• This topic has 218 replies, 48 voices, and was last updated 1 month ago by Bear.
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  • Fountain pens?
  • CountZero
    Full Member

    @colournoise – that’s the big advantage of the GO model I’ve just bought, it’s a spring plunger, so all one piece, just stick the nib in the bottle and press down on the other end, a simple process for a simple soul… 😉

    @CF
    – this is Cara the singer, she’s Irish, if that’s significant;

    colournoise
    Full Member

    Yeah I’ve got a couple of the GOs kicking around too. Decent cheap and cheerful pens.

    I’m just preparing a pencils picture. Here or a new thread (if anyone as remotely geeky as me about these things is bothered)?

    cranberry
    Free Member

    As far as ink goes, I’ve got a full bottle of Parker quink. Needs to be black and quick drying so my stupid left hand doesn’t smudge it. Any rec’s?

    I looked at Akkermans Ijzer Galnoten ( which I use ), very good and being iron gall it dries to be waterproof, the bottles are good value at €15 ( excellent 60ml bottle ), but it would be the same again for postage 🙁

    https://www.vulpennen.nl/en/akkerman/p-1a/AkkInkt010.html

    Diamine stuff tends to be cheap, easy to source, and well regarded, no experience of any of their stuff though. For full geekiness, and in deptth ink information, see here:

    http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/forum/35-ink-reviews/

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    colournoise
    Full Member

    Diamine ink is pretty good IMO. I also like Lamy’s T52 ink but it’s not available in as wide a range of colours.

    aphex_2k
    Free Member

    Black is fine for me, we have to write our notes in black ink. Kinda sad how excited I am for a pen to arrive.

    aphex_2k
    Free Member

    And ordered a green Lamy Safari and some black diamine. Must stop spending now. All this stuff is gonna arrive at the same time and the missus is wfh. What a mistaka to maka.

    ElShalimo
    Full Member

    @aphex_2k – is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission

    aphex_2k
    Free Member

    No, it’s easier to have shi7 delivered to work ;/

    colournoise
    Full Member

    BUMP! Found a few more…

    And then thought I might as well do the mechanical pencils / lead holders…

    The Copics are just lovely things to work with…

    But these are the workhorse ones I go to…

    ElShalimo
    Full Member

    Is the white one (bottom row 6th in from right) a Faber Castell Grip?

    colournoise
    Full Member

    ElShalimo
    Is the white one (bottom row 6th in from right) a Faber Castell Grip?

    Yup. Nice enough but not quite the right shape for me to want to use regularly.

    ElShalimo
    Full Member

    I’ve got one too. It’s okay but not that comfy for prolonged use

    jp-t853
    Full Member

    Regarding ink leaking through the pages I have realised today it depends on the ink.

    My daily pen is the Conklin Duragraph at the bottom which has a mid green ink and that is fine
    I have been using the Montblanc today which has a mid blue ink in and that bleeds through the paper.

    Diamine Mediterranean Blue is a lighter blue and does not leak much so I will swap to that.

    Pens

    cranberry
    Free Member

    Bleedthrough depends on the ink and the paper used. Moleskine does not have a great rep for use with fountain pens. Leuchtturm or Rhodia are better.

    From about 7:00 for example:

    My Pilot Elite turned up yesterday- only £43 for a fine Japanese pocket pen with an 18K gold nib because there was a little damage on the cap – writes incredibly smooth for a pen that is several decades old.

    Review clicky

    bob_summers
    Full Member

    I have one of these, but in burgundy. 70s Sheaffer White Dot, or 330. Love how it writes – nice and broad, lays down lots of ink, but it’s cracked and been glued together so many times I could do with another. But I’m not sure if they write like this out of the box or they need decades of breaking in! They come up on the bay for a few quid so I’ll just take a punt and see, unless anyone can recommend? FWIW I’m lefthanded and this pen has always felt ‘right’ – whether the tip is rounder or something, I don’t know.

    SaxonRider
    Full Member

    Can I ask about all of your experience of ink drying up in the nib after only a few days of non-use?

    I got an inexpensive, but seemingly nice, metal-barrelled Platignum, and I don’t think it lasted beyond the first try after I inserted the cartridge. Indeed, I went to take notes at a meeting only about two or three days after I got it, and there was no way I could get it to flow again.

    I would love to get one that didn’t decide to clog just because it had sat for more than 24 hours.

    grahamt1980
    Full Member

    Seems a bit odd, I have had pens that have been left months that haven’t clogged, all of them cartridges.
    The latest ones (mainly due to this thread) are ink refills but have only had maybe 4 days between usage and they have been fine. A mix of sailor, ddiamine and other inks so 24 hours seems off.

    jp-t853
    Full Member

    It is often the type of ink that affects the clogging. Mont Blanc Emerald Green always blocked my pens so I mixed it with another ink.

    If the pen is new then it can help to push ink through the pen a few times but you will need a converter for that. Also pushing fresh water through the pen a few times seems to get things flowing better.

    aphex_2k
    Free Member

    Well I can’t say my handwriting has got any neater, but it’s more joyful to write with a fountain pen that’s for sure. Really liking the TWSBI Eco but I’m scared to drop it as it feels fragile, like the plastic is brittle.

    I’m going to order a Lamy I think, with a refillable cart. I like the look of the premium TWSBI’s but I can’t push that much on a pen….(Although I probably will succumb).

    poolman
    Free Member

    Top tip but cross have a lifetime warranty the black lacquer on my Townsend sort of bubbled up, sent it back they replaced it, plus a new refill it was a rollerball. Also sent back the fountain pen as it was clogging, they cleaned it and charged me 6 gbp I think.

    A few Townsend owners on here, lovely pens.

    CountZero
    Full Member

    @SaxonRider – try one of the pens like I’ve got, the TWSBI GO, I carry it in my pocket, and it works every time I go to use it. It doesn’t need cartridges, just a bottle of ink, you dip the nib into the bottle and press the plunger, kind of like using a syringe, except it’s spring-loaded. I love it, it writes really smoothly, using Waterman intense black ink, and being transparent you can always see how much ink is left.

    Spud
    Full Member

    Use a rather nice, but industrial looking, Rotring fountain pen that my dad gave me. Also have a ball point and propelling pencil of theirs too. Just feels right in the hand. Went a long time not using it and now I’ve been working at home since March dug it out the drawer again and it’s like an old friend.

    ElShalimo
    Full Member

    Good thread resurrection: I’ve been thinking about getting a Namisu Naos, they look really nice

    grahamt1980
    Full Member

    @ElShalimo
    Get one, I got them on the kickstarter and they are great.
    I will say get the ti or al ones as I found that using the brass one I actually got a metallic taste in my mouth.
    also the medium bock nib seems to work much better than the fine. But maybe that is just me.
    they feel lovely to use.

    ElShalimo
    Full Member

    Thanks

    I’ve got the Ixion pen. The Bock nib is great. I like larger pens so it sounds great to me

    andykirk
    Free Member

    Damn this thread for making me shift yet another load of cash at Cult Pens….

    That’s me off the internet until Christmas.

    ElShalimo
    Full Member

    Cult Pens is great

    mutepoint
    Free Member

    Does anyone know anything re: Adler and their carbon fiber model?

    I’d like a Mont Blanc one mind!

    BillMC
    Full Member

    Despite all the training in standards and ethics at Salford General apparently fountain pens had a high status among the junior doctors but they were considered fair game and had an Olympic capacity to walk. Aphex corroborates this, it’s clearly a medical problem. I always imagined they were feeling for your heartbeat not whether you’d got a Lamy.

    BillMC
    Full Member

    Update. The sought after pens are black (prerequisite for notes) so to cure this you put blue tops on your black pens. Who could say all those years at the tomes were wasted?

    Joe
    Full Member

    My Mont Blanc Fountain pen is horrible to write with, leaks ink and is generally a POS. Been back to Mont Blanc for service a couple of times. Fantastic for signing large cheques, or acts of parliaments, fairly useless as a writing instrument.

    ElShalimo
    Full Member

    @Joe – it sound ideal for a fectard like Trump. All bling, no substance and blumming useless


    @CountZero
    – what’s the TWSBI Go like for holding up to daily use/abuse?

    I’ve heard they write lovely but the thin plastic barrels are prone to breaking

    gauss1777
    Free Member

    My Mont Blanc Fountain pen is horrible to write with, leaks ink and is generally a POS. Been back to Mont Blanc for service a couple of times. Fantastic for signing large cheques, or acts of parliaments, fairly useless as a writing instrument.

    This is interesting, I have a Mont Blanc fountain pen that I bought myself in the early 80’s, but it leaks too and I have used it very little. The white symbol has also yellowed. I’d sell it if it was easy enough to do and would sell – any idea if it would be worthwhile looking into and how to go about it? (no box or anything).

    CountZero
    Full Member

    @ElShalamo – honestly, it’s difficult to say. I don’t carry it during the week at work, because I only need a pen to scribble down a car registration on a scrap of paper, or it’s location on my hand, and a cheap ballpoint is far more suitable, otherwise I carry a Sharpie and a white permanent paint pen for writing on car windscreens. I do use it at weekends for writing notes and shopping lists, birthday cards, that sort of stuff, and it’s always in my pocket attached to a lanyard, so far it’s standing up pretty well; the only issue I’ve come across is the barrel has a habit of unscrewing itself, which is a pain if you carry it on a lanyard round your neck. I lost mine walking home from town by an extended route one Saturday afternoon, and had to retrace my steps, found it lying in the grass about a mile back!
    I’ve kept it in my pocket after that…
    I guess the plastic might become fragile after a while, clear plastic does seem to crack more easily than coloured, but so far mine is holding up just fine.
    It’s certainly my favourite pen for just writing with, it’s very smooth, starts almost straight away, and somehow it actually manages to make my handwriting look good!
    It almost makes me wish I was one of those people who fill notebooks with insightful notes and beautiful sketches of interesting things, just to take advantage of how nice it is to write with! 😁

    greatbeardedone
    Free Member

    @op

    Maybe you need a wider pen?

    Crap name, but improved ergonomics

    Bic Bu3 Grip 1.0 Black Retractable Ball Pen 4 Pack Stationery https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B016RY85N6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_2wtGFb2DF0N58

    colournoise
    Full Member

    Not a fountain pen, and a bit spendy for a biro, but I’ve just got one of these and it’s a wonderful thing to hold and use.

    ElShalimo
    Full Member

    @CountZero – thanks

    grahamt1980
    Full Member

    Bought a medium ti bock nib for my naos a couple of weeks ago. It’s lovely to use, much nicer than the steel one

    greatbeardedone
    Free Member

    Nice topic!

    I haven’t picked up a fountain pen in nearly thirty years, but im intrigued by the platinum preppy. Inexpensive and will accept international standard cartridges with a converter.

    Another inexpensive option are the ‘jinhao’ brand. Any musings on them, and do they accept the IS cartridge or a smaller version?

    Btw, Tesco’s sell these for £1.50

    https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwj40PrZm63sAhXcURUIHcPjD38QFjAFegQICBAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.britishonlinesupermarket.com%2Fwhite-furze-0-6l-pencil-box.html&usg=AOvVaw28qLG8k-RtQh7KUJ75M-Mu

    They’re great for storing colouring pencils, so they should be large enough for fountain pens too.

    Joe
    Full Member

    The Lamy Safari with a fine nib, using lamy’s own ink is the way forward. Period.

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