I want to make a last minute gift this weekend so I can't order online. There is a Woodcraft near me and I have made a few of their slimline pens before which were nice. But I would like to make something that has a very nice writting feel to it, perhaps fountain pen. They have quite a few types and I was wondering which ones people liked the best. Something with a real quality feel, cost aside.
-Jim
PS I posted this in the woodturning group, but they seem overwhelmed with crap. Looks like this one is getting hit pretty hard too...
Second the vote for the gel. I love fountain pens but good ones are expensive and cheap ones are just pains in the butt (except the Pilot Varsity disposables which work quite well for some reason--probably because they only have to last through one load of ink) and the Woodcraft kits don't have nibs (the critical part) from any maker with any kind of reputation. Gel is as good as an average fountain pen, better than a crappy one, not as nice as a real good one, and you can bear down on it to make carbons if you need to, so it's really the best all-round choice IMO.
Woodcraft doesn't say what refill their pens use anywhere on the Web site--might be wortwhile going down to Staples and getting a Pilot V7 refill (highly regarded by pen aficionados) and seeing if Woodcraft has a pen kit that it will fit. I suspect that any kit that takes a gel refill can be made to work with it, but you may have to adjust the length of the pen.
Note that a slimline pen kit can still result in a quite substantial pen--the diameter of the grip area doesn't have to match the diameter of the ferrule.
It's a pity that Pelikan and Lamy and Waterman don't make pen kits.
The best pen kit I've found and used are the Majestic kits. Can't seem to find them at Woodcraft and Rockler seems to have gotten out of them. Penn State Industries has them here:
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have both fountain and rollerball in rhodium and gold. I made two out of amboyna burl and they look and feel terrific - substantial weight, large diameter, excellent quality. They even contain a Swarovski crystal in the clip.
Only downside is the cap doesn't fit on the pen, but I've got a number of high-end pens (e.g. Mont Blanc) like this.
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