Day-to-day: Kaweco Sport, it works, cheap, writes easy.
Nice things: Pilot Myu, because of the design.
Ink:Diamine
Paper:Leuchtturm. No bleed

@lukedwr – do you find the Kaweco a bit small “in the hand”?

Yes, a little tiny bit. But I have smallish hands. Cap on end definitely. But I like the weight, balance and that I have them chucked in a bag all day, can pull them out and write perfectly. No leakage from nib, easy to clean, not quite cheap enough to be disposable but I’m not too attached to them I worry when using them (unlike the Myu). Also the plastic is quite grippy. And they are not too fat either.

And if I could work out how to link an image from google photos I’d show you the relative size to my hands!!

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2jWcsfU]20201017_025130 (1)[/url] by Luke Dow, on Flickr

Finally.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2jW8334]20201017_030749[/url] by Luke Dow, on Flickr

So my pen choice is small pens – Kaweco Sport, Parker T1, Pilot Myu, unknown Parker (was Dads)

Nice pens, especially the Myu

Are your hands really that small, or are they just far away?

😜

I bought a couple of lamy safari knock-offs. Impressive at first, but the genuine lamy ink cartridge spewed out in one of them. These pens do come with an ink reservoir for bottled ink, though.

I’m impressed with the jinhao. No problems with standard (short) international cartridges.

Im really enjoying the inexpensive platinum preppy. The extra/ fine nib is a bit scratchy for handwriting, but excellent for colouring books.

They make some crazy expensive pens too…

I had a Jinhao 599? (the Safari copy) and it was great for about 6months then it decided to leak every time I touched it, or looked at it. Shame as it was nice when it worked.

I recently bought a Lamy AL Star to replace it.

I always wanted a bright yellow Safari but this was half price

😉

Bit of a psa…

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284065485707

(Bottles of ink.)

@elshalimo

I’ve got a few unused lamy cartridges, so I’m looking at one of their ‘joy 1.1’ calligraphy pens😏

Cult pens are doing 10% off some fountain pens for Fountain Pen Day..who knew?

https://www.cultpens.com/c/q/special-offers/10-off-selected-fountain-pens?sort=price-asc

So question for all you fountain pen nuts out there:

I’ve got a cheap (£10) Parker fountain pen I’ve used for years. It would be nice to have something a bit nicer. But where do I start? Do I need to try before I buy? Go to a pen shop? Take a punt on eBay? How much variation is there in how they write?

I recently bought a Lamy AL Star to replace it.

From Cult Pens? I got one of those from them recently too. Had gone on to get a safari and that very pen was a tenner.

I like the Kaweco Sport too. Lovely wee thing. I’m lusting after the brass version.

yes but it was £13.50

https://www.cultpens.com/i/q/LM64171/lamy-al-star-fountain-pen-bronze-special-edition

I have the brass Kaweco roller ball, tempted to get the fountain pen to go with it, been using a Zebra disposable fountain pen pretty much not stop since the misses got it me.

@stonster – as shops will be closing today for at least a month, it’s probably best to read a few blogs on this. Look at beginner pens and also the next step up pens. There’s loads of info out there but it’s all subjective

I’ve been really impressed with this. Fantastic ergonomics and soooo smooth…

https://www.pelikan.com/pulse/Pulsar/en_US_INTL.Store.displayStore.260671./twist-fountain-pen-frosted-blue

BUT, the body of the pen is manufactured from the same kind of cheap plastic that’s found on waiting-room chairs.

I’m pretty sure that the nibs body must unscrew and possibly fit into some kind of generic bamboo pen body.

Re: platinum preppy, kind of a psa…

visit cultpens.com
Dear
You requested a stock alert from Cult Pens on

We’re sorry to say that Platinum International Adapter has now been discontinued, so we won’t be able to get any more.

We don’t usually discontinue items ourselves, so it’s likely the manufacturer has stopped making them. Check our site to see what’s currently available, or reply to this email if you’d like us to help you find an alternative. If you let us know what you liked about this product, we may know of something similar.

https://www.cultpens.com/

So, you will still be able use bottled ink as well as platinums cartridges in their pens.

But these adaptors gave you access to a broader range of international standard ink cartridges without the potential mess of bottled ink.

Purepens.co.uk might have some adapters left.

Nows your chance to corner that market📐

Thanks for that. I’ve been waiting for them to come back into stock

This thread continues to cost me £, in a good way of course. A Kaweco Sport Al is with Santa 😃. Anyway, I bought one of the bronze Lamy Al a little while ago, however the ink rarely flows freely and takes lots of faffing to get it to. Any idea from the fountain pen users collective?

I envy people with good handwriting. One of my nieces and also a young lady at work have amazing handwriting that I’ve admitted to being jealous of.

My handwriting at best is a scrawl. I’ve written things and thought WTF does that say, so any decent pen is completely wasted on me even though I do like the looks of a nice pen.

I’ve been getting back into writing and illustration and I bought a Monami Olika – it seemed quite impressive at first for the price but seems to have dried up after not much use (there’s still plenty of ink in the cartridge). Is there anything I can do to get it going again?

You have to use fountain pens regularly to stop the ink drying inside them. There’s a few yt Vids on cleaning, you just flush them through with warm water.

My cross townsend, which I love, but rarely use, dried up I tried everything and it was still scratchy. Cross offer a lifetime guarantee so I sent it back, they cleaned it for me, charged 6 quid.

I use the rollerball daily, not the fp. Problem is I bought the set, brio, fp, rollerball, so I use the most user friendly one, the rollerball.

Try squeezing the cartridge to get the ink following through the capillaries and the nib – do it somewhere that ink won’t damage or leave enormous stains.

For the money, this is pretty impressive…

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/283104169692

Maybe it’s the iridium tip?

They also make one called the ‘tanker’ with an even broader nib. However, it seems that you can only swap cartridges by screwing on a new body to the nib.

Just got into pens myself. Currently got a pilot capless and a Lamy Dialog 3. And a few bottles of Diamine ink. I can see how this hobby can spiral…., currently got my eye on yet more ink 😬

It doesn’t have to cost a huge amount to get a decent pen

I’ve recently been using a Platinum Preppy £4 fountain pen. It’s very good for £4. If you buy the  international cartridge converter for £1.50 you can use much cheaper ink in it.

Use a fountain pen quite frequently, decided that since I was writing by hand less and less, when I did I’d use a nice pen rather than some shite disposable biro. Plus they look nice with a nice notebook in meetings haha.

I used to swear by Parker, until I bough a Lamy and now I won’t go back, much more reliable, don’t go dry and clog all the time and the nibs are better. I’ve got a Safari AL-star in a pleasing anodised purple colour, my taste in fountain pens is the same as bike components!

That said, I still want a Mont Blanc! Someday, the long wait in Geneva Airport will get expensive!

Well I succumbed to the new ink, one bottle of Robert Oster Fire and Ice on its way.

Day to day – Pilot Decimo Vanishing Point
Travel – Cult Pens mini, by Kaweco
Different Colour – Parker 75 – but this needs a nib repair..

Ink- J.Herbin – Brown
Lamy – Blue

What the flippety flip did I come in here for…? At least the Lamy Al-Star pen and converter to propa ink is only £20.

In other news, my Mont Blanc Le Grand fountain and ballpoint pens appear to be appreciating at an alarming rate…

I like the ballpoint, platinum accents are a bit less ‘common’ and it has a nice thick point for smoothness. The fountain jobbie dunt get much use. I find it a bit scratchy even though it’s been off to the nib whisperer…

I’ve gone full niche and started using dip pens, although mostly for illustration. It’s really satisfying and easy/cheap to use different nibs etc

The power and influence of the Singletrack Forum! Been lusting after a Pelikan M800 for over a year and after reading through this thread, thought, sod it! and ordered my grail pen! Many thanks for the push I needed! 🤗

Oh, and the Kaweco Al Sport is my current writing implement and posted it’s a superb writer. And I’m a leftie with large hands. I also use Diamine ink which has also been great, with a wonderful colour choice.

Excellent work @badgerbater. I quite fancy a Visconti Home Sapiens Bronze Age, and could almost convince myself to do it if the quality control on them wasn’t so variable. All these nice pens are fully wasted on me anyway, my handwriting is small and ugly, but there’s just something much more enjoyable about writing with a nice fountain pen.

@kneebiscuit I’m not a particularly neat writer. I always seem to want to think faster than I can write and especially when I’m using a ballpoint, I sometimes can’t read back my own writing! However, having rediscovered the fountain pen during lockdown, I find that the very act of using a fountain pen, even for desk work, is a more enjoyable experience and almost makes me want to write more legibly. Hard to explain, but I just enjoy the experience more. I’ve also taken up penning my thoughts in a journal. It’s amazing what lockdown is doing to us all, in hopefully a positive way.

I find that the very act of using a fountain pen, even for desk work, is a more enjoyable experience and almost makes me want to write more legibly. Hard to explain, but I just enjoy the experience more. I’ve also taken up penning my thoughts in a journal. It’s amazing what lockdown is doing to us all, in hopefully a positive way.

I find this sums up certain experiences for me.
A casual decision to learn to eat comfortably with chopsticks has lead to me changing how and what I cook, making large swathes of a previously ingrained process more considered. Just by adopting something considered normal by one third of the world’s population.

Chopsticks for writing?

😉

Its all a process.
Changing tools changes the method and ultimately affects the result.
When you look past the chopstick being at the end of the process and realise its effects during the process you find a new level of connection.
Find the quiet moments in Korean street food preparation for example. Look beyond the performance of the cooking and notice the almost hidden perfection of technique that is not there for the show, just for the artist’s benefit.

And of course there’s less washing up if you use your chopsticks instead of a whisk.

I love nice pens. I used to have about 5 on the go at the same time, all with different colour ink. But I found I wasn’t using them as often so I slowly reduced the number in rotation. Mix of pilot, rotring and twsbi.

I now use a Pilot Fermo with black pilot cartridges as my main pen with a rotring mechanical pencil. Use Rhodia webnotebooks as my work notebook

Simple pleasures 🙂