Tutorial: How to package/box a pen for shipping

I posted this tutorial on my other blog The Repairer's Bench, but I thought I'd share it here too. Mostly since my other blog is still in the beginning stages, and I wanted to make sure that the video got some publicity, being I put so much time into it. :) Anyways, here goes:

Finally, another video tutorial!

It's been a while since I've made on of these. But I finally got around to making this one.

In this video I will explain my preferred method for packaging a pen, so it arrives safely at it's destination. Enjoy!

Some final thoughts for you:

PVC: I do not recommend using PVC to ship pens in. A pen that is packaged as shown above is plenty protected from drops, and crushing blows to the box. PVC simply adds bulk to the package. Also, in international shipments, PVC can actually be mistaken for an explosive device while going through an x-ray machine. Not good. :)

Shipping pens in manufacturers boxes: Another method I highly advise against. Shipping a pen in it's original case is usually very uneconomical, as the boxes that manufacturers use are for looks, and not for efficiency. Often times the require up to twice as much postage to return, because of the huge sized boxes they require. Aside from that, I also feel that manufacturers boxes are not very secure for the pens. They normally allow the pen to jostle around, and I feel that is not a good thing...

You can get these boxes for free, and they come in many different sizes. Just go to your local post office, and ask for some. They'll be happy to give you a few, or a bunch! You can also have them delivered right to your door for free. Just visit USPS.com. Make an account there too while you're at it. Making an account presents the following benefits:

• Your address is saved, thus eliminated the need to type in a return address every time you print a label.
• You can save frequently used addresses to your account-address book, for quick access.
• You an order boxes online and have them shipped to your door, free of charge.

You can ship these boxes via the following two methods:

• You can have your local postman pick them up!
• You can simply drop the off at the PO - what I always do.

I believe there might be a way to drop these off in a USPS drop box, but I'm not sure. I will ask my local PO lady, and I'll report back here when I find out.

Once again, I hope you enjoyed the video. Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think. I would love to hear your suggestions and opinions!

Regards,
Tyler Dahl

Mobile users rejoice! And I need some help... :)

I've got a fairly exciting announcement for all of you mobile users of my main website. I am creating a mobile format, for anyone with a Smartphone, iPhone, iPod Touch, Blackberry, etc.

It's going to be a LOT more easily accessible than the current website layout, which is not suited to a mobile user in any way.

It will have most of the features of the main website, but will be more streamlined, and less "texty/bulky". Descriptions will be a bit shorter, and not quite as many photos will be used. It's going to be good.


But, I need some volunteers! I need a few select people, who will be willing to test a beta-version of the mobile site, before it goes live.


I'll need at least one iPhone user, one Blackberry user, and a few assorted phone users with internet capabilities.

If you'd like to be in on this, email me, and I will get you the link to the mobile site.

My only conditions are that you must be willing to really try the website out, and check for errors. Nothing complex - just browse around, and enjoy. Make sure it fits in your screen well, the text is well sized, the pictures are proportioned correctly, etc. If you run into any errors, email me, and take a screenshot if you can.

I am looking forward to how this will turn out. I think it will make mobile browsing of the site much easier.

Some of you may be wondering why I decided to make a mobile version of the site. It's a good question, and I think a good answer is in order:

In this day and age of technology, mobile browsing is no longer something we have to do when we can't access a full computer. In many cases, it's becoming the preferred method of internet access, most particularly in the social networking circle.

Though the exact number isn't known, it's estimated that about 1/3 of America's population uses a mobile device to access the internet, on a regular basis. That's a LOT of people! And with that much usage of mobile browsers, the demand for compatible sites has risen.

Now, the other reason for a mobile site, aside from just being "the thing to do", is the convenience of it. If you're on the train, waiting, with nothing to do, and you've been thinking about those pens sitting in your drawer, broken for a year - you might be in the mood to go check out that one repairer's site again. The ability to easily navigate the website, without going through hoops of fire, means a more pleasant user experience. And I do love making things easy, and enjoyable for people. :)

So, that's the basic concept of it. I'm creating a mobile site to grant easy and convenient access to anyone who wishes to browse my website "on the go".

Again, I do need some kind volunteers, who are willing to commit a very small amount of time to browsing the mobile site, and reporting any bugs. If you're interested, send me an email! :)

Aside from that, look forward to the site going live in about 1-2 months, or sooner.

Regards,
Tyler Dahl

Pen review - Pilot Vanishing Point!

Yes! Time for another pen review! I love reviewing pens... :)


The star of today's review is the Pilot Vanishing Point. If you've been into fountain pens for even a short amount of time, you will probably recognize this name. This is a VERY popular pen, and for good reason!


The Pilot Vanishing Point is all about convenience, and ease of use. It's not marketed as a luxury pen, or a pen made for looks. It's marketed instead, as a pen that is built with the user in mind. It is designed around the task of writing on the go.


As we dive into this review, we'll hit on 5 categories. Each one will be scored on in two ways, on a scale of 1/100. It will be scored on both: 1) How it stacks up against pens in the same price range. And 2) How it compares to perfection. The reason for these rankings is to show how good the pen is, and how good it could be. There is no such thing as a perfect pen, and compared to perfection, even the best pens can fall short. Still this scoring method shows what could be improved upon the design, and points out things that you might not like about it. The method of ranking the pen against similar pens in it's price-range helps to identify what you get for your money, and shows off the good features of the pen. I hope that makes sense. Keep reading, and it will make even more sense as the review goes on.

The new website is up!

Well, after a long wait, and much anticipation, the new "official" website is up and running! It's been a huge process, and I have devoted much time to making this website function well. If you see any errors, or any mistakes, do me a huge favor and let me know.

And yes, to celebrate, a little photoshop-fun was in order. :)

This entire website was designed by me, from the ground up. I also did all of the photography and design illustrations for it. This website has been long in the making! It has taken me forever to find the time for it, but now that it's up, it's going to be a huge asset to me, and hopefully to you as well.

Let's do a quick run down of all the new features on the website:


- Services. I have updated my pen services, and organized them in a way that I think will be very useful. Each service has it's own respective page, that describes the cost, and what all is involved in the repair.

- Home page. The main page of the website will offer easy access to the 4 most-used pages. This will make it easy for new users to find what they're looking for. The 4 pages are:

1) Services
2) For sale - My monthly tray of vintage restored pens (see below for more details)
3) Sell your pens!
4) FAQ's

Let's go over the last three of these main-page categories real quick:

- Monthly tray of vintage restored pens! This is one that I have personally been looking forward to. I am opening up a web-based mini pen show, so to speak. You can read all the details on the page, so I won't go into them here, but I will say this - Make sure to check that page the first of every month! There will be a lot of AWESOME pens on there. This month (including November, since October is almost over) we've got some great ones including:

- Parker 51 Half Demonstrator - vacumatic - factory B nib!
- Parker 51 Aero - 1.3mm Minuskin re-tipped nib!
- Esterbrook Dollar pen - 2314F fine stub nib
- sheaffer Touchdown Valiant in Burnt Umber brown - very smooth XF nib

Overall there are 12 pens + 1 extra this month, and all of them are fabulous!

- Sell your pens! Now you can get rid of your space-stealing old junkers! I will buy almost any vintage (and/or modern) pen you can think of, and for a fair price too. Make me an offer. :)

- FAQ's. This is a very important new feature. This extensive list of FAQ's will always be growing, as I add to it over the next few years and decades. If you want to see something on there, I am fully open to suggestions!




As for now, those are all the "new" and "fancy" features that I've integrated into the website. I hope you will have pleasant time browsing around and getting used to the new layout.

Again, please let me know if something goes wrong - dead link, glitchy layout, etc. Reporting problems like this helps me to quickly identify the problem, and fix it!

I look forward to future updates, and working with the new website in general. It's definitely a huge improvement over the last blog-site that I was using. :)

Regards,
Tyler Dahl