El Grande Pen kits

[brianp]

I have a question about the El Grande Pen kits. What I want to know is whether or not the black parts are plastic or metal. I like the looks of the El Grande kits, but in my opinion a roller ball or fountain pen should be high quality and I do not like plastic parts in pen kits. When i went to woodcraft all of their fountian pen kits had a lot of plasic parts. So I want to find out what everyone else's opinion is on the kits, since I have never seen one in person.

 

[John Eberly]

El Grande

The only El Grande I've seen is from Woodcraft and it has plastic parts.

Most fountain pens - even "high quality" ones - have plastic parts. Nib section or pen body, plastic seem hard to avoid. It's nicer than painted metal anyway - colorfast all the way through.

 

[its_virgil]

They are plastic. The El Grande is an all time favorite of mine. The plastic is not an issue for me. I've seen some rather expensive pens that had the same amount or even more plastic. Others will disagree and refuse to make the El Grande because of the plastic. I'm sure you will hear from them.:biggrin::biggrin:
Do a good turn daily!
Don

I have a question about the El Grande Pen kits. What I want to know is whether or not the black parts are plastic or metal. I like the looks of the El Grande kits, but in my opinion a roller ball or fountain pen should be high quality and I do not like plastic parts in pen kits. When i went to woodcraft all of their fountian pen kits had a lot of plasic parts. So I want to find out what everyone else's opinion is on the kits, since I have never seen one in person.

 

[Douglas Feehan]

I like the look of the kit and the plastic doesen't bother me but the pen just feels cheap to hold

 

[its_virgil]

The El Grande is a Berea kit. Woodcraft is a reseller of Berea kits, but only in a few platings. The El Grade also comes in a ballpoint that will accept the Schmidt pencil mechanism (no modification needed) and can be a pencil also. The Cambridge is also an El Grande with bling. Check them out at http://bereahardwoods.com and they are also sold by http://www.arizonasilhouette.com and http://www.beartoothwoods.com

Do a good turn dailly!
Don

The only El Grande I've seen is from Woodcraft and it has plastic parts.

Most fountain pens - even "high quality" ones - have plastic parts. Nib section or pen body, plastic seem hard to avoid. It's nicer than painted metal anyway - colorfast all the way through.

 

[DCBluesman]

I like the look of the kit and the plastic doesen't bother me but the pen just feels cheap to hold

That tends to be a rather American-centric perspective. In other parts of the world, the lighter the better...down to 16-17 grams (about 1/2 ounce). For comparison purposes, most of our fountain pens and rollerballs are at least 40 grams.

 

[chriselle]

Ironically, I think many of the kit pens have more metal than a lot of the big brand name pens. I was just in a high end shop the other day examining (taking apart) a number of $600+ level pens. Lots-o-plastic.....

 

[johncrane]

Plastic is a fact of life where would we be with out it.arty::biggrin:

 

[wdcav1952]

Ironically, I think many of the kit pens have more metal than a lot of the big brand name pens. I was just in a high end shop the other day examining (taking apart) a number of $600+ level pens. Lots-o-plastic.....

Bingo! Chris. You said what I wanted to say but said it far better than I would have.

My Pelikan collection does NOT reach the level of expense that you note, but I love them and they lean heavily on plastic in their construction.