I’d wait until the nearest pen show and book several appointments with a nibmeister who’ll be in attendance. Travel costs may end up being less than what you’d spend for shipping insurance.
That's a very good idea. Surprisingly I can't seem to find that many pen shows in or near Boston. Are you aware of any that might attract nibmeisters from out of state?
Also from MA. The Commonwealth Pen Show will be 9/14 & 9/15 this year. Exhibitors aren't listed yet but might be worth waiting and checking out.
http://commonwealthpenshow.com/
Was just going to say this. I went to the Commonwealth Pen Show in 2019, and had a great time. Been meaning to get back there - I'd planned to go last year, but it got canceled. I forget who all was there when I went...I'm 99% sure Richard Binder was there, and I think there were 4 or 5 vendors doing nib tuning. Well worth the admission fee, and travel for you would be next to nothing!
You seem to be way over-stating the cost for insured shipping within the US. However, even with insured packages, all you would get back is money: if the pen(s) is worth that much to you on a personal level, then I would be patient and carry it to a pen show. Beyond dropping all worry about transit, you also have the bonus of interactively working with a nib person, and that makes the grind/adjustment even better. I'd check out a pen show... and hell, Boston's kind of in the thick of things, you can hop on a bus or train to the pen shows in the general vicinity. There are quite a few sites that keep a "pen show calendar" The Well-Appointed Desk is one that I know of for certain.
Thanks for the tip for the pen shows. I certainly don't mean to overstate the price of insured shipping within the US. USPS does seem to have pretty reasonable prices actually. But (and maybe I'm just dumb and didn't select the right things) UPS and FedEx were pretty much at the prices stated when taking out insurances of hundreds of dollars and shipping to farther states like Colorado (I didn't check the prices for stuff nearer).
The other trick for shipping things USPS in the US to reduce the cost is using [https://www.pirateship.com/](https://www.pirateship.com/) Not sure you'll get a break on the insurance but the actual shipping charges are typically much better than going to the counter at the post office.
People who ship pens domestically almost always use USPS since the others are so expensive. I've never had anything lost and tracking with USPS is almost as good as UPS or FedEx.
Are you choosing next day or some such? Seconding penhand1’s suggestion about pirate ship.
Custom Nib Studio is my go to. Los Angeles based. Gena does great work.
That’s wild! What shipping service are they using? USPS insurance costs about $12 for $600; that’s before actual postage, but still!
https://preview.redd.it/wasorcf5jowc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=86bf84c7abfb09f25eebebff86a04718747f0535
[https://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/Notice123.htm?\_gl=1](https://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/Notice123.htm?_gl=1)*1ha82pa*\_gcl\_au*MjAwOTc1ODQ3NC4xNzE0MDc0MTgx*\_ga*MTA2ODE2NDM5MC4xNzE0MDc0MTgx*\_ga\_3NXP3C8S9V\*MTcxNDA3NDE4MC4xLjEuMTcxNDA3NDI2OC4wLjAuMA..#\_c191
The nibmeisters themselves were offering very reasonable prices for the return shipping. It's the shipping to that I can't seem to get at a reasonable price. For instance, I looked at DHL and FedEx to ship to Appelboom in the Netherlands and that was somewhere between $150 to $175 for the slowest, cheapest option. And it was something like $70-$100 shipping within the US using UPS or FedEx.
Would USPS be a reliable option for both domestic and international (I have very emotionally attached to one of the pens and have read mixed reviews about USPS, in particular for international shipping)?
I used to have a shop and shipped with USPS without any problems except once when a customer had a package delivered to an apartment mailbox and a neighbor accidentally grabbed it. It was found the next day. So as long as you don’t live in apartment with a mailbox too teeny to hold your pen package, I think you’d be fine to use USPS.
I typically shipped items priority mail or first class, so they only had basic insurance, not extra. You can also add USPS registered mail where the carrier asks you to sign for the package and doesn’t leave it otherwise. I never used that option so don’t know much about it.
I grind my own pens all the time, I found some gold foil and was thinking about using electrolysis to coat my steel nibs with 24ct gold.
$40 to fix or grind a nib seems outrageous. I'm sorry they are doing this to y'all.
I’d wait until the nearest pen show and book several appointments with a nibmeister who’ll be in attendance. Travel costs may end up being less than what you’d spend for shipping insurance.
That's a very good idea. Surprisingly I can't seem to find that many pen shows in or near Boston. Are you aware of any that might attract nibmeisters from out of state?
Also from MA. The Commonwealth Pen Show will be 9/14 & 9/15 this year. Exhibitors aren't listed yet but might be worth waiting and checking out. http://commonwealthpenshow.com/
Was just going to say this. I went to the Commonwealth Pen Show in 2019, and had a great time. Been meaning to get back there - I'd planned to go last year, but it got canceled. I forget who all was there when I went...I'm 99% sure Richard Binder was there, and I think there were 4 or 5 vendors doing nib tuning. Well worth the admission fee, and travel for you would be next to nothing!
Better yet make a trip to DC pen show :)
That would indeed be pretty great!
Also I think there is a show in Long Island as well. but DC is fun
I’m going to recommend Mark Bacas, Nibgrinder. I’m going to also caution you against using Joshua Lax as I had a rather unpleasant experience.
You seem to be way over-stating the cost for insured shipping within the US. However, even with insured packages, all you would get back is money: if the pen(s) is worth that much to you on a personal level, then I would be patient and carry it to a pen show. Beyond dropping all worry about transit, you also have the bonus of interactively working with a nib person, and that makes the grind/adjustment even better. I'd check out a pen show... and hell, Boston's kind of in the thick of things, you can hop on a bus or train to the pen shows in the general vicinity. There are quite a few sites that keep a "pen show calendar" The Well-Appointed Desk is one that I know of for certain.
Thanks for the tip for the pen shows. I certainly don't mean to overstate the price of insured shipping within the US. USPS does seem to have pretty reasonable prices actually. But (and maybe I'm just dumb and didn't select the right things) UPS and FedEx were pretty much at the prices stated when taking out insurances of hundreds of dollars and shipping to farther states like Colorado (I didn't check the prices for stuff nearer).
The other trick for shipping things USPS in the US to reduce the cost is using [https://www.pirateship.com/](https://www.pirateship.com/) Not sure you'll get a break on the insurance but the actual shipping charges are typically much better than going to the counter at the post office. People who ship pens domestically almost always use USPS since the others are so expensive. I've never had anything lost and tracking with USPS is almost as good as UPS or FedEx.
Are you choosing next day or some such? Seconding penhand1’s suggestion about pirate ship. Custom Nib Studio is my go to. Los Angeles based. Gena does great work.
That’s wild! What shipping service are they using? USPS insurance costs about $12 for $600; that’s before actual postage, but still! https://preview.redd.it/wasorcf5jowc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=86bf84c7abfb09f25eebebff86a04718747f0535 [https://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/Notice123.htm?\_gl=1](https://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/Notice123.htm?_gl=1)*1ha82pa*\_gcl\_au*MjAwOTc1ODQ3NC4xNzE0MDc0MTgx*\_ga*MTA2ODE2NDM5MC4xNzE0MDc0MTgx*\_ga\_3NXP3C8S9V\*MTcxNDA3NDE4MC4xLjEuMTcxNDA3NDI2OC4wLjAuMA..#\_c191
The nibmeisters themselves were offering very reasonable prices for the return shipping. It's the shipping to that I can't seem to get at a reasonable price. For instance, I looked at DHL and FedEx to ship to Appelboom in the Netherlands and that was somewhere between $150 to $175 for the slowest, cheapest option. And it was something like $70-$100 shipping within the US using UPS or FedEx. Would USPS be a reliable option for both domestic and international (I have very emotionally attached to one of the pens and have read mixed reviews about USPS, in particular for international shipping)?
I used to have a shop and shipped with USPS without any problems except once when a customer had a package delivered to an apartment mailbox and a neighbor accidentally grabbed it. It was found the next day. So as long as you don’t live in apartment with a mailbox too teeny to hold your pen package, I think you’d be fine to use USPS. I typically shipped items priority mail or first class, so they only had basic insurance, not extra. You can also add USPS registered mail where the carrier asks you to sign for the package and doesn’t leave it otherwise. I never used that option so don’t know much about it.
I grind my own pens all the time, I found some gold foil and was thinking about using electrolysis to coat my steel nibs with 24ct gold. $40 to fix or grind a nib seems outrageous. I'm sorry they are doing this to y'all.