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I think that's a Parker Vector - many a child in the 80s would have had one (I did)
Definitely. A fountain pen will help improve your handwriting.
Compared to ballpoint and rollerball pens, the fountain pen requires very little pressure on the nib.
Though, in practice, it’s all about hitting the sweet spot between nib width and paper quality.
For little £, I’d recommend trying the ‘Flair’ brand for starters. There’s a lot of variation in nib widths, so a selection of their fountain pens is recommended.
Thanks. I may give one a go. Keep a ballpoint to hand for hastily scribbled notes while on the phone.
@ElShalimo a couple of things regarding the pen drying up. Sometimes with a new converter they benefit from being flushed through a few times with water. Eject current ink back in to the bottle and draw water in and out of the converter through the nib.
Additionally some inks are just prone to this, I find mont blanc Irish green or whatever it is called clogs up. You could mix to inks together to try.
You may well have tried these of course
Definitely. A fountain pen will help improve your handwriting.
How about if you're left-handed?
I got one of these at half-price:
Ergonomic School Fountain Pen - STABILO EASYbirdy - M Nib - Right Handed - Blue/Light Blue https://amzn.eu/d/hK3KoBo
Fantastic and comfy, but like most of these Stabilo brand ergonomic pens, the cap does not ‘post’ on to the end of the pen whilst writing.
I prefer the counterbalance of the cap at the opposite end of the nib.
I’m sure that late Stranglers keyboard player, Dave Greenfield commented on how awkward it was to play without wearing rings on his fingers. It just didn’t feel right.
A fountain pen won't help improve your spelling.
Ooooe!
I think that’s a Parker Vector – many a child in the 80s would have had one (I did)
You’re probably right about it being a Vector, I wasn’t a child in the 80’s, though; 50’s and 60’s, yes! 😁
It’s a nice, simple pen, but it writes really nicely. The Lamy Safari just wouldn’t go, though, so I’ve put a new cartridge in. I did a bit of a search on the subject, it seems the ink used in Lamy cartridges is a bit ‘dry’, so if left for a while it thickens up and clogs the pen. Another search has led me to cheap sets of syringes with blunt needles, so it’s perfectly possible to clean out the pen and a dry cartridge, then refill it with different ink, so I’m going to get some syringes and try Waterman ink, it’s thinner so hopefully the pen will survive longer periods unused. Also an opportunity to try some different ink without buying lots of packets of cartridges. A set of syringes and needles is only £3, and I’ve already got the bottle of ink, so a cheap way of keeping it going.
I do like the Safari, the bevelled end is a great help for keeping the nib at the right angle.
It seems that the Vector is still available, Amazon do it for £9.94, so a nice cheap option for anyone thinking about trying a fountain pen. Mine has to be over forty years old, and worked perfectly with a fresh cartridge fitted.
Parker do an updated version, the Vextor XL, slightly bigger barrel, in a frosted translucent plastic - personally, it doesn’t look as classy as the original, which easily looks to be worth twice the price.
Seems there’s a stainless steel version too, but I’m happy with mine, I might get another, just in case, like…
Update on refilling cartridges with bottled ink - it works really well! The syringes have needles several centimetres long, so dead easy to suck up ink, and it takes seconds to refill a cartridge, so considering how much a pack of cartridges cost a much cheaper option. The Lamy does seem to be easier to get started if it hasn’t been used for a while, plus it gives access to a much wider range of different coloured inks as well; keeping a few empty cartridges handy to refill when needed with the ink colour du jour.
As per a number of other people, I recognised my handwriting going down the tube after a lot of typing, and rather carelessly getting into bad habits with scribbling stuff with ballpoints and rollerballs. Then I came across my old school fountain pen, a Parker something that I'd have been given as a teenager, around the mid 1970s. A bit of work with some warm water to flush the old, dried-up ink out of it, and it's a pleasure to write with again. Am only using Quink, but even with just that, it makes you want to take a bit of time when making notes in meetings etc.
Not sure what model it is, but it's doing the job for me at the moment.
(Sorry about the blue-ish colour cast on the photo, the sunlight had gone for the afternoon by the time I took it)
i bought a Lamy a few weeks ago as a result of this forum, mostly for the doing the crosswords. And also some weird coloured inks just because… What a strange path an MTB mag has taken me down.
who knew?
Well, not me, certainly!
I know I don’t write often enough, but I don’t really have much to write about. Birthday and Christmas cards are the things I write most often, and shopping lists, just to fix things in my mind; if I don’t write them down, even if I don’t check the list, it sort of fixes things in my mind.
My Montblanc Slimline.
This was given to me by a friend for being his best man when he got married in 1983.
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Just to answer Cougars question, yes, I think its improved my left handed scrawl as I find they glide easier over the paper as I'm in effect pushing the nib into the paper as a lefty, rather than dragging it as I would right handed.
Just never let anyone else use your fountain pen though as the nibs tend to aquire a bit of 'memory' to them (basically bend slightly to fit you).
TWSBI Ecos are a decent (reasonably) affordable one if you want a piston filler.
Holy thread resurrection Batman:
I've got a Lamy AL Star fine nib and it keeps drying out. I'm using diamine ink in a pukka Lamy converter but it also dries out with genuine Lamy cartridges at times. I think the nib is the issue.
Is the Medium nib more user friendly and less prone to blocking?
EDIT: I asked this question a year ago but alas the F nib seems to be the issue
I only use medium nibs on my lamy now. Partly for the reason you gave but also because they feel smoother
Funnily enough, I have a Lamy AL-Star; nib had gone a bit scratchy so I replaced it. New nib (M) writes fine but seems to dry up regularly. Anyone got any bright ideas? Was using Mont Blanc ink (as I had a bottle of it lying around) but now giving Lamy's own a go, with a Z28 converter.
Is there any mileage in emptying it and washing it through? If so, what with?
Bizarrely, after months of not using my FP I filled it up this morning and brought it to work today.
Still the TWBSI Eco going strong.
@ratherbeintobago I had a bottle of Mont Blanc Irish green that used to do this. I ended up mixing it with some blue Quink in the end and it was fine after that.
Washing through I have always done just with fresh water, pull fresh water through and eject out. Repeat until the water comes out clear
Have a look at kaweco - www.cultpens.co.uk have a good selection
The brass kaweco pens are my favourite - and I say this as a former mont blanc user
I think the decrease in Ni this month could fund a new pen....
Last year I found a Parker that must have been given to one of my daughters years ago - not sure it had seen much use.
Off the back of this thread I cleaned it up and bough some proper cartridges to give it a go - love it! I think fountain pens make writing somehow a bit more special.
I kinda like the idea of messing with different ink colours so I've bought a Lamy Vista and will be getting a converter so I get stuck into some funky colours!
Anyone got a Lamy Aion?
Bought another Jinghao pen today and then followed up with more inks from Diamine. If it’s not bike part PSAs it pens or shoes or razors… 😅
Had anyone ordered the Namisu pocket Ti pen on Kickstarter?
Thought about it last week, but then (for once) realised I have more than enough nice pens.
Since that realisation have since bought another two brass Kaweco Sports (rollerball and clutch pencil)...
Current daily driver's a promotional Pelikan - father in law's old German parent company - I think it's basically a 400? I bought a fine nib for it, but wish I'd gone extra-fine (the pelikan nibs seem to yield 'fatter' results than I'd expect). Had made a pen from a kit using my lathe a good while back, which still gets a look in now & then.
I have a couple of other namisu pens, but that one just seems too small for me to be happy using really good pens though
I bought their Ixion 6 years ago. I like it but they weren't great to deal with at that time
Am I the only one that just uses the free pens that come in begging letters from charities?
BTW I'm left handed so **** fountain pens!
Am I the only one that just uses the free pens that come in begging letters from charities?
BTW I’m left handed so **** fountain pens!
I used to have handfuls of the charity pens, I worked for a company that did all of the print, enclosing all of the stuff in the envelopes, and sorting the mail, cash, doing the draws, etc., so there were always loads kicking around - still got a few in a tin by the landline.
They are complete garbage.
Fountain pens are ambidextrous when new, unless they’re fitted with an oblique nib, otherwise it matters not a jot whether you are left handed or not - over time the nib will adapt specifically to your writing.
Out of all of the fountain pens I’ve aquired, the Parker Vector is the only one that starts pretty much straight away, maybe a touch of moisture to get it going. It writes so well, too, which is a bit of a blessing, because I’m developing arthritis in my thumb joints; started writing a pile of Christmas cards, got to the third one and a sudden sharp pain in the joint made me drop the pen! 😖
BTW I’m left handed so **** fountain pens!
Sinister here too. Love my fountain pens but they don't always love me...
it matters not a jot whether you are left handed or not
The pen may work like a dream, I will still smudge everything with my hand.
Left handed user, no smudging maybe I adapted my writing at a young age?