Which fountain pen?

[Rmartin]

Being a left hander, I've never cared about using fountain pens, but I've had a couple of people request I offer a fountain pen.

My question is; which one?

I was thinking the Jr.Gent. II from Craft Supplies. It's one of my favorite kits, and I already have the bushing and bits, although that's really not that important.

Is type nib more important when considering which kit?

Should I buy nibs separately? Which is considered the best by fountain pen users?

Thanks for any advise you can offer!

 

[OKLAHOMAN]

Richard, all the Jr.'s would make good fountain pens and as far as nibs go most that come from the factory can be tuned to write well. I have been changing them to the Flex Steel nib from Lou with an upcharge on all my pens. I'm a lefty and as leftys we write pushing the nib vs. pulling. Once you overcome the fear of digging into the paper and use a lite touch you'll be amazed at your improved penmanship. Hell I can almost read some of what I write....:biggrin::wink:.

 

[Ruby pen turning]

WOW...I never thought of that. I am left handed and when I use a fountain pen or fine point pen, it is like I m grinding into the paper instead of writing on the paper.

 

[ldb2000]

As to which Fountain pen to make , it all depends on whether the people who are making the requests are regular FP users or not . If they are FP users then I would go with a lighter kit that has a plastic front section , like an El Grande or a Churchill . If they are not regular users and are just looking for the status of a FP then I would go for the kits with more bling , like the Statesman or Majestics , either in the full size or Jr series . The difference being a dedicated Fountain pen user will prefer something along the lines of a Mont Blanc 149 which is a larger , lighter pen or any of the other quality Fountain pens while someone looking for the status will choose one of the heavy metal pens that show some bling .
As for Nibs , the same thing applies . If they are FP users then I would replace the nib with one from Lou or Anthony . Lou's semi-flex nibs are good writers without much , if any , tuning . If they are not FP users , the stock nib will be fine on most of the high end kits . In either case you should check to see that the nib writes smoothly and tune as necessary . I personally run load of ink through the Fountain pens I make to make sure there are no flow problems with the feed and nib , then I do a complete tear down and cleaning of the pen so the customer gets a clean almost uninked pen .

 

[Rmartin]

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

I think I'll order a few Jr. Gents and a few El Grandes and a few nib upgrades. I already make both of those kits. I know some don't like the El Grande because it has too much plastic for them, but I've had many sales to women who are delighted by how light weight they are. The Emperor is my bling kit. I stock piled when I heard Craft Supplies was dropping them. I should have ordered a few fountain kits when I had the chance, although I did get one limited numbered fountain pen kit. I'm saving that for just the right special order.

 

[Crickett]

... I know some don't like the El Grande because it has too much plastic for them...

You could always upgrade the the Cambridge or hybrid. Same tooling but more bling.

 

[jskeen]

Richard, I think you are on the right track with getting some fp kits in the pen styles you already make. I would at minimum keep the nib assembly from one of each of the platings of jr gent kits with me for all shows, plus one assembled and inked pen as a demo. That way if a customer has any of the jr 2 pens and says "wish this was a fp" you can swap it out. The el grande fp nib is identical for all platings, so you only need 1 demo and one to swap onto an existing RB kit for a sale. Of course, may need more depending on volume.

Personally, if I was doing a small volume of fp kits, I would not display one with the stock nib. At $4 per nib, you can totally eliminate that "oh, chinese nibs" look for very small money. True, 3 out of 4 customers might not care, but that 4'th one is the one with the bucks to spend, quite frequently. Why risk running him off. At a minimum have one in your demo pens and one of each size to upgrade, but for the time and minimal cost involved, you might as well have them preloaded and save the delay of doing the swap at your table. I've had people tell me "nah, I'll just take it with the stock nib" but I've never had anyone say "go ahead and take the upgrade nib off and put the stock one on, I would rather pay $146, than $150. YMMV of course.

And yes, I think it really is worth it to have 2 demos inked up and ready to go. The size differences between the 5mm section on the jr's and the 6mm on the el grande is pretty distinct, and a lot of people are really turned off by one but love the other. (shrug)