Sierra Fountain Pen ??

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Rangertrek

Rangertrek

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I have a customer that wants a Sierra style ballpoint made into a fountain pen. Anyone done anything like this? I certainly dont have the background in mods to attempt this. Any ideas?
 
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I don't think that would work- as a fountain pen needs a cap. Without a cap, the pen would dry out. So you'd have a Sierra Fountain pen with a cap.... doesn't sound anything like a sierra anymore...
 
Not necessarily... I remember about 6 months ago, Butch ( ldb2000) I think mentioned about a fountain pen that operated like a click pen. It had a flap o the nib the closed to help prevent the ink from drying. It was a challenge to make... Hopefully Butch will make a comment about this.
 
Or perhaps a fountain pen where the cap looked like a sierra from the clip up, and the body was whatever? I'm thinking that if it was clipped into a pocket, it would look like a matched pair, but the fp unscrewed? I could possibly see hollowing out a sierra cap so that it would slip over the top of a tube from a euro or flattop fp, and the centerband would be hidden in a pocket? I can see some issues with the idea, but nothing that looks insurmountable from here.
 
The fountain pen with a retractable nib is made by Pilot/Nakami and is called a Vanishing Point . To make a Sierra looking pen would be quite difficult . The mechanics needed to seal the nib to keep it from drying out is kinda complex . I've played with the concept and while it can be done it would not be cost effective to make and when done it would look nothing like a Sierra . On the VP the nib comes out the clip end so that when it is in a pocket the nib is facing up . On the VP that I tried the clip gets in the way when trying to write and I had to hold the pen in an uncomfortable position . I had a Patent office image of the design but the link no longer works , it showed the trap door and retracting mechanism , not an easy thing to reproduce .
 
I still think you can do it without changing the style too much. You will have to ditch the kit nib section and make a new one with threads and build a cap of course, but the main pen section itself can basically still be a sierra, even with the clip on the pen section is fine. You can rebuild the back of the pen to accept the cap being postable or just have a non post cap. What I don't like about the whole idea is the tapered styling of the sierra, which makes for a slippery grip if it was to be a fountain pen. I have people that complain about jr gent style grips because even though those are relatively straight, they are still a bit slippery, unlike the Churchill style grip.
 
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