About Our Pens

So you've decided on a pen, but now you have so many questions! What's it weigh? how long is it? What are the different materials? How do you decide? I hope this page helps add some clarity to your purchase questions!

First, lets break down the anatomy of a pen. Bolt action pens are made up of a few simple parts. 

• Body
• Tip
• Bolt
• Bolt Pin
• Top Cap
• Clip
• Refill
• Spring

See the picture below to see how they all fit together.

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For our pens, you can get almost every part customized in some way or another, from material, to milling, to finish. Keep reading to get a feel for the level of customization possible. 

1) Body

The body is the heart of the pen. All of our pens share the same body length, which is somewhat unique in the machined pen world. Most other pens use the body length to accommodate the refill, whereas we do it with the tip. The main advantage to this is that you can accommodate many different refills without needing to change the most expensive component of the pen. 

The body of the pen is what determines the mode. You can see all the different designs available throughout my site. Other than the Plain Jane, these are designs are all 4 and 5 axis milled into the pen body. 

The pen body can come in various materials as well. Titanium is the typical default, but you can also get most designs in more exotic materials: Zirconium, Mokume, Copper, Damascus, Titanium Damascus, and even really rare materials like Superconductor, Meteorite, and Tantalum. 

Certain materials like titanium and zirconium can be further customized via anodization, a chemical process where an oxide is grown on the metal to give it a color. These colors will vary depending on the material, but you can get deep purples and blues, to golds, pinks, teals, and even bright green. Copper can be shipwrecked – a process of forcing a patina onto the copper that gives it green and blue hues. There are a variety of other finishes available on the site, as well. Titanium can be blasted or stonewashed to give a darker, more durable finish. Many materials can be polished.

2) Tip

The tip is the second most important part of the pen. The tip defines your refill for the pen, sets the length of pen, and can really change the look of the finished build. 

Tips come in 2 lengths, full size and Parker. Full size tips will fit full size refills like Pilot G2, Pentel Energel, and Uniball Signo. Parker will fit the ISO-G2 or Parker size refills. These are 1/2" shorter in length, but typically come in a wider variety of types of ink, color, line width, etc, than full size refills. You can also use an adapter to use a Parker length refill with a full size tip. 

Tips can also include some milling. This not only enhances the look but also can add various levels of grip. You can find all the different variations here. 

Tips also come in almost all of the same materials as the body, with the same further anodizing customization. 

3) Bolt

The bolt is what moves the refill in the pen to extend or retract the refill nib. It’s visible through the bolt pin channel in the body, so it can be customized to match or contrast with the body using the different materials listed above (titanium, copper, zirconium, etc.). It can also be finished by anodization or other finishing options, depending on the material.

4) Bolt Pin

The bolt pin is your lever to actuate the pen and begin writing. It screws into the bolt and moves the refill against the spring on the other end of the pen to release the nib from the tip. Like every other part of a Q3D pen, it can be customized by material and finishes. I have made bolt pins from titanium, copper, zirconium, Timascus, Damascus, and potentially other materials in the future. I sell bolt pins as part of a Bolt Action Accent Kit, which includes a bolt pin, top cap, pen tip, and optional bolt.                                                                                                         

 5) Top Cap

The top cap screws into the top of the body of the pen and holds the clip in place. Like the bolt pin, the top cap can be made out of the same available materials and can take any of the available finishes.

 6) Clip

The clip is what keeps the pen in your pocket. Some people prefer no clip, and Q3D pens work perfectly well without a clip. The bolt pin even stops the pen from rolling away on your desk. But for the rest of us, I offer two clip options. All pens come by default with a formed, titanium clip that gives great retention. Or, you can upgrade to a stream-lined machined clip made of titanium, zirconium, or copper-plated titanium.

 7) Refill

If the body is the heart of the pen, then the refill provides the blood. The ink you use provides the rest of the writing experience, so we pick refills carefully. All Q3D pens comes with either a Monteverde P42 in blue-black, or with a Pilot G2 0.7 Black, depending on the size of the tip. You can always use your preferred refill of the correct size, as well. Full size refills that fit include all Pilot G2 refills, Pilot Juice, Pilot Juice Up, Uniball Signo, and Pentel Energel. The Parker-size tip will allow for ISO-G2 refills, like the included Monteverde P42 or P41, Parker Quink, Schmidt Easyflow 9000, and others.                                                                                                                                     

 8) Spring

The spring provides the tension for the bolt action. I use specially-selected springs fine-tuned to provide optimum tension for the pens I make. The same spring will work with either size tip. If you need a new spring, I sell them in the Accessories section of the site. I also provide a small spring retainer for Parker refills that helps keep everything in place while still leaving room in the tip for larger-sized refills when desired.

 

Dimensions

Diameter: Each pen is 10mm in diameter, but depending on the milling, can feel smaller.

Length: A full size pen is 142mm, and a Parker size is 129mm.                                                                    

Weight: A full size pen in titanium is about 1.1oz, while a Parker size pen is 1 oz. A copper pen is about 2. A pen with a zirconium body, zirconium accent kit, and zirconium clip is 1.4 oz. Exotics will vary in weight depending on the material—e.g., a mokume pen with mokume tip and bolt pin and titanium clip, bolt, and top cap is 1.7 oz.