Bamboo feed

[ndw76]

Recently while working on a feed that snapped I came up with the idea of carving a feed out of bamboo. The first attempt was a failure, but I was able to figure put what I did wrong. The second attempt worked really well. I first tried it with cheap Lammy ink. Now that I know it works I have it soaking so that I can use it with a lighter coloured ink.
This seems to work really well. So why don't we see more feeds made from bamboo? Am I missing something? Is this bamboo feed going to destroy my pen? (If it does it the pen in question is only a cheap Camlin pen).
Are there no other bamboo feeds because it can't be heat set and is labor intensive?
Are there many more self repaired pens out there?

[Jeph]

I would think that bamboo, or any wood for that matter, would be too absorbent to work properly. Trees feed water with capillary action, so you would be supplying the interior of the feed while you are feeding the nib. The natural variation in wood would also be a manufacturing issue. I doubt that it is a viable long term solution but experimenting with a cheap pen might be interesting. Let us know how it works out.

[ardgedee]

I imagine it's in part problematic for exactly what you experienced, ndw76... A bamboo feed is going to be more fragile than a plastic one. Jeph's observation that the there will be natural inconsistencies are also at issue.

The absorbency is also a problem. You will probably have to carve a new feed every time you change colors.

On the upside, it might be interesting to carve several to size and experiment with sealants and assembly. I'd bet that you could make something that could obviate the need for a feed channel.

[Flounder]

It's an interesting idea and something I've never thought of. Let us know how it goes!

[ndw76]

So far so good. I tested it out with cheap ink and once I was happy that it was the right shape I soaked the feed overnight to get as much of the blue out of the bamboo as possible. Then today I coated it with super glue and once dry a bit of filing to maintain its shape. I have loaded this pen with Stipula Saffron and I don't intend on changing ink. I imagine that eventually the ink will fill the capillary channels of the wood and dry, like an old clogged feed and only the ink channel will channel ink. I don't see this as an option for New feeds, but could be an interesting way to learn how a feed works without having to destroy ebonite feeds.
I will keep you updated about the performance of this pen.

[Ernst Bitterman]

The only serious problem I could see for the rest of the pen is if the feed begins to swell from the effects of the ink on its fibres. That might over-stress the section. That aside, where's the harm?

[ndw76]

Attachment 7469
The bamboo feed is still going strong. It delivers a nice wet line. If it has swelled it isn't noticeable and hadn't affected the section yet.

I wouldn't recommend replacing a feed with bamboo, but this has been a good way to learn how a feed works and keep a pen out of the parts bin.