Which FP kit?

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knowltoh

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I would like to turn a few fountain pens. I have not tried any as yet. As this is a hobby for me and I mostly give them away, I would like to keep the kit cost reasonable. Any suggestions for kits?

Thanks,
 
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I'm with Mannie, the jr series from Exotics are the best kits on the market now, and Unless you want 50 of them, Ed has the best price. You could get a baron from Bill or a navigator from woodcraft, but the price almost the same or higher, and the jr's quality is superior. The least expensive kit I would make even to give away would be the vail FP from Ernie at beartoothwoods.com at $10 and change per. I don't even bother with the 8mm fp kits, like the flattop, american classic, euro or Round top fp kits, the threads are metal to metal rather than the metal to nylon in all the above kits, and I have had serious problems with the all plastic fountain pen sections they use.

I did find one place selling a JR. Gent 1 fountain pen kit, (not to be confused with the Jr. Gent 2 above) but on closer inspection it was made with metal to metal threads as well, and thus, IMHO, not worth making. I haven't used the kit yet. There are people selling the JR. Gent 1 kit with the metal to nylon threads, and if I could find those in a fp, I would jump all over them. They go in the $6 to $7 range. CSUSA sells the apprentice jr Gent, which I believe is a jr gent 1 as well, but I have not actually verified that, and don't know if it has the nylon insert or metal to metal threads. They don't offer it in FP either, but one can hope. I need to get my hands on one to see if the fp section from the one jr gent 1 kit I have matches.
 
68plymouth said:
I'm also looking to turn some FPs as gifts. Whats with the metal to metal threads? Is that something I need to stay away from?
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opinion is pretty universally YES! All the good kits use a metal male thread and a nylon or plastic female threaded insert inside the cap.
 
I personally like the Jr. Gent II in rhodium as my fountain pen of choice to make. I also make some Jr. Statesmen as well. It is essentially the same kit with more ornate hardware.
 
Jr Gent 1 Fountain Pens

There are only two parts different on the Jr Gent 1 FP as opposed to the Roller ball...an ink cartridge replaces the refill and a FP nib replaces the rollerball tip. The spring used in the rollerball is not needed.
 
Thanks ! I'll made sure to get the metal and nylon kits. Theres nothing worse than turning a nice pen and using crappy hardware. Ant thanks for trhe information about the differt parts between a FP and rollorball tip. It would have taken a long time for me to figure out that one! I'm also going to look at the suppliers you guys listed earlier in the post.

dave
 
knowltoh said:
I would like to turn a few fountain pens. I have not tried any as yet. As this is a hobby for me and I mostly give them away, I would like to keep the kit cost reasonable. Any suggestions for kits?

Thanks,
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Smitty's looking for feedback in the Group Buy forum if he should carry the Jr Gent 1 fountain pen in his store. He just special ordered 10 chrome kits for me. While he may not want me to discuss price publicly, I will say they were in the range that I wouldn't feel bad doing them as gifts. They were MUCH cheaper than I thought they would be.
 
there are a couple of different sized nibs for fountain pens -- one is threaded 6+ mm and the other is threaded 8+ mm. Upgrade nibs are available from a couple of sources here at IAP (Heritance and Golden Nibs come to mind).

You will probably be better off with the smaller nib and some use.

Note that I am not a fountain pen person, and that the use of fountain pens gets towards a more cult like behavior pattern amongst those serious. It is all about the feel, balance, weight, and how the ink moves onto the paper.

Barons and Jr Gent are two smaller sized fountain pen nib approaches. Both are good. Smaller and lighter seem to be good starting points. Both will allow use of the Rolling Righter inserts as an alternative to the standard nib.

Have fun and happy learning about fountian pens!!!
 
I'm looking at some of the FP kits and thier listed a postable and non-postable. I assume it has something to do with the cap being a screw on or push on? Which one is the recommemded buy?

Dave
 
68plymouth said:
I'm looking at some of the FP kits and thier listed a postable and non-postable. I assume it has something to do with the cap being a screw on or push on? Which one is the recommemded buy?

Dave
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Postable means the endcap is threaded, and you can screw the cap on the tail end while writing.

Non-postable means the endcap is smooth, and you cannot put the cap on the tail end. It's not even a press fit.

I prefer the NON-postable for two reasons:
- the smooth endcap is more attractive in my opinion
- these pens are heavy as-is and become very top-heavy when posting the cap. That will be a major turn-off for a serious fountain pen user. A posted Jr. Gent or Jr. Statesman feels very unbalanced to me.

That said, postable pens are still better sellers in general. And with a postable pen, you have the option to post or not.
 
turbowagon said:
68plymouth said:
I'm looking at some of the FP kits and thier listed a postable and non-postable. I assume it has something to do with the cap being a screw on or push on? Which one is the recommemded buy?

Dave
Click to expand...


Postable means the endcap is threaded, and you can screw the cap on the tail end while writing.

Non-postable means the endcap is smooth, and you cannot put the cap on the tail end. It's not even a press fit.

I prefer the NON-postable for two reasons:
- the smooth endcap is more attractive in my opinion
- these pens are heavy as-is and become very top-heavy when posting the cap. That will be a major turn-off for a serious fountain pen user. A posted Jr. Gent or Jr. Statesman feels very unbalanced to me.

That said, postable pens are still better sellers in general. And with a postable pen, you have the option to post or not.
Click to expand...

Many of the non-postable pens are of a larger size and as such are meant as "desk pens" .... they would be rather unwieldly to write with if postable.
An added benefit (if you want to look at it that way):), of the non-postable fountain pens, is you don't have to concern yourself with matching up the direction of the nib to the clip when assembling. :biggrin:
 
Like Ken mentioned the preferences are as many as there are people who use them. Postable usually does out-sell not-postable but FPs can be an exception to the rule. Remember that a FP is nothing like a ball point or rollerball. The nib should glide across the paper and not be pressed into the paper. The heavier the pen the harder this is to accomplish, particularly when you write for any length of time. One of the vendors that deals only in fountain pens talked us in to getting an cheap Lamy FP and learn. It didn't come easy for me but Linda took to it like a duck to water. While my daily FP is postable, I hardly ever post it. I hate the extra weight. FPs have become fun for me and your writing style can vary much more than it can with a ballpoint or rollerball.
 
Thanks Everone. I'll start with the non-postable. BTW- I was thinking that postable was a screw in top to hold the clip and non-postable was a press in top to hold the clip. I'm glade i asked for I would have bought the harded kit to work. Thanks again.
Dave
 
This is just personal. I have a postable Triton that I carry and use. I always use it posted for one simple reason, I have large hands and with the cap posted it gives the pen much better balance in my hand. With the cap off, the pen gets lost in the hand and becomes harder to control. Now for more normal size hands, this may not be the case. That is how it works for me. My wife prefers to use hers without posting the cap.
Charles
 
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Well, I guess I'm the odd man out, but I use fountain pens exclusively, and the only kits I would recommend would be the El Grande and it's variations, or the Churchill. The Juniors are all too skinny, and have too much metal, making them too heavy. The full sized Gents, Statesman, and the like are nice looking but WAY too heavy, and I find the metal sections to be uncomfortable to use for any length of time. Not sure if thats because they are slippery, or just so heavy. I would never post a cap on any kit pen, throws them way off balance.

I have small hands, but a skinny grip gives me cramps, a fat one feels just right.

Dan
 
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