Engraving A Fountain Pen

[Sasha Royale]

My fox terrier revealed to me that my Jinhao x750 is, in fact, metal. He is only 6 years old, illiterate, and has no thumbs. Still, he knows something this engraver does not.

[crashcraft]

35 years ago in college I used to be that person under the escalator at Sears. Making keys and engraving Zippo lighters, Spiedel bracelets,plastic and metal nameplates,etc. We also sold Cross writing instruments, gold and painted ones. The engraving machine was a New Hermes diamond tipped stylus that did the majority of items.

The GF Cross pens were relatively easy, the black matte finish not so much. We would only use a single line font-as opposed to Olde English or a fancy script. Had to put Vaseline on the area and use a light touch to hopefully prevent chipping of the finish. We also had replacement caps if we messed up-which was highly discouraged on the 14 KT version.

On metal not a big deal. If you brought in a pen we would charge $3.50 a single line ( with no liability if we messed up-had to sign a waiver).

I suppose you could use the diamond on "certain" plastics, but if it was brittle plastic it would plow through and make ragged lines. If you used the motorized spindle with the finest tip the lettering would be about as wide as a small font rubber stamp-which we also made. Not a good look imo. Our shop had no space for a laser engraver.

Even though there were two jewelry stores a Things Remembered ( our sister store owned by the same parent company-they had a laser engraver) and a Lazarus that could have it done-I always engraved backs of watches for customers. Yes $3.50 a line and no warranty. Seiko, Citizen, Bulova and even the rare Rolex ( not a knockoff - the jewelry store would remove the back and send it with the customer in their repair envelope. I only messed up one when my co-worker bumped my arm while I was engraving. We waived the $3.50- I bet the replacement cost at least 100 times more! But why cheap out personalizing an expensive watch.

I bet they declined because of liability. I wonder if my waiver would really stand up today, even though they assumed the liability-I wonder how social media would influence business practices today.

[ParkerDuofold]

Hi Crash,

 

Thank you for this... very interesting perspective... and getting some of the backstory, too.

 

I enjoyed reading about the extra caps and was surprised to learn about the lasers. I know they've been around a while, but I didn't know their use as store, (even the upper-echelon chains), engravers went back 35 years.

 

Yes... what the lawyers haven't ruined yet... social media has.

 

Be well and enjoy life.

 

 

- Anthony

[Bo Bo Olson]

Thanks Crashcraft......so I was wrong, not knowing modern day limits.

I do have a few very nicely engraved plastic pens .... perhaps a better plastic than today's. I've no idea how they did it in the '50-60's.

 

Send it to Purdie's...... I've held a basic $100,000 Purdie shotgun, they do have folks that can engrave by hand.

Oh, and how....and any mistake throws away a fortune of top skilled work, even before the engraving.

Edited August 5, 2017 by Bo Bo Olson

[crashcraft]

Yes , the laser engravers were very limited st the time-low power and limited computing power made it look more like a dot matrix for metal. It was more successful on wood. It was also very small and had limited capacity. Obviously, things are more sophisticated today. The most impressive laser wood burning I saw during that time-the summer prior I worked for Ohio Department of Natural Resources at the fair and they got about a 3 foot diameter Great Seal of Ohio to mount on their main display building.

[LanceSaintPaul]

My oh my - Spiedel bracelets, Sears engraving kiosks, what a trip. I can still see, hear, & smell the old Sears store (long closed now) on Lake Street in Minneapolis, MN. 1950's, 1960's, 1970's.... I can see the engravers, hear assorted bells, hear the pneumatic tube system, and the constant smell of popcorn.

 

Never had a Spiedel bracelet (maybe a brief moment in time of wanting one, but thank goodness I never actually got one) nor have I had any engraved things (maybe a baby rattle with my initials).

 

I have considered having a couple of Waterman's with cartouche engraved, not with name nor initials, but with something like ">sword" or using a stylized representation of a sword, or some other sort of witty, funny, goofy expression. But I continue to not do any of this. Generally I don't want to mark up a pen.

 

When I started collecting about 2 years ago I was firm (rigid) about not buying a pen with someone's name or initials or other personalizations on it. (If it was initials and somehow they matched mine I would have gone with that....)

 

But the price reduction on such items is a small inducement providing it does not dominate nor somehow spoil the look of the pen.

 

Richard Binder's writings about the virtues of enjoying a pen's history via someone's past personalizations made me reconsider this rule - his arguments in favor, compelling.

 

So I have purchased a vintage Mont Blanc in the 1xx or is it a 2xx series? engraved with Dr. Xxxx's name. A pleasant artifact made better by the discreet nature of the engraving in black resin - easily unnoticed, not standing out.

 

Now I evaluate on a case by case basis & will surely buy personalized pens in the future. This is why I want sellers ads to show or quote the personalization in full because only then can I decide if it fits for me.

 

I hope I'm not hijacking this thread - consider this at worst a short sidebar that speaks to potential long term effects or consequences of engraving. But for the right special occasion or award these considerations should remain irrelevant.

[Bo Bo Olson]

I don't think we are narrow to where a thread wanders, as long as it's in the ball park.

I tend to wander .....

[JWT]

I've had great luck purchasing a couple of these pens as gifts. They're smooth writers and they look good too. I believe the engraving is a type of laser etching, but I'm not sure. I've had mine for about a year and the engraving is as good a new. However, I don't use the pen every day.

 

Here's the link.

[eharriett]

And here I was, wondering the opposite. I just got a gold plated Snorkel Triumph at DC and was wondering if the engraving could be removed.

[ParkerDuofold]

I've had great luck purchasing a couple of these pens as gifts. They're smooth writers and they look good too. I believe the engraving is a type of laser etching, but I'm not sure. I've had mine for about a year and the engraving is as good a new. However, I don't use the pen every day.

 

Here's the link.

Hi JWT,

 

Thank you very much for this link... the 388 isn't a bad pen and to get it engraved for $7... I'm gonna get a few... just for kicks... maybe for my golfing buddies.

 

Be well and enjoy life.

 

 

- Anthony

[Barkingpig]

Engraving can be removed from Sterling silver or solid, (14 or 18KT,) but not from plated or filled, metals. I would just say it was your Great Uncle or Aunt's pen!

 

Less than expert monogram removal is always quick to spot & there are few engravers who do it well.

[Mech-for-i]

Well I see this somewhat different than others. As an engineer my first concern is what will the engraving do to the barrel .. These days rngraving ; most of them are done either by a laser etching or good old engraving jig using a mechanical chiselling action. Both destroy the surfice material thus also finishing without overcoating a new protection. If that material hsppen to be nude say a solid plastic or acrylic then its all fine all it does is making some depression on the material and this applied to some raw metal barrel pens. Otherwise I am against engraving on barrel with surfacing and finishing

[Shaggy]

Having had an expensive pen stolen from my desk at work, I can see the value in engraving a pen that you take into the office.

 

Engraving may not stop it, but it might help you get it back.

 

I once found an engraved ballpoint had been stolen from my office. I asked around. No one had seen it. Not a small company, but only 100 employees were in my division and I'd been there for years...knew everyone, always locked my office, etc.

 

I found it weeks later, on my BOSS'S desk! Her excuse: "Oh, is that the pen you were asking about? Gosh I didn't even see your name on it!"

 

Grr.

Edited August 9, 2017 by Shaggy

[Bo Bo Olson]

When giving engraved pens to my god son.....had the clips engraved not the pens with his initials.

[ParkerDuofold]

When giving engraved pens to my god son.....had the clips engraved not the pens with his initials.

Hi BoBo,

 

When there is no cartouche, I prefer to engrave the clip... if the clip will permit it.

 

- Anthony

[judo]

I bought a used MB Meisterstuck 146 at auction for a good price. It had the previous owners name engraved onto the resin barrel. The engraving was beautifully done and so I thought that I would be happy to use it like that but within the first two weeks I found that it really bothered me owning a pen with someone else's name on it. I also found that there was a problem with the feed unit so I sent it back to MB for a fixed-price service and asked them to replace both the feed and the barrel. I'm lucky that I bought the pen at a price low enough to justify a service cost and I'm very happy with the pen now but would never buy another engraved pen.

[A Smug Dill]

Hey guys, I was wondering if anyone can share their experiences with having their pens engraved?

 

I went to a shop and they insisted the pens I showed them were plastic based (A Jinhao X750 and a Platinum Plaisir) and could not be engraved. I'm willing to believe that maybe the Jinhao could cause some trouble, but the Plaisir definitely has metal in the body.

 

Something of a much belated reply:

 

I had no problem with getting my Platinum Plaisir pens engraved by the seller, who openly put on the product page that (optional) 'name' engraving was 'free' as a selling point.

 

I ordered (only counting those which were engraved) eight Platinum Plaisir pens, two Platinum Balance pens, one Platinum #3776 Century (in Black Diamond), and three Sailor Lecoule pens from this seller. Everything there other than the Plaisir has caps and barrels made of plastic.

 

As far as engraving pens such as the Jinhao and Plaisir, it may actually cost you more to engrave the pens than their actual cost (dependent on the actual engraving).

The list price of said Plaisir pens, inclusive of 'free' engraving and domestic shipping (i.e. within Japan), was/is ¥1080. The same seller also listed Plaisir pens that do not include engraving and domestic shipping. The cheapest I've found on the same platform from other sellers, not including 'free' engraving, was effectively ¥800. (It's a bit tricky; some sellers on Rakuten Global Market will charge you the equivalent of 8% – which is the local consumption tax rate in Japan – of the product price anyway as a 'handling fee' for international/export orders, and some don't.)

 

Personally (for my own thoughts), I would save engraving for a special pen for a special occasion, and I'd likely buy the pen from a source that offers engraving. Yes, that means a more expensive pen without doubt, but then the engraving will have more meaning if you decide to go in that direction.

 

The only pen listed above that was engraved with a name has my fiancée's name on it, next to a 'title' or position of achievement she has attained. The Platinum #3776 Century in Black Diamond was the same price with or without engraving, and it was also the cheapest price on offer on RGM at the time (and still is).

 

I now have hundreds of pens (yep), varying in price from cheapest ever to "holy cow, you paid what for a pen??" I've found that engraving does not really make the pen more special to me, and it's the pen itself which is special. Custom fountain pens are even more special, and it's pretty easy to say, "don't touch" with a personal design element other than regular engraving,

As it was, my most recent engraved pen acquisition is a Pilot Custom Maple/Kaede.

 

The inscription is (the second) half of a very commonly known Chinese adage. Literally, “[it takes a] hundred years [to] cultivate [a] person,” which follows on from, “[it takes] ten years [to] cultivate [a] tree;" and, being written in archaic expression, the word used for the verb cultivate is literally tree in both clauses, while the word used for the noun tree is literally wood. The adage alludes to a piece of ancient Ruism literature that translates in modern language to, "It takes ten years for a tree to fully grow, but becoming a proper person is a lifelong endeavour."

 

To me, that sort of engraved content has 'meaning', and would not devalue a pen if I was a prospective buyer who doesn't know and never heard of the original owner (or gifter).

 

Not one of my eighty or so pens has my name written on it. I am nobody, but 'everyone' knows those adages and sayings.

 

I would never engrave a pen unless it was for some special purpose -- and I would never buy an engraved pen

 

I would buy an engraved pen if the inscription was meaningful or funny, done tastefully (in terms of not marring the aethestic of the model's design) and competently, and I find the pen is worth buying secondhand (or third-hand, whatever) with or without the inscription.

[eharriett]

To add something interesting to this discussion, I too am not really keen about buying a pen engraved with someone else’s name. However, if it is a pen I really want I’m happy to get it at a reduced price.

 

That being said........ something I have always wanted is what Sheaffer used to do with their high end pens: for a dollar you can send them your signature and they’d put that on a pen. I thought that was the neatest idea and I was really sad that sort of thing didn’t exist anymore. I’d always wanted my signature engraved on a pen.

 

A few weeks ago, I was part of the Ohio Pen Club’s tour of the Edison Pen factory. When they showed us their engraver, they described it and said they can engrave a great many designs as long as they can get a jpg of it. So I asked about a signature and they said yes.

 

And just like that, I am now very, VERY interested in owning an Edison pen.

[Bo Bo Olson]

If I ever finish and sell my Western Saga, perhaps engrave them all. In I understand one has to pay for one's own book selling tour now, would have to sell at pen shows, buy the book get the engraved pen used to sign it...........

What am I to do after the 80th book is sold?

Just thought, would have to engrave on the other side of those I have that are engraved...or sign both names.

 

Back in B&W TV days and before the Used Pen Market, engraving was a mark of Class (days of One Man, One Pen).

Besides being a deterrent of thieves.

Had I been well enough off in grade school or Jr. High, to have had any of my stolen pens engraved I'd still have it....and not had it stolen every year.....along with the September bought Jotter.

 

Well only once did a Jotter last long enough to buy one of those very expensive re-fills.

[como]

The only times you can still sell an engraved pen at a reasonable price is 1. It’s a vintage pen, 2. The person is famous. Otherwise you can’t sell it without suffering huge loss, if someone is even willing to buy it. I have 4 MB ballpoints that have my name engraved. Tried to sell without success and will be given away to friends and relatives. A bit of a pity as I could have sold to buy other pens if no engraving.