Behind the Scenes - 4/4/25

 

Dear Friends,

For those who are new to our emails, I try to do an email once a week where I go into the details of what is happening behind the scenes of our small business. If you want to catch up on prior messages, check out the blog here or just jump right into the story below.

So it's been two weeks without a behind the scenes, and I'm sure some of you may be wondering what happened. Well it is the all metal pen I'm working on (as it always is). The reality of my role is that I have to wear a lot of hats. From core functions like figuring out our overall strategy, to little daily things like helping answer customer service things, my day is filled with one fire after another.

However, on some rare occasions, with excellent planning and some Divine Providence, I do get to have big blocks of time to work on specific projects. The last two weeks have been some of that time, and I've been diving into the project with intense focus. Time often gets away from me during these bouts, and the progress is so great that it's hard to tear myself away from the work to do anything else.

So what happened?

Well I finally had gotten all the components in place to begin running prototypes with our ceramic internal coating. This was designed to help ensure that the mechanism could run smoothly for decades even without any lubrication (because who wants to have to oil their pen) and still hold up well.

For those acquainted with firearms and automotive applications, Cerakote is know for being one of the best surface coatings you can use for intense applications. Now, one would be hard pressed to describe the internal mechanisms of a small pen as "intense" but I have always been a fan of overkill when it comes to these types of things. So I had setup the operations needed for proper Cerakote application.

It functions like a two part resin that cures chemically to a hard ceramic and is sprayed on like an aerosolized paint. To properly adhere to the surface, the material must be sandblasted with a specific medium to achieve a particular surface finish. This process is made more complicated by the fact that everything is internal to the design.

Well after a long two days of work, I finally was confident that the Cerakote was not going to work...

Thankfully the setup isn't going to waste. We can still eventually use it to offer external color options for the pen if we want to, but it was back to the drawing board on the design.

The simple matter is that the Cerakote can't really be applied to the internal mechanism without changing the tolerances too much and the slip fit on the surfaces is very precise. It also is impossible to consistently and correctly spray the inside of the cylinder, and I know if I kept pushing on this, we would end up with a product that wasn't reliable, which is unacceptable.

So what to do?

I often think about all the other things I would have enjoyed doing if I hadn't chose to do business. Engineering and practical manufacturing would be an obvious choice, but my older brother got there first and I'm not so great at second fiddle. Material Science would have been an awesome place for me though. The deeper I get into the world of machining, the more I realize that Material Science is just what Alchemy evolved into. Start with Iron, add a pinch of Chromium, Nickle, and Manganese with a hint of Phosphorous and some other bits and bobs and you have a material that can change the world. Mix it up a little differently, and it comes out with very different properties, from the way it rusts, to the way it cuts, to the way it bends... Everything.

With my new dilemma (well technically old dilemma) on the table, I decided to review the basics.

304 Stainless Steel is one of the best all around stainless steel products on the market. However, when two 304 SS metal pieces rub together they have some of the worst galling of any metal combination. Part of it is due to the durable, ductile nature of the material. When they rub together they don't chip or fracture, they smear. The structure of the metal means when they smear they actually cold weld to each other at a microscopic level. The metal atoms connect and can't tell what part they are supposed to be with due to the identical structure, and thus bond.

And then when you apply force again, the microscopic weld points break off and form a tiny dust (which tends to create more of this in an accelerating spiral). That dust eventually can stop up a mechanism.

So the simple answer I had been planning to use with the Cerakote was "the 304 stainless pieces never touch" and it was a good plan... until it wasn't.

It dawned on me as I thought through the problem that this is certainly not new, nor is it a unique problem to me. 304 stainless is one of the most common stainless steels used, so someone else had to have dealt with this.

Enter Nitronic 60...

Nitronic 60 is a very special stainless steel alloy. It was specifically engineered in the 1960-70s to solve galling, wear, and fretting issues, especially in stainless steel parts like valves and bushings without needing coatings. It has a comparable corrosion resistance to 304 Stainless Steel, and has a very high yield strength.

It also happens to be extremely expensive and very hard to machine... so it's exactly my kind of thing.

With the new material in mind, I began to rework the design to improve the galling resistance even more and in the end the new mechanism is incredible. Precision machine, burnished to a mirror finish internally, with sliding parts that glide it is a totally unique feel.

There is more work to be done of course, and we are still in the early days of testing, but the initial results are astounding. This is going to be something very special when its done.

So that's why I haven't written. I've been in the batcave as it were, and frankly I really love it there even with all its twists and turns.

I'm still hopeful that the pen can get launched this summer. I'm hesitant to put a date on it since I'm not going to launch it until it's perfect like our other products, but maybe maybe we can have it out by June or July. Just know that if it has to be delayed, it will certainly be for a good reason and will be worth the wait.

In the meantime, get yourself something nice out of our current lineup. I know you will love it, and it will certainly pair nicely with the pen.

A brief update on the cases (see what I did there?)

We are still running through revision after revision with the tannery to nail down the perfect leather for the future. We keep circling it, getting ever closer, and once that's perfect, I will hopefully have the new designs out then. I appreciate your patience and thank you to all who have reached out and asked about them. It really does help me gauge interest in this as we go forward.

Stay tuned for more letters on Fridays in the coming weeks and be sure to go subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you like and watch the videos it helps us get promoted more by the algorithm to people who may never have heard of us.

Ever your servant,

Colin Murdy CEO/Owner

Murdy Creative Co.

Cell: 414-434-9001

MurdyCreative.Co 

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