Highest Praise for a New Nibmeister

[jkrewalk]

Before proceeding, I must first make it clear via the standard disclaimer that I have no affiliation with the person I am about to speak of. However, I would be totally remiss to my fellow FPN members if I did not make you aware that there are in fact other great nibmeisters other than Richard Binder who are every bit as great. I know that many of you will consider this a shocking blasphemy - I daresay heresy but yes - it is true! I am not completely sure why Richard seems to get all the attention when there are indeed others in the craft that are every bit as good at what they do. Now, again, before you all get mad at me and prepare to tar and feather me with words, I am not saying anything bad about Richard - I love him and think he is great. But the fact is there are others that are just as great. I have tons of Binderizeed pens in my collection (as evidenced at my web page where he gets credit for each and every one). But sometimes when reading the posts here it seems like people think he is the only game in town and he is not. There are many others that can provide you with the same level of excellence including (but not limited to) John Mottishaw, Greg Minuskin, FPN's own Dillo, Deb Kinney and Pendomonium just to mention a few. And, since Richard's wait is 4 months and sometimes more, why not level the playing field a little and spread the business around? Some of these others not only have faster turnaround times but better prices as well and the quality is every bit as good.

 

I can't tell you how impressed I am with a relative newcomer to the ranks of nibmeister. And, in reality he is not new at all - in fact he has 23 years of experience with nibs but just recently arrived with his own business. His name is Mike and his company is Mike it Work. Quite frankly, Mike is going to get ALL of my future nib business because of his quality (and keep in mind that I am extremely fussy about having perfection in my nibs!).

 

I came across Mike recently at the Philadelphia Pen Show a few weeks ago. I brought 2 pens to the show with me for repair that were particularly troublesome. Frankly, I intended to have Richard work on them because I figured he was the only one who could fix them. Boy was I wrong! Luckily when I went over to Richard's booth the waiting list was a mile long. I say "luckily" because if the wait wasn't long I would not have found my new pen repair hero - Mike! There he was, a few tables down and tehre was no wait!!!! He looked like a nibmeister to me - he had some grinding machinery, paper to write on and magnifying spectacles so I figured I would give him a shot at it. I sat down, showed him my pens and said "can you fix these"? "Absolutely" was the answer and after explaining to him what the problem was and exactly what I wanted, he went to work on them with the flair of a true master nib grinder. In talking to Mike I found I had discosvered a "goldmine" as far as having a true craftsman at my disposal. For instance, I found that Mike worked extensively for more than 20 years with the ultimate "god of fountain pens" - Mr Nagahara and his son. He told me he had seen every pen problem there is - and learned how to fix them - while he was a nibmeister wih Sailor.

 

Mike dismantled my nibs, repaired them and tuned them to perfection as I watched in awe. When he handed them over and I wrote with them - WOW!!!!!!!! Some of the best nib work I have ever seen! I am now convinced Mike is one of the geatest - and his credentials of working with Mr Nagahara who I (and many, many others) respect as the greatest nibmeister of all time certainly lends to that credibility. And guess what - not only did I get back the smoothest and most perfect nib adjutment ever - the cost was less and there was no waiting!!!!

 

I thought it to be my duty to share this experience with FPN Members and let them know that there are alternatives for great value and service for their pens! Mike has at website at mikeitwork.com and he wil be seeing more work being sent his way from me.

 

John

Krewalk.com

 

[Bearcat]

Before proceeding, I must first make it clear via the standard disclaimer that I have no affiliation with the person I am about to speak of. However, I would be totally remiss to my fellow FPN members if I did not make you aware that there are in fact other great nibmeisters other than Richard Binder who are every bit as great. I know that many of you will consider this a shocking blasphemy - I daresay heresy but yes - it is true! I am not completely sure why Richard seems to get all the attention when there are indeed others in the craft that are every bit as good at what they do. Now, again, before you all get mad at me and prepare to tar and feather me with words, I am not saying anything bad about Richard - I love him and think he is great. But the fact is there are others that are just as great. I have tons of Binderizeed pens in my collection (as evidenced at my web page where he gets credit for each and every one). But sometimes when reading the posts here it seems like people think he is the only game in town and he is not. There are many others that can provide you with the same level of excellence including (but not limited to) John Mottishaw, Greg Minuskin, FPN's own Dillo, Deb Kinney and Pendomonium just to mention a few. And, since Richard's wait is 4 months and sometimes more, why not level the playing field a little and spread the business around? Some of these others not only have faster turnaround times but better prices as well and the quality is every bit as good.

 

I can't tell you how impressed I am with a relative newcomer to the ranks of nibmeister. And, in reality he is not new at all - in fact he has 23 years of experience with nibs but just recently arrived with his own business. His name is Mike and his company is Mike it Work. Quite frankly, Mike is going to get ALL of my future nib business because of his quality (and keep in mind that I am extremely fussy about having perfection in my nibs!).

 

I came across Mike recently at the Philadelphia Pen Show a few weeks ago. I brought 2 pens to the show with me for repair that were particularly troublesome. Frankly, I intended to have Richard work on them because I figured he was the only one who could fix them. Boy was I wrong! Luckily when I went over to Richard's booth the waiting list was a mile long. I say "luckily" because if the wait wasn't long I would not have found my new pen repair hero - Mike! There he was, a few tables down and tehre was no wait!!!! He looked like a nibmeister to me - he had some grinding machinery, paper to write on and magnifying spectacles so I figured I would give him a shot at it. I sat down, showed him my pens and said "can you fix these"? "Absolutely" was the answer and after explaining to him what the problem was and exactly what I wanted, he went to work on them with the flair of a true master nib grinder. In talking to Mike I found I had discosvered a "goldmine" as far as having a true craftsman at my disposal. For instance, I found that Mike worked extensively for more than 20 years with the ultimate "god of fountain pens" - Mr Nagahara and his son. He told me he had seen every pen problem there is - and learned how to fix them - while he was a nibmeister wih Sailor.

 

Mike dismantled my nibs, repaired them and tuned them to perfection as I watched in awe. When he handed them over and I wrote with them - WOW!!!!!!!! Some of the best nib work I have ever seen! I am now convinced Mike is one of the geatest - and his credentials of working with Mr Nagahara who I (and many, many others) respect as the greatest nibmeister of all time certainly lends to that credibility. And guess what - not only did I get back the smoothest and most perfect nib adjutment ever - the cost was less and there was no waiting!!!!

 

I thought it to be my duty to share this experience with FPN Members and let them know that there are alternatives for great value and service for their pens! Mike has at website at mikeitwork.com and he wil be seeing more work being sent his way from me.

 

John

Krewalk.com

 

 

So, how do we get in touch with him? I have a few that I could send out to see how I like his work.

 

Thanks,

 

-Doc

 

[Chris H]

In my internet wanderings I ran across Mike's website. Glad to hear the praise. I have a few pens I may be sending his way in the future.

 

Chris

 

 

[Cerbeos]

Great to hear your story! Just need to get to the point where I can buy pens that need fixed!!!!

 

Looks like website at MikeItWork.com and contact email mikeitwork@gmail.com

Edited February 7, 2009 by Cerbeos

[pen2paper]

after looking at your collection-(trying not to 'covet', that B&E is giving me trouble though;)-see this is high praise, indeed.

btw, have yet to see a Bexley in person-does the ball on the clip roll, or stationary? handsome pens.

nice website:) ever golfed the course Frankfurt MI? 1st tee view of Lake MI to your left, & Crystal Lake to your right.

[Bearcat]

after looking at your collection-(trying not to 'covet', that B&E is giving me trouble though;)-see this is high praise, indeed.

btw, have yet to see a Bexley in person-does the ball on the clip roll, or stationary? handsome pens.

nice website:) ever golfed the course Frankfurt MI? 1st tee view of Lake MI to your left, & Crystal Lake to your right.

 

You are talking about Crystal Downs, right?

 

[pen2paper]

after looking at your collection-(trying not to 'covet', that B&E is giving me trouble though;)-see this is high praise, indeed.

btw, have yet to see a Bexley in person-does the ball on the clip roll, or stationary? handsome pens.

nice website:) ever golfed the course Frankfurt MI? 1st tee view of Lake MI to your left, & Crystal Lake to your right.

 

You are talking about Crystal Downs, right?

 

you know-I don't recall-its been a few years since I visited there with a friend..breathtaking view..and not the only one on that course!

North of Frankfurt..

just looked on google maps-must be-the arial view doesn't do justice to the view at all but here's the link.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=michigan+map...=1&ct=title

[jkrewalk]

after looking at your collection-(trying not to 'covet', that B&E is giving me trouble though;)-see this is high praise, indeed.

btw, have yet to see a Bexley in person-does the ball on the clip roll, or stationary? handsome pens.

nice website:) ever golfed the course Frankfurt MI? 1st tee view of Lake MI to your left, & Crystal Lake to your right.

 

Thanks for the comments - yes the clip ball on Bexleys does roll - it is wonderfully smooth on your pockets!

 

Never had the pleasure of golfing in MI yet.

[JayLo]

I can echo John's comments. At last years L.A. Pen Show I ran into Mike. Within 15 minutes he had a troublesome Conklin working like it had never worked before. He is a marvelous craftsman.

[asimplemaestro]

Anyone have a writing sample?

[jdclarkson]

I've also sent Mike some pens and will do so again. He has re-ground some of my Pelikans to stubs, taken a Sheaffer Stub and made it better, fixed a pen that had an ink flow problem that two other experts just could not seem to fix. His turn around time is amazing. His communication is great. In fact, he has sent me drawings to explain what was wrong with my nib and what he did to make it better. So, not only did I get great-performing nibs, I got an education.

 

I'm pretty sure I started another thread about him months ago, but cannot seem to find it now. At any rate, I am picky, and I'd trust Mike with any nib I had.

[saltrupiano]

i went to the philly pen show and had michael masuyama work on 3 of my pens .one was an omas that i had already returned once to them in italy and waited 6 weeks to get it and i still was not happy (it was not as smooth as it could be ) michael did a very nice job on all 3 pens and i highly recommend him . he thoroughly explained what he was doing and was nice to deal with .his website is mikeitwork.com

[Pippin60]

Mike does some great work. He did work on a Namiki Falcon of mine at the NY/NJ pen show. The tines of the nib were misaligned and it needed some smoothing.

[bitterwonder]

I sent him my Sailor 1911 that never worked properly. I met Mr Masuyama at the Philly Pen show; he watched me use his Sailor.

 

I got my pen back inside of two weeks, yesterday I made good drawings with it.

For the first time in all the time I have owned that pen I finally am seeing what it is capable of doing.

 

I plan on sending my Namiki Falcon, which is another dissapointing pen (for me) to Mr Masuyama.

[jkrewalk]

So - Turnaround time is amazing and the quality is superb (even for super picky people like me and jdclarkson)- I guess the question is why should people wait months for other nibmeisters?

[jdclarkson]

Anyone have a writing sample?

 

 

I did this one quickly. It is a Pelikan M800 Broad that Mike stubbed for me. Caveat: I simply dipped the pen, so if the ink flow seems spotty, you'll know why. The example, though, gives you a good idea of line variation. When I actually fill the pen, it lays down a wet, even line with super thick and thin contrast. And, it is smooooooth!

 

 

Edited February 8, 2009 by jdclarkson

[n4souls]

Mike has done some work for me. I can just echo what has been said before, great work, fast, and attention to detail.

[Woody]

So - Turnaround time is amazing and the quality is superb (even for super picky people like me and jdclarkson)- I guess the question is why should people wait months for other nibmeisters?

 

 

That's because other nibmeisters do more than just nib work. Often times, a person sends a pen in for nib work and for restoration as well. If you look at Mike's site, you'll notice his only services listed are for nib work. It would make no sense for someone to send a pen to some other nibmeister for restoration, then turn and send that same pen to Mike to have the nib work done, when you could easily get the same nibmeister to restore your pen and adjuts/re-grind the nib to your liking.

[Pinmin]

Yes, indeed, Mike does an outstanding job, and, in addition, he is humble and a true gentleman.

[jkrewalk]

So - Turnaround time is amazing and the quality is superb (even for super picky people like me and jdclarkson)- I guess the question is why should people wait months for other nibmeisters?

 

 

That's because other nibmeisters do more than just nib work. Often times, a person sends a pen in for nib work and for restoration as well. If you look at Mike's site, you'll notice his only services listed are for nib work. It would make no sense for someone to send a pen to some other nibmeister for restoration, then turn and send that same pen to Mike to have the nib work done, when you could easily get the same nibmeister to restore your pen and adjuts/re-grind the nib to your liking.

 

I agree but respectfully submit that many FPN members who send their pens to nibmeisters do so for nib repair and customization. In fact the many posts I have read on FPN confirm this. Moreover, the huge waiting list at the Philly Pen Show I referred to in my posting was for nib work - not extensive restoration services.

 

So, my question could be made more specific: Why would you want to wait months for nib repair/customization when people like Mike are available who not only provides super results and high quality but also super turnaround times?

 

Keep in mind the title of this posting - we are talking about nibmeisters (hence nib services) specifically - not restoration masters which is an entirely different discipline.

Edited February 8, 2009 by jkrewalk