blanks but cigar, atlas, and the other kits that use 3/8" or 10mm bits usually use 3/4" blanks. Some of the catalogs will have a chart with different pen styles that list drill size, blank size, and which bushing you need. This download lib from PSI has instructions for the different types of kits and they also have the bit size, blank size etc.

http://www.pennstateind.com/library.php

DonHo

[leehljp]

On the Cigar, one tube is slightly longer than the slimline, and the other tube is shorter, but the tubes are larger in diameter and require a larger blank.

AS to your original question, the feeling I get from people who have been making pens for some time (or feed back from sales) is that PSI has slightly less plating and will show wear more. Berea generally has higher quality reflection among most long term pen turners.

One strange thing is that I sometimes see a negative comment about a Berea kit and see a positive comment about the same kit from another website that sells the Berea kit.

In my opinion is that it usually depends on individual pen kits, and the quality is often reflected in the price of the kits overall.

I have a baron from Bill Baumbeck (Arizona Sil.) that is about 8 months old. It looks worn. I am hard on pens. I made a Baron for a friend at the same time I made mine. His looks great and like new, and he uses his daily in an office setting. For me, I would say that the Baron was too thinly planted. For my friend, I would say that kit was well plated. But both are the same kits. The point is: one will say a kit is cheap, another will say the same kit is very good quality.

FOR me - I buy slimlines from PSI or Pens of Color (POC); most other kits are from Bill Baumbeck, Beartooth Woods (BTW), or CSUSA.

CSUSA, BTW and POC ship overseas to me here. IF I want a kit from Bill B, I order it and have it shipped to my USA address and my daughter ships it here.

[Anna]

Don, thanks for the link. It's going to be useful.

Hank, I got my PSI kits from Woodturningz.com (got the recommendation at penturners.org). He's a reseller and has cheaper prices than PSI. I can't find the titanium black or gold on his website although he says that he can sell me anything that's in the PSI catalog.

The blanks I've seen at Woodcraft are 3/4", I think. We used it for the slimline pens and that's why I wondered if there are special blanks for cigars. I will definitely start looking at the Berea kits.

Thanks for all the info, folks.

Anna

[Russianwolf]

I've bought from many different suppliers and have found that for the most part the quality is pretty much the same( maybe made by the same company ) the only real difference I've found ( and I'm not sure if it applies to kits or not ) is in fountian pen nibs. I had made a couple of fountian pens from PSI kits and the nib unit was totally made of plastic, for some reason the nib unit on the one I made for my wife broke at the point where the threads end. I happened to see the Crafts Supply USA had nibs for sale and theirs has metal threads.

http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/cg...s=fountain-nib

I don't know what this means as to quality of the kits but I do feel in this case the nib was better quality.

DonHo

I did one of the PSI Big Ben (Cigar) Fountain kits for my boss. The Nib is metal for the most part. The threading and shaft are metal, there is some plastic on the business end but only on the underside. So I'm not sure if you are talking about the same parts. If you look at the pic on my thread in "finished projects" only the black portions on the nib appear plastic. All the gold is metal.

[Russianwolf]

Don, thanks for the link. It's going to be useful.

Hank, I got my PSI kits from Woodturningz.com (got the recommendation at penturners.org). He's a reseller and has cheaper prices than PSI. I can't find the titanium black or gold on his website although he says that he can sell me anything that's in the PSI catalog.

The blanks I've seen at Woodcraft are 3/4", I think. We used it for the slimline pens and that's why I wondered if there are special blanks for cigars. I will definitely start looking at the Berea kits.

Thanks for all the info, folks.

Anna

You'll also need a different set of bushings for the Cigars. And a 10MM drill bit. You can use the same mandrel though. And if you don't want to deal with tennons yet, don't get the rollerball or fountain types from PSI yet, just the regular ballpoints.

As Hank mentioned, Arizona Sihloettes sells the Berea kits. I ordered 19 kits from him on Friday and got them today. He didn't have two blanks that I asked for and reduced the price of the order by them but included two extra blanks also. Great guy to do business with. I am going to have to put another order in in a couple days for some things I left off my list. Poor planning on my part.

As I mentioned, the only thing I find annoying about the Berea kits is there are two different mandrel sizes and some kits are only available in one or the other. At some point I'll buy the other size, but for the moment I just avoid the kits with the "B" bushing size.

[DonHo]

"I did one of the PSI Big Ben (Cigar) Fountain kits for my boss. The Nib is metal for the most part. The threading and shaft are metal, there is some plastic on the business end but only on the underside. So I'm not sure if you are talking about the same parts. If you look at the pic on my thread in "finished projects" only the black portions on the nib appear plastic. All the gold is metal."
The kit I used was the Classic ( I think ) and it had a metal insert that was pressed into each end of the bottom portion of the pen with threads on the outside that the cap screws onto and threads on the inside that the nib and the ?(other end) screw into. The threads on the insert were metal but the threads on the end of the nib and the other end were plastic. The PSI kit is PKPAR10FT.

DonHo