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A fountain pen primer


Gomer

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I really enjoyed it.

 

A general comment: it begins with a deep dive, but then exits rather abruptly. After you have explained how they work, you could fill out details about the various materials, filling systems, glossary (see below), history, etc. Or maybe dial back on the details of how it works (do most prospective or new users actually care that much?) Currently, it feels a little unbalanced.

 

Specific comments:

  • You could mention that nibs come in other metals, like Titanium, Palladium, and Silver.
  • Under common complaints, you could specify these are complaints about the nibs (there are always complaints about other parts of pens as well)
  • Some terms is too brief to warrant a section: either expand eg., with nib grinds, etc., or discard

 

In any event: thank you for sharing! :thumbup:

Vintage. Cursive italic. Iron gall.

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One could dither endlessly about what to include in an introduction, and how detailed to be.  I would include useful references to webpages where denizens of our hobby provide the next level of detail that individuals may desire.  For example, I would include links to Richard Binder’s Reference Pages (covers much basic ground on a number of topics you’ve included, including types of nibs, common problems, etc.), Fountain Pen Design (a website written by a real FP Engineer, which provides remarkable details about how FPs work), and the FPN Pinned Threads such as A Newbie’s Guide to Inks Part 3 (with links back to Parts 2 and 1).
 

http://www.richardspens.com/ref/00_refp.htm

https://fountainpendesign.wordpress.com/fountain-pen-design/post-box/

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/302053-a-newbies-guide-to-inks-part-i-i-i/page/3/

 

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Silverlifter --  Thank you for the comments.  Yes, to make something really useful I would have to do a lot more.

You are probably right that most users don't really care how a pen works.  I am a retired engineer, and I'm not satisfied unless I know how things work.  It can be helpful when things don't work quite right.

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Carrau  ---  Thanks for the comments.  This is just something I dashed off for fun.  I didn't intend to do anything serious with it.  I know there are already texts out there that do a much better job.  My thought was, when I bought my first fountain pen, what would I have liked to have known about them?  So, I wrote it down.

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45 minutes ago, Gomer said:

Carrau  ---  Thanks for the comments.  This is just something I dashed off for fun.  I didn't intend to do anything serious with it.  I know there are already texts out there that do a much better job.  My thought was, when I bought my first fountain pen, what would I have liked to have known about them?  So, I wrote it down.

I think the primer would do what you set out to do.  By the way, as an engineer, you really need to look at the website Fountain Pen Design, as it’s written by an engineer who may have worked for Lamy.  He gives very detailed information, and may be right up your “channel” as a fellow engineer.  Cheers!

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Thanks, Carrau.  I did read Fountain Pen Design.  But, it took me a while before I found it and I thought I could put the basics in simpler to understand terms.

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