At one point (some time ago) I looked into maybe buying a Jinhao fountain pen to give it a try but decided against it due to the heat setting I didn't want to mess with. After sharing with my friend about this, she mentioned if she could do it, so could I so I gave it a try since I already had Konrads just sitting in a drawer with no intentions of using (don't like the fiddly nibs and the bodies are not exactly of the highest quality).
First attempt was not real successful using a red body Konrad. I had trouble getting the feed/nib into the body and also pulling back out. Once I finally got it into the body, it took several attempts at heat setting using hot water (brought just to boiling in microwave). One has to dip the feed/nib into the hot water and hold it there for about 30 seconds to soften the ebonite (rubber) feed and then press the feed into the nib while it cools.
I managed to get the feed to almost fit the nib but there was still a gap I needed to continue working on. The feed needed to be closer to or resting against the inside curve of the nib there near the tines. After several attempts, I was able to get it rather close and decided to try the pen out.
The pen itself leaked ink where the feed/nib fit into the body. Upon close examination, I found the opening was warped. Not sure if that was already an issue or if the hot water did anything to the plastic.
Went back and grabbed another Konrad (yellow/orange body) and using the feed/nib I was already working with, went through the same process only this time with the different body. It worked after only one attempt with the heat setting ... allowing me to place the feed/nib into the body and pull out without too much trouble. The feed finally "molded" to the G nib to include near the tines.
Loaded the pen with ink and now after a couple days later, all seems well. There is no leakage where feed/nib go into the body and it's feeding ink OK. Not as efficiently as it would with the regular fountain pen nib but well enough without too much hassle.
Personal notes after playing and doing more research (after the hack):
G Nibs are super scratchy and do not do well on paper with any tooth.
G Nibs are meant to be used with dip pen bodies and thicker ink....ink that is not designed to work in fountain pens as they will clog and damage the pens.
G nibs are not meant to be in constant contact with ink as they will quickly rust. If hacked into a fountain pen, rusting could cause issues trying to change out the nib to a fresh one..........possibly ruining the pen.
G nibs wear out quickly and why you get several in a pack. Not sure I'd want to have to mess with changing them out.........especially if I have to go through heat setting each one to the same feed.....seems kind of a hassle to me.
Not sure I really needed to do this as I'm really not concerned with thick/thin lines in my sketches like Manga artists try to achieve. Nor do I try to work calligraphy style lettering. I find working thin and thick to be taxing on my hand; and, too time consuming and I really don't have that much patience with lettering. I prefer other artsy methods of adding wording to my pages. But I guess it was worth experimenting just to see if I could do what several other people are doing by hacking a dip pen nib to a fountain pen body.
Doodling with the hacked pen:
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