St Elmo's Fire

Afternoon,

A bit bigger pen this time, turned from a Erinoid blank called St Elmo's Fire, sporting a Bock #5 gold plate nib (F). A very slight barrel taper and a tiny step between the cap and barrel. Still playing with the ratios!

Capped length: 147.33mm
Uncapped length: 138.43mm
Barrel diameter: 15.61 - 14.73 mm
Section length: 26.37mm
Section diameter at pinch: 10.2.

As ever, comments and critiques please.

Chriscb

It looks a beautiful pen Chris.

Beautiful.

Sorry can't think of a critique with it

Love the colour, I know your playing with ratios at the moment..... I like the minimal / no step between cap and body, I also like a slight taper to the end of the body. I can't critic your work as I don't do what you do, but I can have a preference

That’s very nice, lovely colour and has a vintage look about it. I imagine when playing with the ratios it has to be a combination of look and feel. If a pen does not feel right in the hand then somehow it does not work. A lot of the older fountain pens were designed to be used with the cap posted on the body which of course alters the balance. Less popular these days.

That is gorgeous.Great proportions.

Great lines Chris. A lovely looking pen from where I'm sitting

Special design mate I do not envy cutting threads on this material,the ratious are all pleasing with the overall effect of bulk without waste. A better and best pen.

Thank you for your comments, always insightful - and hope your're up and about again quickly. You do realise that when they reset your gyros you'll still be spinning?
As to you getting kitless pen hardware together, look forward to seeing your pens.

Regards,
Chriscb

AllenN said:

That’s very nice, lovely colour and has a vintage look about it. I imagine when playing with the ratios it has to be a combination of look and feel. If a pen does not feel right in the hand then somehow it does not work. A lot of the older fountain pens were designed to be used with the cap posted on the body which of course alters the balance. Less popular these days.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the comment. As regards ratios I took my lead from commercial pens - I have a superb Yard-o-Lead silver fountain pen, and using that together with my other pens derived an average ratio of cap to barrel, both in terms of width and length. Unsurprisingly the variation between pens from the same maker was very small, but the variation between different makers was significant. Annoyingly, but I guess unsurprisingly, all the pens 'work' - they look and feel right. My very first kitless pen looks so out of balance it's quite a shock. Who would have thought applied maths would rear its head in pen making!

Regards,
Chriscb