Sharpie Of The 1920's: Glass Fountain Pens!

[@michaelrandall4403]

Glass nib pens are quite popular in Japan. There are still manufacturers ( Wancher makes some glass nib fountain pens ) The bladder can be replaced, if you're looking for a small project some lazy afternoon. Thanks for the episode !

[@cptsimian]

The variety going from NASA electronics to fountain pens is why I am subscribed. Thank you for the entertainment.

[@zrebbesh]

I own three glass dip pens. They are fragile if dropped (I used to have four). You have to clean them completely to carry them around, or you'll just make a mess. But they have no moving parts, they make gorgeous lines, and they will absolutely never wear out.

[@mikeshores8318]

You did good! You showed me a pen that I do not have. Fountain pens are true writing instruments when penmanship was important. Thanks so much.

[@xXx-...--Vex--...-xXx]

i follow an artist "peter draws" and gosh hes shown off just about every kind of pen there is. I know there is quite the many options out there for dipping glass pens because if you work with glass then the entire piece can be made in it but the mixed medium makes it tougher but im sure if there are any out there that are not region specific and artisan custom made he would be the channel to skim for it. now your making me want to do exactly that, i just might...

[@boredgrass]

I was so delighted to watch a new pen video, that I watched your first "pencils and pens" video, right after that ❤

[@reneegencur2469]

I didn’t know there was such a thing as a glass nib fountain pen. Thanks for showing yours off!

[@BixbyConsequence]

Looks like a good opportunity to grind and polish the tip into a shape that suits your writing style.

[@jeffreybarton1297]

I have a few glass Dip pens, but I've never seen these type before. I instantly want one!

[@recoveringsoul755]

There must be a way to smooth out a broken tip. Not sure about melting it. Oh .. maybe dipping it in a tiny bit of resin?

[@jeffreybarton1297]

@@recoveringsoul755 Yes. I've used wet and dry sand paper (about 600 grit) to smooth and round off a dip pens nib. It only took a few minutes of gentle rubbing.

[@SeanBZA]

@@recoveringsoul755 You can remove it from the nitrocellulose, and simply flame polish it again, and then anneal it to destress it. Should still write perfectly, and the chip will be mostly gone.

[@bobpockney]

The problem I had with one ink sac (bladder) was that it perished after a few years. I never really got on with cartridge pens though.

[@JennyEverywhere]

You can get replacement bladders for many bladder fill pens. If it's an expensive pen, there's probably a repair kit for it. Worst case, there are probably pensmiths who can restore it, especially if it's sentimental. There's a ton of inexpensive fountain pens out there that use converters, piston fills, or even vacuum filling systems. I have a set of three vacuum fillers by Wing Sung that cost maybe $15-20 for all three that are good writers and fill very easily. I give pens as gifts to friends, and unless they're pen fans, I give them cartridge pens because they're easy to refill.

[@nutsnproud6932]

Fran when are we going to see you using your soldering iron again?

[@starsiegeplayer]

Thanks for showing the old glass tip pen, Fran. Found it very interesting. 2:08 I have a Waterman Philias too 🙂

[@cr8cat794]

Excellent demonstration and explanation as always…exemplary! Thank you, Fran!

[@TentoesMe]

Hmm. Never saw one of those. I love to write with my fountain pen. So smooth and such a light touch!

[@austinmetro6317]

Still nice to write a letter with a fountain pen. Or better to receive one!

[@railspony]

"Or better to receive one!" Not with my penmanship!

[@ericfielding2540]

Interesting demonstration of the glass nib pen. I never heard of those, but nobody in my family was a pen enthusiast that I know about.

[@RPKGameVids]

That's a really nice looking pen.

[@DS-oopa]

You can also use micromesh to fix the tip of a glass dip pen (somewhat). It won't be like the original tip, but it will smooth the end so that it glides better. YMMV, but it's worth trying for this neat pen.

[@granulardwelling]

As a left hander, I would be interested if they were ever produced for us, or if the nib by its design is ambidextrous. My modern left handed pen is greatly enjoyed by me.

[@technomama1]

Very fine nail polish file made of sandpaper would fix the glass nib, but the line will be broader.

[@lajoswinkler]

I've seen many glass tip dip pens being sold on eBay in the last few years. I suppose the tips can be repaired with careful flame heating, especially if it's borosilicate glass.

[@eugenioarpayoglou]

Learned something new today!

[@JennyEverywhere]

I am carrying 3 fountain pens on me right now. One is a tool pen with level, rulers, a touch screen stylus, and a small screwdriver. It's by Monteverde, and it's an okay writer. Another is a Kickstarter I backed, the Banju. The third is an Asvine titanium piston filler that I really like. I've got nearly 100 fountain pens and a bunch of cheap disposables I give to interested people, or when someone asks to borrow a pen. I have a couple by Lamy I got from the NASA merch store.

[@flamencoprof]

Oh wow, I had forgotten about piston fillers. I had a few at school in the Sixties. Much better than the lever type.

[@DoctorCalabria]

I remember back in the day when you took chemistry in college, you had to learn glass blowing. I wonder if you hit the tip with a little flame, if it would melt it a bit and smooth it out?

[@user-gl5ld9vm7i]

I really appreciated this video. I just subscribed to your KZbin channel. What is your favorite fountain pen?

[@flamencoprof]

My schooling was all pre-1970s. I remember coming across a few pens with glass nibs, but just that, a few. Not common. I can't say if they were already old, but I don't think so. They were about the same size as the metal nibbed fountain pens we used. Ballpoint was not considered very acceptable and even not allowed in some cases IIRC.

[@robbiemer8178]

A bit late to this one, oops! That little pen is lovely. The chipped tip could be polished out if you were so inclined. A few minutes "writing" on some very fine sandpaper would likely be the simplest way. These glass nibbed pens did have at least one advantage over steel/gold nibbed pens: they will work better for carbon copies. The nibs were also used quite a bit in WW2 as metal supplies were limited for non-weapon uses. Lastly, there is at least one Japanese company still offering new glass nibbed fountain pens; Wancher. Those are beautiful pens but definitely not inexpensive. Haro was a brand that made a bunch of these and they are not too difficult to find in working order. Thank you for showing us this!

[@brently1973]

I have only used the metal ones for calligraphy.

[@00Skyfox]

Could you use a blowtorch to fire polish the chipped tip?

[@funkeymonkey321]

YYYEEEAAAAHHH FOUNTAIN PENS!!!!

[@TheErador]

I like it, would be happy to see a smol repair video if you fancied it.

[@FranLab]

I can't get it open without breaking it.

[@TheErador]

@@FranLab that's too bad. For all that it was a cheap thing back when it was new, it's quite pretty

[@MacintoshLibrarian]

Awesome theme song ! And this is very relaxing ☺️. Thank you ❤

[@theelmonk]

I'm not old enough to have known these and the fountain pens I did use mostly had a plastic cartridge for ink. But I do remember one with the rubber bladder you describe, probably in the '70s. It's interesting that these glass forms could be made before the metal nibs. Are they just an extruded rod, drawn to a gentle point ?

[@SeanBZA]

Stamped glass rod yes, and stretched out while hot to thin it out, and with the tip flame polished after snapping it off. Then annealed so it has no stress in it. Probably has a plain cylinder shape stamped in the back, with a groove or three for the ink to flow in, and this is ground to a tight tolerance to fit the stem. Hot stamping glass is easy, and the moulds can last a long time, being machined from cast steel, with an oil film on them, to give a carbon layer so the glass does not stick when hot.

[@gerryroush8391]

I wish I knew whatever happened to my old Fischer Space pen....... Personally I love the new Gel pens

[@landspide]

Moare Pens!!!! Moare Pencils!!! These are fascinating videos Fran

[@mpetry912]

that is super cool

[@DEtchells]

Thanks, this searched the itch of my stationery-supplies fetish! 😂

[@MrDutchino]

Fountain pens and glass pens. That’s just one of my addictions…

[@wkgmathguy218]

Fountain pens, slide rules, and vintage computer keyboards here :-) Typed on an acer kb102a with blue alps. yum 🙂

[@SeanBZA]

Fountain pens, the curse of the leftie. I had them in school, with the desk with the ink well in it, and used it up till about he equivalent of grade 5, then at high school went to ball point, and never looked back at a fountain pen again. Closest to it now is a gel pen, which also is a pain when you are left handed, and have to write with your hand all crabbed up so as to not smear that still wet gel ink, or you have to use a sheet of waxed paper to be able to write the next line in under a minute.

[@FranLab]

You have to use a bridge to write left handed. You put your palm on it and it spans over the line where you're writing.

[@SeanBZA]

@@FranLab Well my father had to learn to write right handed, beaten into him at school, so he was mostly ambidextrous, and still hated fountain pens. School never tried that with me, I guess he told them what would occur if they tried that trick. I just wrote crab fashion till I moved to roller ball BIC pens. Then lived with the blue palm. At least I never got the colour blindness from him, so from around 4 I was doing wiring, as he was green blue colour blind. And yes he was a pilot for close to 40 years still. Funny how they never checked him for colour blindness other than that one time in Leeds, where he asked his friend for the answers of if it was a teapot or a 7. Only crashed 3 aircraft as well, one a Gypsey Moth during training, from engine failure after V2 and just off the ground. Next was a Lancaster that was shot from under him, and he only remembered his parachute being on fire, before he woke up 6 weeks later in an Austrian hospital. He sort of left there after 3 months, did not like, along with the staff, the next place for him, Dachau. Then his next was a C47, left the landing gear and prop in a pothole on the runway. That one flew again, and probably is still flying still in the SAAF. I probably flew on it as well. He decided to give up flying when he realised his reflexes were too slow, and he almost did some urban renewal. Plus the costs were rising so fast, he figured there was better use for the money, and he moved to a job that did not need him flying 3 weeks of the month to the middle of nowhere, next to a coal mine.

[@paullandry6573]

You are awesome Fran

[@KeritechElectronics]

Ha. Makes me wonder about re-creating them with a 3D printer.

[@-jeff-]

I've got about 20 fountain pens. I think one or two have glass quills. Avoid blue inks. They'll ruin a good pen.

[@FranLab]

Chemical dye inks are fine, but often you can end up with particle pigmented inks getting in fountain pens, and that gums up the works.

[@MrUSFT]

The theme! 😂

[@MrZendor]

My daily driver is a disposable Zebra fountain pen.. I never knew they created a glass nib pen.

[@Traderjoe]

You have beautiful hands

[@WDCallahan]

Can't you just fire polish the end smooth again?

[@TheErador]

Yes

[@flamshiz]

isn't nitrocellulose explosive?

[@FranLab]

Flammable.

[@wpgne]

Very cool, Fran. I had not seen a glass nib pen with a filling mechanism before. Do you know who the manufacturer of this particular one was?

[@danjensen-pastafariandan]

maybe not showing your signature would be A good thing.

[@TheErador]

It's on the corner of every video .... Who's to say that's the one she uses to authorise bank transactions et al?