Hi Badger and Bladers!
This is Brian Gray with the Edison Pen Company.
I thought that I'd start this thread for a couple of reasons.
One is to have a place to put progress photos and videos for the newly announced Badger and Blade Glenmont LE Pen.
When building this pen, I'm going to document the entire process here in this thread. I'll take photos daily throughout the process, and post them here when appropriate.
Literally....when I start on the project, I'll post a photo of a pile of raw ebonite on my bench. Then at the end, I'll post photos of finished pens in a nice row. And, of course, everything in between.
So the schedule is to start in late-August, early-September once orders are finalized and my materials are here from Germany. At that time, I'll start documenting.
Until then, I thought that I'd take a minute to introduce myself.
I've been making pens off and on for a bit more than 15 years. About 10 years ago, I started a small website, which gave me some part-time income, and provided lots of fun. I did pharmaceutical sales since college, and loved it until around 2004-2005, when it just became super-stressful. Lots of changes. I went through 3 lay-offs in three years. With the third layoff, I said "heck with this", and tried my luck at making pens full time.
Well, good things happen when you work hard, and I've never been happier since this decision to do this full time. It's been just myself and my wife up until this year, when we brought in a part-time employee to help out with loose ends that we have trouble tying up, and we're starting to fill her schedule to where perhaps we can use her full time.
My interest in pens covers the entire gambit. I really love vintage pens, especially flexible Watermans and Swans. I'm also a big fan of early Eversharps. The Snorkel is a wonder of engineering. With Modern pens, I really like what Bexley is doing, along with Dani Trio, Nakaya and Franklin-Christoph, among others. I'm a huge fan of Urushi when I can afford them, or work out a trade.. And then there's nothing at all wrong with very simple Lamy Safaris or Vistas, which are all over my shop. Nothing wrong with a cheap pen and a good steel nib!
So that's my pen background. If anyone has any questions about Edison or pens in general, let me know.
On a personal note, my wife and I have boy who will turn 6 very soon. During the summer, he spends a lot of time out in the shop while we do our thing. He really loves fountain pens. He has his collection of Franken-pens (basically a bunch of mismatched parts thrown together to make a pen), and he also has some pretty special ones which stay in a nice presentation box of his. He LOVES writing secret notes with Noodler's Blue Ghost!
I do have a little background in wetshaving. When I worked for Merck, I used a safety razor and a brush. But doing pens full time, I fall into a habit of only shaving when my whiskers are really itching me! And I've found the safety to be a little more difficult with lots of whiskers. I've recently used a beard trimmer to knock the whiskers back some prior to shaving, and this makes it a lot easier.
I've been lurking around the forum since The Nib started, and I've thrown in a couple of comments here and there. I'll be more active, and maybe you guys can spark me back into wetshaving!
Thanks for allowing me to present you guys with a nice LE pen, and for having a nice forum....I'm not sure if you guys realize this, but this is now probably the second busiest pen forum on the net in only a couple months! Wow!
I'll enjoy spending more time here on your little corner of cyberspace....but if any of you are ever coming through northern Ohio, I welcome visitors!
Brian Gray
This is Brian Gray with the Edison Pen Company.
I thought that I'd start this thread for a couple of reasons.
One is to have a place to put progress photos and videos for the newly announced Badger and Blade Glenmont LE Pen.
When building this pen, I'm going to document the entire process here in this thread. I'll take photos daily throughout the process, and post them here when appropriate.
Literally....when I start on the project, I'll post a photo of a pile of raw ebonite on my bench. Then at the end, I'll post photos of finished pens in a nice row. And, of course, everything in between.
So the schedule is to start in late-August, early-September once orders are finalized and my materials are here from Germany. At that time, I'll start documenting.
Until then, I thought that I'd take a minute to introduce myself.
I've been making pens off and on for a bit more than 15 years. About 10 years ago, I started a small website, which gave me some part-time income, and provided lots of fun. I did pharmaceutical sales since college, and loved it until around 2004-2005, when it just became super-stressful. Lots of changes. I went through 3 lay-offs in three years. With the third layoff, I said "heck with this", and tried my luck at making pens full time.
Well, good things happen when you work hard, and I've never been happier since this decision to do this full time. It's been just myself and my wife up until this year, when we brought in a part-time employee to help out with loose ends that we have trouble tying up, and we're starting to fill her schedule to where perhaps we can use her full time.
My interest in pens covers the entire gambit. I really love vintage pens, especially flexible Watermans and Swans. I'm also a big fan of early Eversharps. The Snorkel is a wonder of engineering. With Modern pens, I really like what Bexley is doing, along with Dani Trio, Nakaya and Franklin-Christoph, among others. I'm a huge fan of Urushi when I can afford them, or work out a trade.. And then there's nothing at all wrong with very simple Lamy Safaris or Vistas, which are all over my shop. Nothing wrong with a cheap pen and a good steel nib!
So that's my pen background. If anyone has any questions about Edison or pens in general, let me know.
On a personal note, my wife and I have boy who will turn 6 very soon. During the summer, he spends a lot of time out in the shop while we do our thing. He really loves fountain pens. He has his collection of Franken-pens (basically a bunch of mismatched parts thrown together to make a pen), and he also has some pretty special ones which stay in a nice presentation box of his. He LOVES writing secret notes with Noodler's Blue Ghost!
I do have a little background in wetshaving. When I worked for Merck, I used a safety razor and a brush. But doing pens full time, I fall into a habit of only shaving when my whiskers are really itching me! And I've found the safety to be a little more difficult with lots of whiskers. I've recently used a beard trimmer to knock the whiskers back some prior to shaving, and this makes it a lot easier.
I've been lurking around the forum since The Nib started, and I've thrown in a couple of comments here and there. I'll be more active, and maybe you guys can spark me back into wetshaving!
Thanks for allowing me to present you guys with a nice LE pen, and for having a nice forum....I'm not sure if you guys realize this, but this is now probably the second busiest pen forum on the net in only a couple months! Wow!
I'll enjoy spending more time here on your little corner of cyberspace....but if any of you are ever coming through northern Ohio, I welcome visitors!
Brian Gray
