Hi Everyone, new boy here

[jim0505]

Hi Everybody,

Thanks for the kind welcome and offers of help, I really do appreciate it. I go to a number of craft fairs and it is always great to meet people who have an interest in what we do. Some say that they haven't realised that pen making goes on. I explain that it is an underground movement and if you search around there is lots to see. It's like when you decide to buy a car that seems quite rare, then you just start seeing them everywhere.

Thanks for the offer Stewart, I live in Crawley and would welcome a second opinion. The issue has now taken a lower priority, as it seems I am not going senile and there are people out there who I can discuss my problems with, rather than huff and puff to my wife.

I think it is a problem that can be classified as " I won't waste energy on something that I can't fix" and carry on using simply better kits.

Have any of you got web sites that I can visit? I would like to see how you guys do it. (I'll re-phrase that as "How you present your pens")

Mine is www.jims-hand-turned-pens.com and my facebook is jims hand turned pens

The website is a bit bare at the moment, we have had a satisfying lead up to Christmas and I am now starting to re-stock

Kind regards and a Merry Christmas to you all.

 

[Jim]

That is a nice site Jim, showing some very nice pens my friend ..

 

[Phil Dart]

The Jr Gent started life as a good quality kit from Dayacom, in fact one of the originals when pen making became popular, and ever since has been copied and copied and copied, to the point that the originals are no longer available, and the copies have have every bit of quality sucked out of them. It seems to have been the fountain pen that Chinese manufactures have pounced on in order to drive the price down to the ground at the expense of quality. The nib housing is even glued in to the section (there is no thread inside the section) and tolerance control is, well, not very well controlled.

The cartridge supplied with Jr Gents is narrow. Look at Brian's photos above - they all have a narrower portion at the front, then a step up to a wider portion over the remaining length. The Jr Gent cartridge does not step up - it is the narrower dimension over its entire length. Why? Because the current incarnations have an ill designed section that is too long where is screws in to the cap connector, and interferes with the step on other cartridges, preventing the mouth from locating properly to break the seal.

Yes, it can be said to be a standard international, but there is no standard. The word is used to infer "widely used", not "regulated". With my Beaufort Ink hat on, I have no solution to the problem I'm afraid. As a pen maker, I have managed to overcome the problem - I don't buy jr gents.

There are a great many kits out there that are modeled on the same design principles as the Jr gent - Barons and Alphas being just two of them. It's not an old age problem Chris, (and welcome to the forum by the way) its a quality control and design problem which you can spend a great deal of time trying to overcome, or you can just move on to better kits.

 

[TaylorsMirfield.co.uk]

The nib housing is even glued in to the section (there is no thread inside the section)

Oh yes there is ;)

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

 

[Winemaker]

welcome I have made only 3 fountain pens one the cartridge would not fit lost about 5 refills trying to fit it in the end told supplier they sent a replacement nib section sorted the problem but put me off fountain pens done loads of slimline etc

 

[sfurini]

I must have been lucky with the ones I've made but I won't be buying any more jnr gent kits!

I like your site, Jim. I don't have one as I'm merely a dabbler for now.

Happy turning!

 

[Bigblackdog]

i am late to the party on this one because i have only just read the thread. do the converters fit the jr gent fountain pens? i have a small number to use up, but the kits behind them are omegas and alphas.

 

[Terry Q]

Hello Jim. Welcome to the forum.

 

[jim0505]

Hello Blackdog,

I seem to have caused a bit of a stir with the Jnr Gent thing. I don't feel confident in giving an answer to the pump fitting the pen. I got some pumps from Timberbits and just tried one in a chrome Jnr, it didn't fit. It seems that different people are getting different results, so a definitive answer can only be gotten by trying it. I got round the fountain pen issue by converting them all to roller balls. I don't want to push any one supplier, but I got the tips and springs from Timberbits and disposed of the fountain pen nibs. As it happens, recently people seem to have wanted roller balls, so that was nice. The brass tubes have recently been changed to larger ones in the Jnr Gent, so I checked to see if the previous derivative of the pens rollerball tips fitted the new version, they seem to, so I'll probably go down this route. I have about a dozen, so 70p per pen seems a reasonable investment to get them used.
I hope the suppliers who have stocks left of these pens don't take issue with me, I am sure the other fine pen kits they supply will be far more popular now.
Regards Jim

 

[Bigblackdog]

mine were from timberbits too- i will have to try one with a herbin cartridge that i have and get a converter or two. at least you have found a way round the issue.

 

[Penpal]

Jim valid questioning is very helpful in this instance so many answers tell me this is so.

Peter.

 

[wm460]

The original JR Gents I bough came from Carbatec they were Dayacom still go a few of them left.

 

[billyb_imp]

Welcome to the forum Jim

I too have had problems with the Jr Gent so don't make many anymore, issues with quality plus the fact that cartridges don't fit to well (thanks Phil for the explanation), replaced with Dan's Omega, a huge step up in quality

A nice looking site Jim, will check back on facebook over the holiday period

 

[jim0505]

Hi Everyone,
Once again thanks for all the welcoming messages, it's great to feel you aren't alone, except of course when I'm in my shed, Ah peace!!

I have just got a reply from Timberbits about my query,

"My sincere apologies for the delay in getting back to you. Our craftsman has just come in today, as we need to confirm a few details before we respond to your questions:-

We've tested the refills with the new JB Gents and unfortunately our supplier needs to send us a new refill for this pen.

I can advise you when they arrive.

Sorry for the inconvenience caused with this"

I look forward to hearing the results and which refill they will use. I think they recognise there may be a problem, but I am not sure!

I will try and use Facebook over the holidays, but I am still not quite used to it. I can post and put photos up, but a lot of the other stuff confuses me.

 

[bluntchisel]

Hi, Jim, Welcome aboard, matey!

Bob.

 

[AllenN]

Welcome to the forum Jim. I am afraid I can add nothing to what has already been said about the Jr Gents. I like many now stick to Dan's offerings with Phil's refills.