How I Make a Kitless Fountain Pen

[@DamianKaczor-p6q]

I was looking for this kind of video for, at least 3 years, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! for sharing your knowledge and experience. I'm TRULLY grateful! Greetings from Poland! (Europe :D )

[@maverickworkshop]

Glad you found it useful; planning on doing an update in the near future. -Jon

[@philipeverall6]

I've never thought to use a plug cutter for making accurate tenons. Absolute game-changer! thank you sir!

[@maverickworkshop]

Haha, keep it on the down low 😂 glad it helps. Took me a long time of looking around to find a simple consistent way.

[@natewarner359]

Nicely done

[@maverickworkshop]

Thank you!

[@jsibley0369]

Thank you very much I really enjoyed watching your video. I’m a designer and my father was a wood turner and I never learnt the skill. Typical teenager…. 🤔 I’m also mad about fountain pens and dream of making my own. Great music, too. A pleasure to watch.

[@maverickworkshop]

Thank you! It is a very engaging task (which I like). Hope you take the time to do it someday it’s very satisfying.

[@Cj12sings]

Thanks so much for illuminating the process..I have done kit pens, and seen folks use taps manually on a wood lathe. The metal lathe is next level and critical for consistency and repeatability....if you do another talking about the metal lathe and tools for threading, tenon cutting would be of great interest...Awesome video thanks for showing your process...live long and prosper..

[@maverickworkshop]

Hey there, I appreciate that. Some people are annoyed that I didn’t explain what I was doing 🤣. But I wasn’t trying to explain exactly what it was that I was doing…instead I was just sharing my process and the way that I do it. I have been doin live streams and I’ve really been enjoying it. So I will most likely continue doing them. I will try to be better about giving some more lead time before going live again. -Jon

[@Cj12sings]

@maverickworkshop yep no problem happy you filmed your process..it is a lot of work..I have made a lot of music videos to introduce people to.playing various folk instruments... so I really appreciate your efforts

[@RomantiCynic]

Beautiful pen! Fascinating to watch the process. Thanks!

[@maverickworkshop]

Thank you for watching. Glad you enjoyed it!

[@norm5785]

Very nicely made fountain pen. Thank you for sharing. From Henrico County Virginia

[@maverickworkshop]

You are welcome! Glad you enjoyed it. -Jon

[@Blazedandproud420]

Wow I'm so glad I found your channel hoping it grows and going to check out more of your videos! I'm a watchmaker but learned how to use a lathe for small parts and want to make bigger things like pens and chess pieces!! Really awesome stuff to see here

[@maverickworkshop]

I appreciate that! A chess set would be a really challenging project to enjoy forever. Watchmaking sounds fun, you must have some good eyes and steady hands. -Jon

[@mohangsk3759]

Very nicely done

[@maverickworkshop]

Thank you.

[@prabhakarpandey2610]

Well Explained sir.. please also plan a video for the machine and tools used in this video for making this pen

[@maverickworkshop]

Thank you, is there a specific tool or machine you were wanting me to talk about? 😃 -Jon

[@cursed_to_toil]

Hey, Man, great Pen! Thanks for the video!! I hope to be fully kit less one day lol. However, I did notice that your finishing process is fairly tedious! Mine is also but purely out of a spirit of exchange of expertise, I am curious if you have tried the wet sanding pads that go up to around 16,000 grit? I use them on all my pens and with a good sanding technique, the only polishing I do at the end is a single application of Meguiars Ultimate Car compound. It works wonders on acrylic and reliable gives you a glass finish every time. Not to mention that the pads last forever (As long as you dont sand metal or raw wood lol) and a big bottle of meguiars is only $11, it is a very inexpensive method and outshines every other technique I have tried including the graded compounds and paper applications. Regardless though, everything about your video was a pleasant experience! Great Job Sir!!!

[@maverickworkshop]

Thank you! I have the micro mesh pads and that goes to a very high grit. The way we do it now is buying large sheets of wet/dry sand paper and cut it to size. You are not wrong about it being tedious though. Acrylic is a harder material than most resins including the one we use, Alumilite, so it has some pros and cons as does everything. Thanks for the input. Have a good day, Jon

[@RJBWoodTurner]

Great job with the pen. Regards, Bob

[@maverickworkshop]

Thank you very much. It means a lot coming from an accomplished pen turner like you Bob. -Jon

[@RJBWoodTurner]

Don’t give me to much credit, I’m learning too. 😀

[@HugeElvis2022]

I’m a bit late, but just getting started with kitless pens. Did you make your own mandrels or buy them. If bought, can you add link. Thanks. Also, great video. One of the better ones I’ve seen.

[@maverickworkshop]

No worries! This is the best rabbit hole in my opinion. The ones you see that are brass are from turners warehouse. And the one for the section I made. Be sure to take a look at my live streams. -Jon

[@emiliobergasa]

Hermoso trabajo. Muy buenas herramientas

[@maverickworkshop]

Thank you.

[@gbapier1]

Hey maverick you just gain one new subscriber love the work you just did… I was afraid to use tap and die while lathe is running but you just change my view May I know which metal lather you using if you don’t mind me asking💪🏾👍🏾💪🏾✌🏾 Keep the good work 👍🏾👍🏾

[@maverickworkshop]

Awesome! Thank you, the metal lathe I am using is a hi torque 7x16” metal lathe from little machine shop. It’s been a good machine and I have not had any issues with it in the few years I have had it but I mostly use it for resin.

[@MaxScheler-nh6py]

Ok,I found the Video with sanding and polishing: Can you also list the sanding grits and polishing fluids please?

[@maverickworkshop]

Glad you found it, there might be an upcoming video just for sanding. On pretty much all plastics I use a total of 8 grits for wet sanding from 240-2500. When it comes to wood or hybrid the process is a bit different. The polishing paste is called magic juice and it is a 6 step. -Jon

[@MaxScheler-nh6py]

@@maverickworkshop Great: I‘m waiting! Thanks for answer and upcoming help 😉🤝🏻

[@Shortychokes]

Was that a plug cutter for you used at the 4 minute mark? First time I’ve seen that.

[@maverickworkshop]

Indeed, doesn’t make it a perfect diameter but it’ll get you in the ballpark. Never seen anyone use it for that either.

[@sajikumarsivanandan9776]

Jon, Thanks for sharing. You are a very systematic person, and have unique ways of doing things. . Btw, what is the tool you used for tenon cutting (barrel and section). -saji

[@maverickworkshop]

You are welcome!! I appreciate it, there are quite a few steps to the whole process and making the process your own is something that I really enjoy about making pens. I plan on making a video going over the items I use.

[@kevinzogg3331]

I would love to hear about the tooling and materials you use. Did you make your own mandrels? Thanks for the video!

[@maverickworkshop]

@@kevinzogg3331 I can definitely arrange that. I hope to have a more detailed video about that in the near future. -Jon

[@jay-in-az]

What brand metal lathe?

[@maverickworkshop]

Hello there, the metal lathe is a Little Machine Shop 7350 Hitorque Mini Lathe.

[@derekdd5229]

I know elapsed time is only 26 minutes but how long does it take you start to finish with this process? That metal lathe really seems to speed things up. Thanks!

[@maverickworkshop]

Thanks for watching, there are definitely advantages to having a metal lathe…I started on just a wood lathe and the time difference is not huge(when you have a process). Each pen takes about 1-1.5hrs doing them one at a time, goes down a little when doing batches of 3-5. -Jon

[@jen7662]

Would this be the same process is you’re making a kitless bespoke wooden fountain pen?

[@maverickworkshop]

Hello, thank you for watching! When working with wood and making it kitless; wood does not thread very well with a tap and die set. The other aspect is that wood will absorb the ink and swell. For these reasons people ‘sleeve’ (line) the material, which is more complicated but a similar process. -Jon

[@jen7662]

@@maverickworkshop thanks for the response. I was thinking about how well wood would be for an inkdropper…

[@Mark_L]

Just music?

[@maverickworkshop]

For this video yes, the plan was just to show my process step by step. I intend on explaining each step in the near future. Thanks for watching! -Jon