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13-5-2015 21:26:44  #1


The Official Fountain Pen Thread

This thread is for the fountain pen enthusiasts amongst us, so show us what you've got, tell us about your favorite pens, and which inks tickle your fancy.

Caps off, and let the ink flow!


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
 

14-5-2015 09:27:42  #2


Re: The Official Fountain Pen Thread

As I mentioned in the thread that lead to this addition by Uwe, I've just ordered my first fountain pen.  I got the Pilot Metropolitan. Colrehogan told me about the Goulet website and I checked out some stuff there.  I also got a sample pack of ink.  I was considering a Lamy, but I went with this as my first one.  I do have a couple of Pilot Varsity disposables. They are cute.  I'll let you all know what I think when I get it.  I'm hoping it will magically transform my handwriting into beautiful script.  Do you think that's a possibility?!?

 

14-5-2015 14:04:41  #3


Re: The Official Fountain Pen Thread

This is a dangerous path that you are forging. Fountain Pens are just as addicting as typewriters, perhaps more as they require less storage space. 

But if you must, my favorite is the Sheaffer PFM. It is the Selectric 72 of pens. Big, smooth, American and efficient.

Dave


Los Angeles, CA
 

14-5-2015 22:11:38  #4


Re: The Official Fountain Pen Thread

My favorites are: Montblanc 149 (B, O3B, OM nibs), Pelikan M800 Tortoise (O3B nib), Pilot Custom 823 B nib, Pilot Vanishing Point (B,M nibs), and a Montblanc P221 (F nib, I think).  My favorite inks are Noodler's Dark Matter, Diamine's Deep Dark series, Deep Dark Blue, Purple, Green, Red, Brown and Orange, Pilot Blue, Black and Blue-Black.  There are others, but I'd fill the entire post if I continued on. 

Last edited by colrehogan (15-5-2015 12:43:00)


Smith Premier typewriters are cool!
 

15-5-2015 05:23:01  #5


Re: The Official Fountain Pen Thread

I've never looked back from buying my Pelikan M805 (broad nib); it's such a treat to use.  I have some other new pens (Safaris and Pilots) and seveal vintage ones.  I really only need three or four (different nibs and inks) but once you start!  Most people seem to turn into collectors via a search for the perfect pen (or typewriter) for them, so you end up with dozens as you search.  Eventually, you begin to get rid of or ignore most of them.
I'm still at the search stage with TWs, but have the pen thing under control!

Last edited by beak (15-5-2015 05:23:53)


Sincerely,
beak.
 
 

15-5-2015 05:53:29  #6


Re: The Official Fountain Pen Thread

I'm just going through the small sample of inks I received.  So far I've only tried urm... Something called  Scabulosa; it's sort of a grayish purple.  Then, Diamine Antique Copper, I liked that one a lot.  I'm on noodler's Liberty's Elysium right now, and I don't really care for it.  The lines seem fatter than with the antique copper I had tried out previously. The color is pretty though.  I'd guess the qualities of an ink can vary based on what pen and nib you are using? Are there big differences in the brands of ink? I mean, like if you find you like a couple of Diamine over Noodler's, will you generally find that you prefer Diamine? Or does it all just depend on the individual ink? I looked at fountain pen network some last night, but got overwhelmed.

I will admit, I stumbled across a partially used visa gift card that I'd forgotten about last night and went ahead and ordered a Lamy Safari.  I would have gotten more, but there wasn't too much $ left on the gift card. 

Last edited by Spazmelda (15-5-2015 06:31:46)

 

15-5-2015 08:27:19  #7


Re: The Official Fountain Pen Thread

I get annoyed being the only person using a fountain pen in my high school.People just stare at my pen and then ask to lend them for a few minutes.But,I just LOVE it when they start writing.They just wont let it go. 
 

 

15-5-2015 09:46:18  #8


Re: The Official Fountain Pen Thread

Wish I had a Pelikan 800, but for some reason Santa never seems to deliver one.

I've never counted, but I'm guessing that I own a few dozen pens from vintage to contemporary, and from expensive to budget. However, my daily drivers, the ones that I'm currently using all of the time, include two Kaweco and  two TWSBI models. 

The Kaweco pens are a no-brainer. The Sport is inexpensive, writes very nicely, and because you can use it as an eyedropper, it holds a LOT of ink. Plus, since it's very compact, it's easy to carry around. Even smaller is the Kaweco Liliput, which is about the size of a cigarette and my choice for travel and for using with a reporter's journal (which is definitely not a Moleskine, but a Leuchttürm1917 - better quality paper AND less expensive).

The TWSBI pens were a pleasant surprise. The Micarta is to put it simply, unique. And the piston filler Diamond 540, a good quality writer that holds plenty of ink (although not as much as the Kaweco). As you can see, large ink reservoirs are important to me; when you do a lot of writing, especially in the field, it's very annoying to suddenly find yourself out of ink. 

Kaweco Sport


Kaweco Liliput (with Sport)

[img]http://www.vorg.com/pens/Leuchttürm1917_Wachtendorf_Collection.JPG[/img]

TWSBI Micarta


TWSBI Diamond 540


Poor penmanship 


You can't tell from the terrible photo, but the Montblanc ink (Oyster Grey) is quite remarkable because on normal paper you would swear that it was written with a pencil. 


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
     Thread Starter
 

15-5-2015 15:12:53  #9


Re: The Official Fountain Pen Thread

When I rediscovered fountain pens about 13 years ago, I already had a Parker from the 1980s, but then bought a Cross. Didn't really like the way it wrote, used it for awhile then put it away. Several years later I got a Pelikan M200, and then one for my wife, with which I've used Parker Quink blue/black ink exclusively since.

Then I got a Lamy Safari with converter, which writes very nice with the same blue/black Quink, has a finer tip than the more expensive Pelikan, but writes better. Go figure; sometimes cheaper is better.

My latest pen is an X-Pen, on deep discount from my local pen store. It's more like a medium point, but writes very well (I can't remember the ink I'm using in that pen, but it's not Parker), and has a very nice weight to it, which is something I miss about using the affordable Pelikans and Lamys, their plastic bodies just don't feel hefty enough for comfort. The X-Pen is black with gold trim, and feels like, underneath the fancy finish, it might be brass.

I'll post pictures another day; I need to update my Flickr with newer fountain pen images.

Thanks, Uwe, for starting this thread.

~Joe

PS: I often compose my typecasted blog articles first with fountain pen in a composition book, then redline edit before transcribing via typewriter.

Last edited by JoeV (15-5-2015 15:14:39)

 

15-5-2015 15:19:22  #10


Re: The Official Fountain Pen Thread

Okay, a story about the Pelikan I bought for my wife. She wasn't used to FPs, and was a heavy-handed writer, being an office administrative assistant and spending a career writing with cheaply made ballpoint pens. So the first time she goes to use the Pelikan, she presses too hard and splits the nip too wide. After that, the pen wouldn't write good at all, so I put it in a drawer and chalked it up to experience.

Some time later, I started doing some online research and found that I could order replacement nibs direct from Pelikan, for about a third of what a new pen would cost.

After replacing the nib, and a lesson in FP usage, she's been a happy FP user ever since. Though I do the ink refill for her, since ladies shouldn't be seen with FP ink on their delicate fingers (or so she says).

~Joe

 

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