After seeing some very nice examples of this “Bamboo” pen by Ken Cavers, I knew I wanted one. It took me a while to finally decide ti contact the good doctor and place my order. The hardest part of the whole ordering process was deciding what material the pen should be made of. After a few emails back and forth, the order was complete. I thought deciding what material to chose was the hard part. It’s not. Waiting was the hardest part. You see, these pens have become popular and Ken has a long waiting list of orders to fill. Add in the fact that pen making is not Ken’s day job (He is a real doctor) and that equals a 6 month wait list. Fortunately, I did not have to wait that long. It was more like three or four months, I don’t remember exactly now but it was worth the wait.
The pen is done in what Ken calls Red and Black acrylic. It has a fiery look to it that is really cool. Being a Fountain Pen Sith Lord, I renamed the pen material, “The Fires of Mustafar”.
Capped the pen is very large. It clocks in at just under 6 inches or 151 mm. Without the cap, it measures 132 mm. You cannot post the cap. I am okay with that as I rarely post my pens. The pen is perfectly sized for my hand without the cap anyway. The section, at the thinnest point measures 10.3 mm and 17.7 mm at the thickest point of the barrel. The slightly hour glass shapped section makes it very comfortable to hold. While there is a step down from the barrel to the section, it is high enough on the section that it is not an issue. (Just a note on measurements, I just bought some calipers so the measurements differ from my written review and this typed review).
The two tone, steel, 1.1 mm stub nib has been smoothed by Ken and this is super smooth! I believe it is a JOWO nib.
The filling system is cartridge converter and with a little silicone grease this could easily be turned into an eyedropper filler. I am not sure how much ink it could hold but it looks like it can hold a sizable amount. The converter is a bit larger than what I am used to so it holds enough ink for me. Please keep in mind I like to say I have ink ADD. This is taking into account the wet flowing 1.1 mm nib.
If you want a custom pen at a good price, don’t hesitate to contact Ken, it will definitely be worth it!
Thank you for reading.
Ivan
The Fountain Pen Sith Lord.
Inktronics 
Great review and photos of a fantastic looking pen. The glass beads are a nice touch. The material you selected looks truly gorgeous however I think you should be using a red-black or some sort of brown ink in it.
The nib looks impressive an shows a nice line with your writing. Congratulations on the pen it certainly looks well worth the wait and appears beautifully crafted.
Thank you Bogon, I do see your point about the ink. I want to put a Montblanc Toffee Brown in it but I have to buy a bottle first. Omas Blue is my standard ink at work and is what goes into just about any pen I get since it is handy.
Great job Ken!
And great review Ivan!
I really agree that choosing the material is the hardest part.
Thank you. 🙂
Thanks for the kind words, and for the useful feedback, Darth Ivan!
Ken
Anytime!
I stared at this page for awhile, just drooling over the pictures. That is a gorgeous pen. Truly a treat for the eyes! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Thank you for the kind words!
I don’t want to be crass but a reasonable price would be what? If you don’t mind sharing this info. Thanks, Shirl
Hi Shirley, not crass at all. This is directly form the email exchange Ken and I had when I purchased this pen, “My usual cost for a Bamboo style in acrylic is $125 plus shipping ($15), so $140.” Yes, I know that may sound like a lot. Once you factor in that this is a custom pen, hand turned, also with a tuned nib, It is very reasonable once you start comparing prices of the same type of work. The somewhat mass produced Edison production line pens are going to be $150 plus shipping. The nibs are not tuned to the level that Ken is tuning his nibs. To get something from Edison in around the same league, you are looking at well above $200. Newton pens are hand turned and I think he tunes his nibs too but I cannot verify this, they start at $150.
Thank you, that sounds much more reasonable than I expected, Shirl