Im looking for a good source of fine tiped refillable fountain pens anybody know were I can fine one I have been looking but most im finding are disposable....

Rob, I just looked on @#$%& .... Tons of them

thanks thats a ton of pens and its hard to tell if I can refill them with my own ink but thanks for the info .

Rob: I don't know where you live, but many big-city Malls have pen stores. Also, I have purchased on the internet and all come with cartridges AND the filler tube. Just do a search for "fountain pens" and you should get plenty of internet sites. Bob

Rob, I collect fountain pens and play a little with calligraphy so if you post what you intend to use the pen for then I can suggest a specific model you should be looking for. Fountain pens are not tools, but fine instruments. They often have very specialized applications and can be tuned to fit the needs of the user - just like custom built rods.

Jan

im going to use it for lettering my blanks with modle numbers and mnmes stuff like that thanks.....

As Jan said, most fountain pens are fine instruments. They require ink specially developed for them, NOT the lettering ink that you would use on a rod. Be very careful about the pen and ink that you select, as you could ruin a fine pen by using the wrong ink.

Jim

I plan to use Winsor & Newton Calligraphy Inks then spay ti with fix a tiff to look the ink in I havent done this before but i have been told that it will work i just need to find someting with a fine tip

Rob,
I think what you're considering will work ok - but you'd be better off visiting a craft store like "Michaels" and looking at SpeedBall inks and calligraphy or "dip" pens. Better yet check the fine and medium tip felt permanent markers (not roller balls) in the same section of the store - They come in lots of colors and are much easier to control the flow of ink from. I like them better than gel pens for writing in basic colors (black, blue, yellow, white).

Fountain pen inks are dye based. A dye dissolves completely in water producing a very well flowing ink which will unfortunately fade when exposed to daylight. For rod building we should choose inks which will not fade over time, and this means using pigmented inks. Pigments are solid particles, in many cases finely powdered minerals, and they will clog up the feed of most fountain pens. If that wasn't enough, some of the newer inks are nothing more than a thin acrylic paint. I have left one of these new inks in a pen for maybe five days. Even though the ink was labelled as being suitable for use in a fountain pen, it jelled in the feed and was very difficult to clean out.

The only pens which are designed to work with pigmented inks are Rapidograph type technical pens, but even these pens should ideally be emptied and cleaned at the end of each work session. Some thicker inks, especially metallics, may not work well in these pens.

I have a few different technical pens, but for labelling rods I very much prefer to use dip pens. I think they are easier to use and much easier to clean.

Now don't get me wrong, I still think that you should buy yourself a nice fountain pen, a Sheaffer, Parker, Waterman or maybe one of the nice sporty Italian imports, but use it on paper only. Your handwriting will likely improve significantly.

Jan

sounds like you pretty knowedgeable jan what would you recomend?

Well, the inks that we are talking about will spread more on the blank than they will on paper so it is best to use a dip pen nib with as fine a point as practical. A decent art supplies store should have Speedball C-6 nibs which will work pretty good. These nibs have a brass ink reservoir on them which you can bend to regulate the ink flow. You should probably start experimenting with this nib. I think that inks are largely a matter of personal preference. Pick up a bottle of Windsor & Newton Calligraphy Ink and a bottle of FW Acrylic Artists Ink and see which one you like better. I prefer the FW ink which does not flow as well as Windsor & Newton, but produces a narrower, more opaque line - at least in the colours I've tried. Createx airbrush paints work well too, including their Auto-Air paints.

My personal nib of choice is a vintage "falcon" type nib. They were made by different makers, but they were all large, fine pointed nibs with fairly flexible tips. These nibs were quite common and can still be easily found on @#$%&. I use a rubber band to strap a feed from a cheap fountain pen underneath the nib. The feed stores a good amount of ink so I don't have to dip the pen too frequently. Also, moving the feed towards the tip of the nib will increase the ink flow, moving it back will decrease the flow.

One more tip. Factory new nibs are protected from corrosion by a layer of oil or varnish which has to be removed before use. This layer repels water so it interferes with the ink flow. The easiest way to do it is to dunk the nib in alcohol. In the past, the nib was usually flamed with a match.

Jan

god i love this board there is so much good information for the newbe thanks so much for your time that was great info.....



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/11/2006 06:20AM by Rob Culver.