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Hakase Pen Purchase Help


Dhruv_Sood

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Hi,

 

Feel free to call me mad/idiot/foolish etc, but I am planning to purchase a Hakase some time in the next 2 months, placing the order for one that is. I got my Nakaya barely 2 weeks ago, which will prompt you to use the adjectives i mentioned above. :P

 

I was initially not planning to make this thread but the Hakase catalogue is really confusing, for me at least. They have the following pens:

 

1. Tortoise Shell - Not possible since the maker won't ship and i don't want any animal to die because of this.

2. Rose Wood Burl Urushi Coating - I understand that this has urushi applied over it, so can it be customized to black urushi?

3. African Ebony - What is ebony? some kind of wood? Does this have urushi?

4. Rose wood - Again, wood. Is urushi applied over it too?

5. Cocobolo Wood - Again, wood. Is urushi applied over it too?

6. Black Water Buffalo Horn - Not interested, for the same reason as Tortoise shells.

7. Ebonite - Not interested

8. Celluloid - Not interested.

 

Also, is saw a sandalwood one somewhere here in the forums. Why is that not in the catalogue? Can some one also post a picture of how this pen is packed? The packaging, if anyone took those when they received their pens. Do you get a kimono too, like the Nakaya and Platinum? :3

 

I can buy any of the pens i am interested in right away, apart from the Rose wood Burl Urushi Coating, that would require some saving. i am not interested in Flat tops. :)

 

Thanks & Regards

Dhruv

 

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ahh African Ebony I would comapare it to the Grenadilla wood as they are a bit similar and are both hard wood

I dont think by default the wood has Urushi coating but you can request for it that means additional charge

and I dont think Hakase provides pen kimonos as well if you have seen other people review their hakase made pens

then of course depending on the size of the pen and the possible combinations for it will affect the price

 

also I think Hakase also accepts wood from clients to be turned into pens as a special request hence if you saw a sandalwood one thats the most likely scenario that happened

Edited by Algester
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Ebony is a kind of wood.

 

The rosewood is beautiful - I have one and love it. I believe the sandalwood was a limited run and is no longer available.

 

I don't believe the pens are coated with urushi by default - I may be wrong. I also doubt one can make the urushi black. I think the curing is done certain times of year.

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Yeah, I think only 50 sandalwood pens were made, as written in that sandalwood Hakase thread.

As I live in India, my family does have a 40 year old block of Mysore sandalwood, which I don't know can be sent via DHL or EMS. It's not from 1965 from which the other Hakase pens have been made. I am also not sure whether my family would be willing to part with it. :P

 

About the Kimono, it says the pens comes in a paper packaging inside the paulownia wood box. So no kimono, I guess it is exclusive to Platinum and Nakaya.

 

About the Urushi being black, I don't really know that much, but how do Nakaya get that smooth blackish-red color on their pens? Although I have to admit the light brown color on the rosewood with urushi coating does look good. :)

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Nakaya uses a different technique. As you can imagine, lacquer (or urushi) can be coloured. It is not Hakase's style to do the tamenuri effect.

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I understand. I am really in for the rosewood burl urushi coating, but that would require some saving, or canceling the other purchase I have in mind for which I have already paid 10% advance. Decisions decisions.

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Hakase doesn't make you pay the full amount upfront, if that helps. And they do have quite a long wait time. So you might have time to save up for it, if that floats your boat.

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Nibbling,

 

Can you post some pictures of your Rosewood pen? Detailed pictures. What is the grip section made of? Ebonite or Rosewood? I would prefer the same material throughout. Is the wood smooth? No splinters anywhere? Polished?

 

Zeroed in on these pens

Rosewood Burl QB15D

Cocobolo wood CW10A & CW15D

Rosewood RW10A

 

This part payment thing will actually sink the boat. :P

17 months is a long time. Maybe, by the time of the second payment, I would want a Nakaya blue dragon, I will obviously try to divert my funds to it and delay this. Has happened to me so I know. It's not a small amount to be forfeited.

I always prefer to make a single payment than carry the burden of paying later. Of course I expect some sort of concession for that since I am foregoing the interest I would have earned on the half amount.

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Sure. I'll try for Friday. It feels organic - like wood I guess. Not completely (or glassy) smooth but very comfortable to write with.

 

Did Hakase quote seventeen months?! Dear me.

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I have never really used a wooden pen so can't say that I understand what you are saying.

He didn't quote 17 months but urushi pen takes 17 months to make, that's what is written on his website, normal wooden/ebonite/celluloid pens take 11 months.

 

Also, wish I could understand written Japanese as much as I can understand spoken Japanese. Website is a pain to look at sometimes and I am guessing he is using Google translate to communicate with me. He replied 6 hours ago to my mail. No discount on full payment. :(

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He doesn't cure it the moment you order. I think he writes in the news section about whether the curing of some wood is done. So it may not take 17 months.

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Yeah, I think only 50 sandalwood pens were made, as written in that sandalwood Hakase thread.

As I live in India, my family does have a 40 year old block of Mysore sandalwood, which I don't know can be sent via DHL or EMS. It's not from 1965 from which the other Hakase pens have been made. I am also not sure whether my family would be willing to part with it. :P

 

About the Kimono, it says the pens comes in a paper packaging inside the paulownia wood box. So no kimono, I guess it is exclusive to Platinum and Nakaya.

 

About the Urushi being black, I don't really know that much, but how do Nakaya get that smooth blackish-red color on their pens? Although I have to admit the light brown color on the rosewood with urushi coating does look good. :)

Manoj Deshmukh from FOSFOR PENS ... MADE IN INDIA... AMAZING STUFF HE MAKES...

vaibhav mehandiratta

architect & fountain pen connoisseur

 

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@nibbling: news section? As in? He doesn't do urushi all the year? Also, he only accepts PayPal, that puts me (bleep) out of luck since the card on PayPal has a meager limit. I'll have to ask him to take it in parts or Hakase plan is off. It takes a month for the bank to increase the limit.

 

@mehandiratta: yes, mesu has already recommended him. I see lots of different types of exotic woods on his website. I'll take one from him soon if he has EF nib.

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Ah, i'll look into it. Thanks. Remember the pictures please. :)

Hakase is turning out to be quite a pain to deal with. Every dealer accepts bank transfer, but for some reason he is not relenting. I even called up my bank to increase the credit limit on my credit card linked to PayPal but that needs 5-6 documents to be submitted to the bank personally, after that they will increase the credit limit within a month or two.

I almost went through this last year when i was about to purchase my iPhone 6 plus, the dealer accepted multiple form of payments thus i was able to buy it, i wasted 15 days with the bank to increase my limit and i am not willing to go through this again.

 

 

Edit: I had a look at Romillo, he is not Japanese but he has the thing in his order form which no one has. :o

Option for ambidexterity which i need. :D

Edited by Dhruv_Sood
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By the way, I do not think any turtle or buffalo is killed just to get their stuff.... from what I know buffalo comes from Laos and tortoise from Japan and it is crafted under a lot of regulations.

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By the way, I do not think any turtle or buffalo is killed just to get their stuff.... from what I know buffalo comes from Laos and tortoise from Japan and it is crafted under a lot of regulations.

I think for the tortoise shell it still has to be a dead turtle for one to get a shell seeing tottori is has some sand dunes and near water... its not that rare to see a dead turtle every now and then but then again its regulated by law that its no export good

im not sure if you can circumvent it by buying it locally like literally going to Japan and wait for the pen to be finished and pick it back up again and take it home as hand carry... I doubt

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You need to kill the buffalo to get the horn, surgically taking them out will be very expensive and you just cannot release the buffalo after the surgery, you need to give it time for recovery and ensure that he is healthy before releasing him. All this is very expensive. Easiest way is to kill it and take the horn. All the meat will be nowhere near the price of the horns. i.e. it is killed for the horns.

 

Tortoise needs to be killed to take the shell, there is no further use of it once you take the shell. It may be regulated, but then i still don't want this.

 

Heck, i sound like a PETA activist.

 

Getting back to Hakase. He shot me down on every option i gave him for the payment.

The pen i want is for 210,000 yen, half needs to be paid now and half later. So i suggested him that since he is unwilling for a bank transfer, can he raise 2 invoices of PayPal right now of 52,500 yen each. Suppose i place the order on 30 September 2015, i'll clear the first invoice on the same day, the second invoice i will clear on 1st October. This will be possible since i will do a bank transfer to the credit card company from my bank account to clear the 52,500 yen transaction undertaken on 30th September, and the card will be again available to take further transactions on 1st October. Still unwilling.

I honestly don't know what his problem is. I have certainly talked to better dealers than him, one kept a limited edition pen aside for me when i didn't have sufficient funds, another one added a ruthenium clip and nib to my normal Nakaya and absorbed the extra cost. Compared to them, he doesn't even have to take any impact on his revenue. PayPal transaction charges are on the amount of transaction which i think are 5%, so no matter how many invoices he makes, he will still have to pay the same amount to PayPal.

If he keeps this up, i will certainly never buy a Hakase even if i have a better credit card. Not to mention that he is the worst dealer i have come across.

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