Entry Level Fountain & Rollerball Pen

[jimbob91577]

Okay, so I've been turning the Classic American Twist / Flat Top - Rollerball & Fountain Pens for some time now, and I think I've finally had it with them.

The major turn off is parting the tennon on the cap end so the center band will fit on the end. When turning burl pens, I've had several now where a piece of the burl chips off and flys across the shop.

So my question is - Is there an entry level kit for rollerball and fountain pens that doesn't require creating a tennon and that doesn't have some other quirk that risks chipping, when turning a pen out of burl? Basically a kit that the centerband and all other parts just squeeze together? I'm looking for something in the range of $7-12 a kit and that also has a decent reputation and decent finishes.

Thanks!

 

[NewLondon88]

The Jr Gent is in the top end of that price range for 24K rollerball, I think. Easy enough
to handle, no tenon, decent finishes but nothing special. (special is more) The Baron
and Sedona are a little less expensive than that. Not sure about the FP, those are
usually a few dollars more.

 

[ed4copies]

Okay, so I've been turning the Classic American Twist / Flat Top - Rollerball & Fountain Pens for some time now, and I think I've finally had it with them.

The major turn off is parting the tennon on the cap end so the center band will fit on the end. When turning burl pens, I've had several now where a piece of the burl chips off and flys across the shop.

So my question is - Is there an entry level kit for rollerball and fountain pens that doesn't require creating a tennon and that doesn't have some other quirk that risks chipping, when turning a pen out of burl? Basically a kit that the centerband and all other parts just squeeze together? I'm looking for something in the range of $7-12 a kit and that also has a decent reputation and decent finishes.

Thanks!

The old question comes to mind: "You want cheap or good?"

The fountain pen is going to add $4ish, so that brings you to $3-8 for the rest of the components. For that, you might want to try the Tycoon from Penn State. It offers titanium and rhodium plating choices--that's good. Quality of threading would be a concern to me, but I'd give it a try.

 

[jimbob91577]

The old question comes to mind: "You want cheap or good?"

I want to be able to provide an entry level pen to my customers for under $40 retail. Choosing a pen with parts that cost $20 negates any profitablity from that sort of sale.

I want good, don't get me wrong - but I can sell a lot more $40 pens than I can sell $60-80 pens (about 2 to 1). I do have and offer a supply of $60-80 pens, but I don't want to eliminate my $40 pen offering - and trying to add a $20 kit to a $40 offering just doesn't make profitability sense.

FWIW - I am considering the Tycoon, but the shipping from Pennsylvania to Southern Oregon leaves much to be desired.

Who else sells the Baron kits besides Arizona Silhouette?

 

[ed4copies]

WoodCraft calls it the Navigator (Baron)

You might also try the CSUSA president and executive-I made a LOT of them, they held up for me. By today's standards, they are "vanilla", but may fit what you are trying to do.

NEW name for president is Artisan 050-4415. The executive had no back end gold, it was all wood (or resin, in my case). Appears to have disappeared.

 

[DCBluesman]

You can get a Baron FP in chrome for under $13 from Arizona Silhouette.

 

[omb76]

The Baron and Sedona from AS are good pens. You need to be careful when pressing the center band on the Sedona that the rings are lined up correctly otherwise it may get pressed on crooked and crack the blank. These make a nice entry level rollerball & fountain pen.