The Deccan Red Sanders – A New Model In The Making

[shrujaya]

When Zubair showed me this pen four days back, I thought this was the manufacturer’s sample piece of an old model. I was struck by the sheer beauty of this pen and told him that if ever he decides to sell this pen, I would want it. It was then that he told me that this is a model that ‘bade saab’ has been trying to perfect and it has reached this stage now. Bade saab hasn’t perfected it yet and this is only a kind of ‘preview.’ Bade saab is probably working on making a pen in wood for the first time and there are many things that he has to look out for, Zubair said. And this is no ordinary wood. It is Red Sanders also known as Red Sandalwood (Pterocarpus santalinus); known as Raktachandan in many parts of India. It is an endangered species and protected by government rules and regulations in India.

I was genuinely pleased to see this pen. Hari had recently uploaded a post on Platinum Izumo Glossy – Tagayasan, a pen made of rosewood and I was wondering if any of our Indian penmakers would attempt something in wood. And I go to Deccan and Zubair shows me this pen made of Red Sanders!! As I said, the pen is not yet complete. I am not sure when it would be perfected and be ready for the market. I took Zubair’s permission to take photos of this pen at this stage… I stopped myself from saying too much… needless to say I was overwhelmed by this beauty…I took these photos in the Deccan Pen Stores, Secunderabad branch, and tried my best to see that the photos are sharp and bring out the beauty of the pen…

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/1-DeccanRedsander-capped_zps1d626f80.jpg

The Deccan Red Sanders – Capped – the size is similar to the Deccan Masterpiece…

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/2-DeccanRedsander-uncapped_zps3d93b380.jpg

The Deccan Red Sanders – Uncapped

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/3-DeccanRedsander-posted_zps44116d62.jpg

The Deccan Red Sanders – Posted

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/4-DeccanRedsander-clip_zps587c8052.jpg

The Clip…this is something very interesting…Bade saab has actually sprinkled the Red Sanders wood dust on the clip… obviously, some kind of adhesive on the clip surface before the sprinkling took place…Bade saab wanted the wood feel to extend to the metal clip too…

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/5-DeccanRedsander-section-ebonite_zpscd4f2ce8.jpg

Another interesting feature here…the aperture which holds the nib and feeder is made of ebonite and fixed to the section which is made of Red Sanders…this is to prevent ink from coming into contact with the wood while filling as wood tends to swell/shrink depending on exposure to moisture/heat and either way, it would affect the nib fitting…

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/6-DeccanRedsander-nib_zps26714030.jpg

The nib – this is a two-toned Ambitious nib…

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/7-DeccanRedsander-feeder_zps658f9f74.jpg

The feeder…

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/8-DeccanRedsander-aerofill_zpsae7f2098.jpg

Yeah, the pen is an aerometric filler…I think it has to be that for a complete wood pen…

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/9-DeccanRedsander-fill-section_zpsacdf48e7.jpg

The joint where the aerometric filler is fixed to the section…

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/10-DeccanRedsander-capbarrelthickness_zps5519a145.jpg

One can see the thickness of the barrel wall and cap wall…

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/11-DeccanRedsander-closeupofcap_zpse62e79cd.jpg

Close-up of the cap…it would be a snap-cap pen…

 

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/12-DeccanRedsander-closeupofbarrel_zps9e388e72.jpg

 

Close-up of the barrel…

 

Thank you for visiting and reading…

 

Shrujaya

 

 

[hari317]

wonderful. thanks for sharing Jai.

[mhguda]

Beautiful pen! I especially like the touch of the wood dust on the clip. Hopefully it will stand up to use. I hope these will be available soon, I'd love to have one...

Thanks for sharing, and please keep us posted.

[pelman]

Beautiful pen Jai. Hope this goes into production as well.

[amk]

Oh, I want one! That wonderfully textured wooden surface is just screaming to be touched and caressed.

 

Though personally I am not enamoured of the wood dust clip - I'd rather have white metal, gleaming like the wood; the dust seems rather strange. (Of course it might look a lot nicer in the flesh than in the photo.)

[mrchan]

Nice pen but the wood dust clip just makes it look like its rusted..and the nib..the engraving needs to be a bit deeper..

[shrujaya]

Dear Hari, mhguda, Jayant, amk, and mrchan...thanks for all your responses...

 

I am glad that you liked the Redsander...I too hope it goes into production, but the cost of each pen is going to be very high and going by what they are charging for the Author, the Redsander might cost more than double over the counter itself...but again, the intricacies involved in making this pen (no, not the clip...) might make it harder to make even in small batches...you might have noticed the ebonite tube inside the Redsander section...that has to be done individually for each pen and fit into the section carefully...Hari suggested that the entire section is ebonite right till the end where the aerofiller is fit in and the entire ebonite section is pushed into a Redsander sleeve...precision...and each pen has to be done by hand...I do hope that they release it commercially...lets wait and watch...

 

I am sure the clip was just a whim...but it looks nice when you actually see it...

 

Thanks again...

 

Regards,

 

Shrujaya

[amk]

I would definitely put my name down for this one, even with the relatively high cost. Deccan are really making some interesting pens these days!

[Anne-Sophie]

Thank you for sharing this truly one of a kind fountain pen.

 

Late to the party, (brought to this thread through the magic of tagging), I just wanted to show appreciation to Shrujaya for sharing the unique story of the Deccan Red Sanders.

 

The clip is definitely has definitely the "Wow" factor but the seamless mix of ebonite with wood is not only a technical feat, it is very pleasing to the eyes.

 

Is it known if Deccan plans to produce more than this prototype?