Fountain pen, someone?

[Brian Levy]

For me I use a variety but mainly I prefer fountain pens. I have a group of Parkers including a 75, a Sonnett, 3 Frontiers and others. Also into Sheaffers. I've tried others and the only other brand that interests me is the Pelican. For my throwaway and walk arounds, I do use the BIC disposable FP and it lives up to my expections. Almost every time I go out with one, someone at the meeting takes it.

Not into the inks in any big way. I use Parker Quick as it is what the local stationary store has as well as the Parker and Shaeffer cartridge refills. My son who a few months ago discovered the fountain pen and has since cleaned out my larder of my pen collection save the above has tried some custom inks, not sure of the brand.

For ballpoints and mechanical pencils, I am a confirmed Parker T Ball lover. I keep an inventory of some 20 sets on hand. At the office I use technical pencil holders as I like the thicker lead and having to stop from time to time and repoint allowing me time to think and consider what I am writing. At the office I also keep a number of Autopoint Pencils in the cup. A few years ago I was amazed to find out the company was still in business and making pencils and I'll take their lead holders over any from any other company. However, I have seen their prices rising of late but, still very good deals.

 

[matthew J Shaw]

Fountain pens all the way...

And a really geeky one at that, I use an old Rotring (600 series if I remember) and when its all capped up etc it just looks like a hexagonal bar of metal.

Feels great to write with, and looks cool to 🙂

 

[Robert Lai]

I'm sure that most of you will come to realize at some point that fountain pen prices can equal that of some very fine cameras. In fact, some of my pens cost more than my cameras, which is why I'm not collecting any more pens, just cameras 🙂

For those of you who like to flip the pen on the opposite side, and write with the face of the nib down to get a finer line, try the Parker 180. The name indicates its purpose. It's broad on one side, and if you rotate it 180 degrees axially, the opposite side of the nib gives you a fine line. Since the nib was designed with this purpose in mind, it is smooth on both sides. Usually the "wrong" side of the nib is super scratchy on other pens.

 

[urban_alchemist]

I'm a bit obsessed with fountain pens at the moment. About two years ago I started writing. Alot. Like 10 pages a day; all by hand, all with fountain pens. I rotate fountain pens and/or inks every day so that I can see at a glance what was a good day, and what wasn't.

My collection, by brand:

Waterman - 7 red ripple (pink nib)
Conklin - Rolled Gold 1912 crescent filler (Toledo 3 nib)
Parker - Gold Vacumatic (F), 51 Vacumatic (BB-stub)
Pelikan - M800 demonstrator (F, John Mottishaw BB-stub)
Montblanc - 146 (M), 32 (EF), 12 (EF), 82 (OM)
Pilot/Namiki - M90 (F), Custom 823 (F)
Nakaya - Piccolo Red-Red urushi (Flexible F), Decapod Writer brown-green urushi (John Mottishaw Flexible Medium Cursive Italic)
Visconti - Wall Street LE red (stub)
Sailor - 1911 Creatures of the Deep Maki-e (Cross Concord Emperor), Pro-Gear (Saibi-Togi XXXF), 1911 Realo (F), King of Pen Marble Ebonite (King Eagle), Sapporo (F), Trident
Edison - Yellow-Black mottled ebonite Pearl bulb-filler (XXF)
Aurora - 88 Big (italic)
Danitrio - something big in black urushi, eyedrop filler (F)
Lamy - 4 x Safari, Vista, 2 x 2000 (EF + M)
Schaeffer - Snorkel Imperial (F)

I think that's it... Must admit that my Nakayas and 1960s Montblancs are my favourites - the nibs just seem to have real soul...

Now please... don't ask me about my inks (although I will admit to being Iroshizuku and Sailor Jentle obsessed)!

 

[semilog]

Thanks, folks. Couldn't find Swisher's in a color that I wanted, so I'm going to splurge on a bottle of Iroshizuku. Namiki inks have never failed me.

 

[semilog]

Noodler's inks are excellent as well.

My luck has varied. Noodler's Legal Lapis is a favourite, but the Forest Green flowed poorly in both of my pens and smeared all over the place. Problems may be less for the right-handed.

 

[ederek]

Well, jetpens.com has the Pilot Iroshizuku (50 ml) for $28 including shipping. Giving the Tsuki-yo Night Sky (Greenish Deep Blue) a try...

There is a color pallette here:
http://www.pilot.co.jp/products/pen/fountain/iroshizuku/index.html

 

[deirdre]

Well, I'm going to have a lot fewer pens soon. Hopefully, I'll have a Leica out of that transformation. Wish me luck.

 

[pvdhaar]

About a year ago, I made the switch from ballpoint to fountain pen. Couldn't be happier, given that so much less pressure is required. Current pen is a 'Diplomat Traveler Steel GT'.. with GT meaning Gold Trim of course and not Gran Turismo 😉

 

[bsdunek]

Mechanical pencil.

My favorite too. I can control the darkness and line width, and erase my misteks.

 

[Robert Lai]

Thanks to the conversation here, I've ordered a bottle of Iroshizuku ink from jetpens (dark blue, whatever the name is).

I also picked up a Noodler's ink FP for $28 while I was at it. It can be used as an eyedropper fill pen, which is a great advantage for me with its larger capacity. Usually I have to carry a couple of pens around, as one pen alone will run out of ink in a day.

 

[urban_alchemist]

Noodler's inks are excellent as well.

Funny - I've had the opposite experience. I've used quite a few Noodlers inks, and yet they've always been very thick and clogged the pens. Not 'substantial' thick like Private Reserve, but rather gooey thick. I think that's why I tend to stick to Japanese inks: both Sailor and Pilot/Namiki inks are remarkable well behaved, no matter the colour or waterproof-ness...

Noodler's Legal Lapis is a favourite

Give Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo a shot; pretty damned close to Legal Lapis in colour but shades more, and its a damn site better behaved...

 

[amateriat]

Funny - I've had the opposite experience. I've used quite a few Noodlers inks, and yet they've always been very thick and clogged the pens. Not 'substantial' thick like Private Reserve, but rather gooey thick. I think that's why I tend to stick to Japanese inks: both Sailor and Pilot/Namiki inks are remarkable well behaved, no matter the colour or waterproof-ness...



Give Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo a shot; pretty damned close to Legal Lapis in colour but shades more, and its a damn site better behaved...

Funny, this had crossed my mind a short time ago...

Scary, too: I thought we had heavy conversations around here about film/dev combinations...!


- Barrett

 

[urban_alchemist]

Funny, this had crossed my mind a short time ago...

Scary, too: I thought we had heavy conversations around here about film/dev combinations...!


- Barrett

At least film/dev combinations won't destroy the camera; a pot of Noodlers came close to killing my near-100-year-old Conklin!

For the record, the same pen loves the Iroshizuku...

 

[amateriat]

u_a: I'm using Noodler's Old Manhattan/Blackest Black in my Pilot 823. No problems (unlike my horror show with PR Plum in my Lamy 2k), but I'm going to try Pilot's own standard-issue black. I'm already using Pilot's B-B in my Pilot 74, and like it a lot. These, of course, aren't vintage pens.


- Barrett

 

[sepiareverb]

Filled my Pelikan with plain-old Pelikan blue-black today.

 

[mervynyan]

I am using Montblanc Starwalker roller pen at the moment, can't find any ink at local Staple.

PS. like Leica, you need two identical fountain pens-🙂 One for black ink, one for blue ink, of course, you can use green/red as well.

 

[visiondr]

At least film/dev combinations won't destroy the camera; a pot of Noodlers came close to killing my near-100-year-old Conklin!

For the record, the same pen loves the Iroshizuku...

I'm using Noodlers Bulletproof Black for my work pen (in the medical world, we must write in black and the permanence of the Noodlers is a plus). I'll agree, it is a very dense, thicker ink than most. But it is the blackest I've seen; with absolutely no shading and a very heavy line. For regular correspondence, it looks rather plain. Waterman Havana Brown is a favorite at home.

I'll have to try the Iroshizuku inks. They sound wonderful.

Ron

 

[semilog]

I'm struck by two things, reading this thread.

1. I'm not surprised that so many of you care about pens, but I am surprised that so many of you are Pilot/Namiki users. These are not the most commonly-discussed pens at other forums that I've visited. I love 'em.

2. This is the first time I've seen such mixed comments about Noodlers' inks. I'd thought it was just me...

 

[JoeV]

I suppose I'm a fountain pen luddite; I just use good old Parker Quink blue/black in my Pelikan M100 fine point. Seems to work just fine, and I like the color. I prefer a tad bit of shading to my FP lines, for me it's a signature of the fountain pen (no pun).

I also bought my wife a Pelikan; she hadn't used FP's in years, though, and succeeded, on first try, in pressing too hard and distorting the nib. I'm going to have to get it sent in to get the nib repaired.