How It's Made : Striations And Stripes …?

[El Gordo]

 

Well maybe I did not search hard enough, but I don't seem to find a link to how striated and striped bodies are made (for example http://www.richardspens.com/images/coll/duo_vac.jpg and http://www.richardspens.com/images/coll/silver_max.jpg ) … .

 

I can imagine machining wood or metal, even deep drawing for bodies, making celluloid, acrylic, whatever, bodies with mother of pearl pigments, marbled ebonite, … all imaginable, but how did/do they make these crisp alternating lines (and when length wise even with variation along the line)?

 

Don't recall where I read it, but it was hinted somewhere that it is by laminating alternating transparent and coloured sheets, sounds reasonable for the silver_max picture linked above, making a, say 8” thick laminate, then cutting out blanks of such laminate. But how about the duo_vac picture linked above? If also made by laminating alternating sheets, then the stripes should be unequal and distributed evenly while rotating the body. Some high precision extrusion process? Sounds too expensive too me to get the variation in lines along the body as well. Any clues or links someone?

[dojocho]

http://www.carvilleplastics.com/markets-products/fine-writing/

 

Carville Plastics uses the proces of diffusion bonding for Parker pens.

 

regards,

 

Hugo

[martinbir]

I cannot remember where I read this, but it is my understanding that the material is made by bonding alternate sheets of clear and coloured materials to form a block from which thin vertical slices are cut. These are then bent round to form a hollow tube ready for final machining and finishing.

 

Having just looked at my M600 and M800 under a glass, both have one green stripe which is slightly wider and shows evidence of that joint (a dark line running the length of the stripe).

 

I thought I was observant but the M600 has had nearly four years of frequent use and I have only just spotted that the barrel is indeed slightly twisted. M800 seems straight.

 

Straight or twisted they are beautiful pens. Distinctive, yet still restrained.

[mirosc]

I cannot remember where I read this

 

old Pelikan movie in German language. at about 2:20 one can see the laminated blocks with alternate layers; those get cut and bent.

[martinbir]

 

old Pelikan movie in German language. at about 2:20 one can see the laminated blocks with alternate layers; those get cut and bent.

 

Fantastic movie. Suddenly they seem very good value!

[El Gordo]

@ Hugo, martinbir, mirosc: guess this is why you have Google Search and FPN Find ... perfectly what I was looking for, thanks for the info, nice movie indeed. Clarifies a lot. And once you have the right keywords, you get much, much more, links to FPN posts back in 2009, Carville, Classic pens, Sintetica, ...

Great stuff.

[Bo Bo Olson]

I didn't realize there was still so much hand work, and at a living wage in Germany, no wonder they are so expensive.

 

Along with a bit of marketing.

 

It is a pen if you buy when you are young you can give to your grand-kid.

 

I won a newspaper tour of Lamy....we did not get to see the 2000 made, they timed the tour so the gold room was empty. It too had 'old fashioned' work tables set ups.

The modern factory below for the other Lamy pens is extremely automated. The only 'worker' doing pen work was the woman, who adjusted the nibs of the Safari type pens. On a big drum some 5-6 pens are tested for alignment by sound. Those that don't match expectations are kicked to the side for the woman to adjust.

There is a big difference between a Safari and a 200/400. That film shows why.

Edited November 4, 2015 by Bo Bo Olson