I've always thought that a wooden fountain pen would be very nice to have, but there seem to be surprisingly few available, past or present. Ryan Krusac (Ryan Krusac Studios - https://rkspens.com/) makes some gorgeous hand-turned wooden pens but I've never felt justified to spend the amount that he asks for his pens. A few months ago, I saw some Chinese pens on eBay that looked tempting. I ended up with these three Jinhao fountain pens.
The top two are Jinhao 9056 fountain pens. The first is variously known as "Tiger", "Tiger Texture" or "Tiger Sandalwood". It has a smooth-writing, two-tone medium steel nib, measures 5 1/2" capped, and has a nice, chubby "cigar" shape. It has a screw-off cap (1 1/2 turns), uses a cartridge-converter (included) and is primarily made from wood. There is a plastic liner in the cap and a metal threaded insert in the barrel that mates with a metal thread in the grip section. The tapered grip is black enamel but is not particularly slippery. The hardware is gold plated and the clip is nice and springy. Overall, I really like these two pens. They're very comfortable, look great, and write quite well, without any fuss. The second dark brown pen is called "Ebony". The best part of these is the cost, under US $20 shipped from China.
The third pen is another Jinhao, the 8802 in "Rosewood". I'm not as enamored with this one as with the first two. This pen has a metal body with a wood sleeve fitted over the barrel. Despite being considerably thinner, it's quite a bit heavier. The black finial at the end of the barrel is metal and makes the pen quite top-heavy, even without posting (which would be ridiculously long and even more top-heavy.) The nib is small (#5?) chromed steel and writes a little bit rough. It could probably be smoothed, but I haven't bothered yet. The cap is a snap-on. This one is even cheaper, under $10 shipped.
The final photo shows a size comparison with these three pens and a Pilot Metropolitan and Lamy 2000.
Does anyone else own or know of wooden fountain pens? I know there are hundreds of hobby pen makers turning pens from exotic woods with kit components, but I'm more interested in production-type examples.
The top two are Jinhao 9056 fountain pens. The first is variously known as "Tiger", "Tiger Texture" or "Tiger Sandalwood". It has a smooth-writing, two-tone medium steel nib, measures 5 1/2" capped, and has a nice, chubby "cigar" shape. It has a screw-off cap (1 1/2 turns), uses a cartridge-converter (included) and is primarily made from wood. There is a plastic liner in the cap and a metal threaded insert in the barrel that mates with a metal thread in the grip section. The tapered grip is black enamel but is not particularly slippery. The hardware is gold plated and the clip is nice and springy. Overall, I really like these two pens. They're very comfortable, look great, and write quite well, without any fuss. The second dark brown pen is called "Ebony". The best part of these is the cost, under US $20 shipped from China.
The third pen is another Jinhao, the 8802 in "Rosewood". I'm not as enamored with this one as with the first two. This pen has a metal body with a wood sleeve fitted over the barrel. Despite being considerably thinner, it's quite a bit heavier. The black finial at the end of the barrel is metal and makes the pen quite top-heavy, even without posting (which would be ridiculously long and even more top-heavy.) The nib is small (#5?) chromed steel and writes a little bit rough. It could probably be smoothed, but I haven't bothered yet. The cap is a snap-on. This one is even cheaper, under $10 shipped.
The final photo shows a size comparison with these three pens and a Pilot Metropolitan and Lamy 2000.
Does anyone else own or know of wooden fountain pens? I know there are hundreds of hobby pen makers turning pens from exotic woods with kit components, but I'm more interested in production-type examples.