# never turned a fountain pen



## davidpensfan87 (Jul 22, 2012)

Hi everyone,
As the title says, I have never made a fountain pen, so naturally, I have a few questions.
1. I write left handed, if I use a fountain pen, will the ink get on my wrist?
2. I notice that some fountain pens include reservoirs and pumps, but the instructions say that you can put ether or in.  What is the difference between the reservoir and pump?
3. I have started selling pens.  I read somewhere that if you intend to use the pen right away, then insert the reservoir or pump, but if you are not using it right away, then don't insert it.  My question is that when I ship the pen, should I send the reservoir and pump not in the pen and have the customer decide which to use and to install it?
Thanks for the help,
David


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## seamus7227 (Jul 22, 2012)

davidpensfan87 said:


> Hi everyone,
> As the title says, I have never made a fountain pen, so naturally, I have a few questions.
> 1. I write left handed, if I use a fountain pen, will the ink get on my wrist?
> There are some fast drying inks for fountain pens, but you may have to make some slight adjustments to your writing style. My wife is left handed and doesnt have any problems and she loves fountain pens!
> ...



Hope this helps!


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## azamiryou (Jul 23, 2012)

davidpensfan87 said:


> 2. I notice that some fountain pens include reservoirs and pumps, but the instructions say that you can put ether or in.  What is the difference between the reservoir and pump?



Fountain pens can either use cartridges (little capsules of ink that you plug into the pen) or bottled ink; for bottled ink, there's a reservoir in the pen to hold the ink, and usually some mechanism to get ink into the reservoir.

A cartridge pen can be fitted with a "converter" to use bottled ink. The converter is just a reservoir with a filling mechanism that plugs in the same way as a cartridge.

Most (as far as I know, all) kit pens come with both a cartridge and a converter, so they can be used either way. I think some of the instructions refer to the converter as a "pump" or possibly "reservoir".



> 3. I have started selling pens.  I read somewhere that if you intend to use the pen right away, then insert the reservoir or pump, but if you are not using it right away, then don't insert it.  My question is that when I ship the pen, should I send the reservoir and pump not in the pen and have the customer decide which to use and to install it?



You don't want to *ink *the pen right away. If you install a cartridge, you've inked the pen. But if you install the (empty) converter, you have not. I sell mine with the converter installed, and provide a quality ink cartridge for people who prefer cartridges.

I don't think any of the kits come with decent cartridges, so you probably want to upgrade those. Some kits come with good converters. I've found some (okay, one) that didn't work, though, so it's a good idea to have some extras on-hand even if you're getting kits that come with good ones.


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## Dan_F (Jul 23, 2012)

Be aware that "upgrade" converters don't always fit. El Grande and possibly Churchill Will only take the cheapest converter, sold by Arizona Silhouette, Fortunately, they work very well, though look unimpressive. The others that I have tried get hung up on the finial, the hole in which is too narrow for the wider converters to fit through. In technical jargon, the black turny thingy fits, but the shoulder it protrudes from doesn't. 

To be safe, I would try assembling with the converter in place to make sure there will be no problems. 

Dan


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## IPD_Mr (Jul 23, 2012)

Here is a great article by John Mottishaw on Lefties and using a fountain pen:
Left Handed Writers and Fountain Pens


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