Joining The Custom Kaigelu Club

[Rewpert]

Hey All,

 

I’ve been playing with my first ‘customised’ pen recently, and thought I’d share. I’m a complete novice so far as these things go, so any critique would be welcome.

 

I’ve got an amber 316, and so far I have got as far as far as replacing the nib, feed and housing with a Bock No. 6. Had one hell of a job getting the housing out and had to resort to punching it with a bent bit of copper pipe. I ruined the ‘cartridge nipple’ on the back of the old nib housing in the process, but the replacement went in fine, with no evidence being left of my ham-fistedness.

 

 

On the nib – I bought the replacement from Beufort Ink (customer, no other affiliation) and must say that I was left with a terribly favourable impression. On receiving the nib, I noticed that the gold plate was ever so slightly misaligned, and so I got in touch with the supplier just to give a ‘heads-up’ that they might want to double-check their stock in case any were considerably worse. I made the point in my message that I didn’t mean to quibble for a replacement over something so minor, but to my surprise a day or so later I received replacement in the post and a self-return for the ever-so-slightly imperfect example. Most impressed.

 

Shes looking rather nice, don’t you think?

 

 

I’ve quite been enjoying my first foray into customising, and quite fancy doing a little more work.

 

Online, I’ve seen the various guides to replacing the brass finial and improving the balance, and would rather like to give that a go. I’ve already sent an email to the person on this forum who appears to be the source of the replacement caps. The links that lead me to him are a little out of date, so I don’t know if they’re still available – I don’t suppose anyone knows if they are? Also, so far as I can gleam, the trick to getting the old finial out is to fill the barrel of the pen with hot (but not boiling) water, then pull directly down on it once the glue is nice and soft? And what sort of glue should I be using to cement in the new finial?

 

The other thing I’d quite like to do is replace the finial on top of the cap. On my pen some flakes of gold leaf from the golden Kangaroo (or should I say Kaigelu) at the top of the cap were become trapped in the clear resin. As a last effort, I’d like to replace the end cap – I don’t suppose anyone would know anything about how I might go about getting my hands on a replacement? I can’t imagine getting in touch with the suppliers in China would get me very far, and I’d feel bad buying a second pen for just the cap. I notice that many people have been customising this model of pen on this forum – I don’t suppose anyone reading has one going spare? I’ve yet to sus out the trading rules for this forum, but I’ve got the spare original feed, nib, converter and (damaged) housing for the pen going spare, if anyone fancies bartering.

 

Will update if I make any more progress on this, my first little fountain pen project.

Rewpert.

[OCArt]

The K316 is such a good pen that it justifies customizing. I have routinely swapped nibs as I like broader lines but have never swapped out the feed or housing. It looks like yours turned out well and I am sure you will enjoy it for many years.

[Frank66]

Hi Rewpert,

Welcome to the Custom Kaigelu 316 Club. On behalf of all of us who have completed this modification, I would like to welcome you. I hope it was worth it for you to go through your Kaigelu nib modification. My own amber Kaigelu 316, here inked with Waterman Havana Brown ink, is still one of my most favorite pens. Sincerely,

Photios

 

http://i1376.photobucket.com/albums/ah12/phzervas/44DC6F40-4CAE-40A5-9617-1BFC2D268F83_zpsgwzig5lb.jpg

Edited August 3, 2016 by Frank66