Jinhao 159 Pen Kit

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TNHagies

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Good afternoon,

I'm really new to pen turning but I have a request from someone to make a Jinhao 159 pen. I've scoured the internet trying to find something that would be a replacement without any luck. I also asked a employee at the local Woodcraft and he said they didn't have anything either.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks in advance for your assistance.
 
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Thanks for the reply. I'm actually looking for the components/the kit part. Perhaps I should have been more clear in my original statement. My apologies.
 
The Jinhao 159 is not a kit. It's a manufactured pen. For the price you could buy several and disassemble. Use the nib with section and the silver bands and clip.

You should ask the customer if he wants a look alike or if it's how it writes. At $12.50 for the Jinhao I'm not sure what they are really asking for.
 
Mr Vic said:
The Jinhao 159 is not a kit. It's a manufactured pen. For the price you could buy several and disassemble. Use the nib with section and the silver bands and clip.

You should ask the customer if he wants a look alike or if it's how it writes. At $12.50 for the Jinhao I'm not sure what they are really asking for.
Click to expand...

I've absolutely considered just disassembling one and attempting it that way. Again, I'm really new to all of this, so I wasn't sure if they were called something else and I just couldn't find it.

He said he likes the size and weight of the Jinhao. He wants a nicer wood than what he can buy online or from big box retailers.

Based on what I'm hearing, if I can't disassemble one (which I've never done before) then I may just see if I can find one similar to suggest.
 
My favorite commercial pen is a Jinhao X750 I got for under 5 bucks shipped direct from China on eBay, the 159's are available there at similar low prices.

Jut a little work on the nib with a tiny bit on the feed and it's a perfect writer that can go days at a time without use and still have an instant start and write.

As far as disassembling one, they don't seem to be made in a manner that makes that easy, I would probably buy a couple at the lowest price so I could experiment a little to learn now (but the section screws right out and uses a standard type of pull out feed)
 
The Jinhao 159 is both:
- closed end (body material extends all the way to a solid end)
and...
- postable (cap can be placed on the butt when you're writing)

Not being postable is a deal breaker to many Fountain Pen users, so you may want to find out if that feature is required. I don't know of any closed end postable kits out there (e.g. the Apollo isn't postable).

Then there's a whole 'nother complexity of trying to duplicate a plastic and metal pen with wood, which is a material that does not have the same properties (e.g things like threading get tricky). Look at some commercial wood fountain pens and see how they accomplish posting.

Even for an advanced turner, disassembly of a 159 and replicating in wood would be a challenge. You might look at a Churchill Fountain Pen Kit as something with a more rounded look like the Jinhao 159. For a relatively new turner, I would suggest sticking to a kit, unless you're willing to throw alot of time and tool dollars into it.
 
Another thought which I've contemplated, using a Platinum Preppy ($3.95) is to snap off the clip and sand smooth. Turn a body and clip that the entire pen and cap would slide into - call it a sleeve. The cap would still snap onto the nib section which would still unscrew for refilling. Got the pens, just need the time.
 
Thank you all for the help and suggestions. budnder The Chruchhill suggestion you gave is the closest that I've seen. I gave him the option of that pen but I don't have some of those components so I'm not sure it will be worth the cost to him.

Thanks again for your help, I learned a lot.
 
I own a 159 and like it alot. if you were skilled at kitless I would say it is an easy make as far as shape. if you arent then its a tough one.
 
FYI - I got interested in this thread and picked up a 159 (for only a few dollars, but took weeks to arrive :-) - the Churchill really is a pretty good match - weight/size/etc.
 
I know this is a old thread, but I've just become aware of the Platinum Preppy pen with its pluses and minuses - - -

The big minus is that the cap and body are made from cheap acrylic and crack easily. A cracked cap won't seal properly, while a cracked body means that the screw-in section will be loose which makes it difficult to remove the cap. I think the problem is that the cap fits onto the section very snugly, and when you try to pull off the cap, one can inadvertently attempt to bend the pen - which then puts stress on the cap and body where they fit the section, thereby causing cracks.

The big plus is that the Preppy writes beautifully, and the cap seals tightly with the section to minimize drying out.

But the idea of turning a wooden sleeve that is glued over the cap and body of a Preppy is intriguing. In essence, the pen would be unchanged, just wearing an 'overcoat' over the visible plastic parts. But the question this triggers is does the additional thickness of a wood sleeve reduce the tendency of the cap and body to crack? I would think that having a wooden sleeve around the plastic would be an improvement, but I wonder if anyone has tried this and has any actual experience.

Platinum also make the Plaisir which is the same section and nib as the Preppy, but with an aluminum cap and body. It's three times the price of the Preppy, but that's still very inexpensive as factory-made fountain pens go.
 
This is a cheap Speedball fountain pen, in a black walnut sleeve or "pen-casement" LoL
I did this one a while back, before I ever turned my first kit. I really wanted to get into pen turning and just couldn't wait.
The thing is MONSTROUS huge! Pictured here next to a Lamy Safari for scale.
 

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