Pen maker laser engraver

a way to burn logos or words onto handmade pens

Who

There are thousands of handmade pen makers in North America. Check out suppliers like Penn State Industries for an example of this product. I have been making pens for 25 years, and would love to be able to easily add some sort of etching to them. My name as the maker/the recipient name/corporate logo/etc could easily be laser etched onto the pen. There are laser units available but they are very expensive and clunky, not geared for the average basement maker. No basement maker is going to spend thousands of dollars to buy a commercial laser unit. If there was something that was small and cost effective I’d bet thousands of these units would fly out of the warehouse.

What

develop a small pen specific laser etching unit.

How

every maker could easily add their name of the name of the recipient, or a company logo for bulk orders. For example, I made 25 pens for a tennis club out of some of the wood from a club renovation. These were given to senior management and suppliers, but would have been so much more meaningful if they had the JTC logo on the cap.

Competitors

there are laser units but the small ones do not compensate for the curve of the pen and by the time I get to something that would do the job properly I am looking at thousands of dollars…..not going to happen when I am spending about $10 on making a pen. I’ve made about 1,000 pens in my time and given them all away except for some I make for a senior center which then sells them to raise money. So like most pen makers I do it for fun, a hobby and in relative anonymity. It would be nice to hide a small identifier under the clip for example so that in 100 years the pens I make would be identifiable as mine. Egotistical and crazy - but I’d bet all us makers think alike!