Fountain Pen Upgrade Question

[David350]

Hi, I am about to make my first fountain pen after making a few hundred rollerball and slimline pens. I know for the "parker" style pens, you can really improve the feel of the pen by replacing the standard refill that comes with the kit with a Schmidt 9000, etc. I am making a Baron FP and would like to know if there are "upgrades" that can be made to improve the writing feel / performance like you can do with the rollerball pens with the Schmidt 9000. I did see the recent thread on a Baron FP upgrade, so I hope I am not doomed on this. If you do have some suggestions, please provide links, etc. as I have no experience with a FP and really don't know anything about them. Thanks, David

 

[duncsuss]

Two facts: (1) almost every fountain pen nib can be made to work well no matter how cheap it is, and (2) even very expensive replacement nibs might need to be tuned for optimum performance.

I recommend you search for one of Richard Binder's nib smoothing workshops. There may be other people teaching the same fundamental techniques for recognizing what is right and what is wrong with a nib, and how to fix all but the worst problems.

 

[Gord K.]

I haven't been on this site much so forgive me for being late to respond to this post. A couple of observations:

If you don't have any experience with fountain pens, how do you know you need to upgrade the Baron before you've even made it?

If you want/need to do a nib upgrade, Beaufort Ink in the UK sell Bock nib and feed housings that are a direct replacement for the assembly in the Baron kit. They offer a number of different platings. I have personally replaced the nibs in two kit pens with the Beaufort size 5 parts, one a F and one an XF and I am happy with both.

No affiliation, happy customer, ymmv, etc.

 

[Pierre---]

First learn to tune a nib, there are plenty of text or video tutorials. You can buy a 200$ gold nib, if you can't tune it, you're just throwing bucks in the wind. When you can tune it, buy a Bock from Beaudort ink, or a Jowo from FPnibs, it and you will know how to take the best of it. Its easy, it should not scratch, an the ink flow must suit you. No more !
Well, it seems you can't buy everything...

 

[DrD]

I agree 100 % with needing to know how to tune a fp nib. There are a couple of videos on You Tube in 3 parts if I recall, that give a step my step process. All you need is a 20x or so loupe or magnifier, some brass shim stock (0.001, 0.002, and 0.005 "), a brown paper bag, and I use 12000 grit sandpaper from an automobile supply store. If the fp you sell scratches, snags, skips, or worse yet doesn't write, your customer will not be happy.

As a collector of fine fp's from the 40's and 50's, I can tell you I have, after some tuning, BHW Series 2000 Flat Tops, Barons, and Churchills that write as smoothly and effortlessly as my Mont Blanc No. 149s.

Another important point would be to provide some written instruction on care and maintenance of the fp --- just my experience.