jalbert
Member
Recently completed this weekend: fountain pen in some blue cebloplast I got from someone on here, a bit of transparent acrylic, and Argentium silver. I wanted to make a fountain pen with a shut off valve to prevent ink from reaching the feed when not in use…so I did. To open the valve you unscrew the barrel finial a little bit to allow ink to flow to the feed. This is referred to as a "Japanese eyedropper " mechanism as well. It's handy if you are in a situation where your pen may get jostled around and throw ink into the cap, or if on an airplane where the pressure changes can cause the pen to leak. In either of those instances you can shut off the flow of ink, and then you don't have to worry about leaks. It's hard to describe the mechanics, so here's a crude drawing of the inside of the barrel. There is a stepped down area, in which the end of the plunger rod seals agains to restrict the flow of ink. To allow ink to flow, you unscrew the barrel finial a bit. As you can see, there is a short length of the smaller diameter barrel, which you can allow to fill with ink, and then seal off. That way, you don't have to write with the barrel finial unscrewed. It's a somewhat obscure mechanism, which I always wanted to try making.
it uses a bock #6 nib, has double lead cap threads, all the usual stuff I do.
it uses a bock #6 nib, has double lead cap threads, all the usual stuff I do.
overlays are too much work to put on every pen! They are quite fun and rewarding though, and I appreciate your compliments