Thanks, I'll give this shot. In the meantime, I just ordered another one from Amazon to have a baseline of comparison, just incase the problems are mostly in my head. I'll end up just sending back the one I don't need.
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Fountain pens 2K18 (and notebooks, and inks) |OT| - the rabbit hole is DEEP
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Thanks, I'll give this shot. In the meantime, I just ordered another one from Amazon to have a baseline of comparison, just incase the problems are mostly in my head. I'll end up just sending back the one I don't need.
Is this going to be the thread for 2018? Not really a fountain pen guy (because I haven't really tried them) but I decided to pick up some 0.3 hi tec c gel pens when I was at kinokuniya (they have like a billion Japanese pens and pencils there) and love the way they write, wondering if anyone has any recs for a nicer 0.3 pen. There's something I really like about the way they write, they have a scratchy to it gel pens don't usually have but still feel good
I really love the g/hi-tec-c pens – they're just a bit uncomfortable to write with for longer periods for me.
Some of the top regarded 0.4/0.38 and 0.3 mm pens are Uniball Signo DX (UM-151). They're also waterproof and fadeproof, unlike the hi-tec. They're not needlepoint though. I really like the precise feeling of the needlepoint and being able to see exactly where I'm putting the line down, but they're also more fragile to bending/breaking upon being dropped. When I was googling to find where to buy them I found this fine-tip guide, which you may find useful.
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boxoctosis - if editing the OP doesn't work, then you can try reporting your OP and in the field of the report to the mods, you can request the title change.
2018 has been so hectic that I find relief in the 2017 title. What are you renaming it or is it just a date change?
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What is this sorcery? I'm curious how it feels to write on the crease - does that even work with fountain pens? I already have enough trouble writing on the reverse side of a spiral bound notebook.
So, I'm *really* glad I exchanged the funky 3776 for another one, because the difference between the two is night and day. I loooooove this pen.
It's great to see a happy ending! The only (proper) bad pen I ever bought was a Lamy Safari with a scratchy nib. I got a new nib for it, and the new one was still scratchy.
This is insane and I want 100 more.
(It is surprisingly practical when you open it! The spine bends nicely so it lays quite flat.)
I've been staring at this for like two minutes, wondering whether it's a good idea or a bad idea. I'm still kind of torn. Seems like it would be nice when you're in the middle of the notebook, but that's a pretty small sweet spot...
This is insane and I want 100 more.
(It is surprisingly practical when you open it! The spine bends nicely so it lays quite flat.)
Neat idea that would drive me absolutely nuts. I need my notebooks to look like notebooks not geometrically pleasing pieces of art. I hope it works out for you.
I already posted about my love for the Kokuyo Soft Ring Notebooks a couple of pages ago. They address that problem beautifully and the paper quality is also really high. Can't recommend them enough.
Lamy's quality control - at least on the regular exchangeable steel nibs - is really not very good. I rarely had one that wrote perfectly out of the box.
I haven't tried writing in it yet! The paper feels nice and smooth, but I never have high hopes for fountain pens. I'm on a bit of a wooden pencil kick at the moment, so that's what I envision using here.
I'm 100% torn on this and that's why I love it. You know how all the paper had the corners cut off for no possible reason in Battlestar Galactica? Using impractical paper is sci-if as all heck.
The thing is, every notebook already looks like a notebook, you know? I have a zillion great notebooks on my shelves already so I am definitely entering a phase of my collecting where I want some batshit insane curios. I'm a huge John Hodgman fan and this is decidedly some weird dad action.
That's the first I've ever heard of this problem. I've seen tons of people recommending that you swap out the nibs in Lamy knockoffs with real Lamy nibs. But none of the Chinese pens I ever got wrote this badly. I'd chalk it up to forgeries, but the replacement nib at the very least was from a reputable dealer.
Hey now, you know the rules here. If you're going to post something cool, you have to share with the class how cool it is to use it! I'm dying to find out how well it works. (Even though they probably cost a million dollars)
Fountain pen is probably one of my Pilot Preras and ball pen would be my hi-tec-c colleto.
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I have a Pilot Metro, loaded with Pilot Blue-Black, at work so I can pretend I am a no-nonsense professional adult. At home I keep a couple pens inked for journal writing, and I switch them up monthly. Right now it's a Franklin-Christoph Model 20 and a Sailor Pro Gear Slim.
Yeah this was my experience also, several years ago when I last was shopping for a safari. I would hope the situation improved. I would hesitate to buy a safari/Al-Star nib without being able to try it first. Out of 4 that I got my hands on, 2 were misaligned/scratchy, and 1 was just barely ok. I eventually just went to a shop where I could test the nib before paying for it. I came out with a smooth one, but it was weirdly difficult.
Echoey voice: This is the paper of 2018.
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My experience with Lamy nibs has been weird too. I have an F that was OK upon receipt but needed its tines widened a little bit to get it to be Perfectly Wet® (the ink flow standard trusted by coyotes everywhere), as well as an M that was great out of the box. I've also had a B nib that somehow barely wrote, and an EF that felt like it was going to dig a hole to China, or possibly further, through my paper. These were all their standard steel nibs. I don't know if the ones they use on the new Aion are more consistent or not.
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A TWSBI 580 AL in orange. Cost me a few bob. My TWSBI 580AL in lilac/.purple broke yesterday. It was leaking out between the nib unit and barrel and the nib unit snapped when I tightened it slightly.
Had that happen before with a 580. Gah. In fact, TWSBI pens are generally a bit easy to break I find.
Also, one of these, the Waterman Expert Ombres et Lumieres.
Hello! I've been keeping an eye on this thread for a while and thought I'd check in. My daily writer for a couple of years now has been my Lamy 2000 - something comfortable and reliable. For EDC, I've been carrying a Platinum 3776 as my main work pen and alternating between a Lamy Studio and Parker Falcon as a second, with a Caran d'Ache 849 ballpoint in reserve.
I've just switched from a Pilot Metro to a Platinum 3776 F, and I'm really appreciating the jump in quality (although I'd recommend the Metro to anyone).
Mark my words. We are all going to be writing on triangles in our Mars colonies. We'll chuckle to ourselves about how we used to think notebooks should have an extra, totally wasted side.
I'm pleasantly surprised to find that, in the future, the paper in our triangle notebooks will not be half bad.
I forget what ink I have in the Ondoro, but it's definitely on the wetter side. The paper doesn't do a perfect job with it, but this is not bad at all. The cursive italic nib in my Franklin-Cristoph with...whatever ink this is...does better. With a finer nib and slightly drier ink, you can totally combine fountain pens and triangles. The future is now.
The Faber-Castell Ondoro continues to delight. It's almost always in my work bag. My other pen in heavy rotation is the Franklin-Christoph model 20. It writes so beautifully and is such a pleasure to hold and look at.
At work, I have developed a preference for Caran d'Ache ballpoint cartridges. I have a growing collection of rollerball pens modified to take Parker-style ballpoint refills. My current favorite is a titanium model from Right Choice Painting Company. The model designed to take a Pilot G2 is slightly longer than you'd expect, which makes it really fun to fiddle with (please hold your jokes). They're sold out of just about everything, it seems, but they just offered their non-clicky version on Massdrop, which was neat to see.
I want to rope my coworkers into doing a big survey of ballpoint pen refills this year. We'll see if I can find time to set that up!
*edit* I forgot to add my two cents to the Lamy discussion. I have not run across any quality control issues with my Lamy pens, but I'm hearing about issues more and more. What's interesting is that 3/4 of the posts in the UK fountain pen group I follow on Facebook seem to be about Chinese pens. At the same time, every time someone orders an unbelievably priced Pilot Vanishing Point or whatever, they receive a Chinese Lamy Safari knockoff. It's always a fake Safari. I sort of wonder, looking at these two little things, if Lamy is caught between a rock and a hard place. If you raise the price of the Safari, it becomes way less attractive as a starter pen. But if they cut costs by letting the QC slide a bit, it stops making sense to spend $30 for a real Safari, when you can instead buy 10 knockoffs and have 3 or 4 of them work really really well. They basically need to make a pen good enough that you'll always go for the Lamy brand, but within a pretty narrow acceptable price window. I get the sense that they are leaning pretty hard on special editions to drive some enthusiasm, but to the point where they don't feel super special any more.
Or that could all be rubbish, it's business as usual at Lamy, and precision manufacturing is tricky.
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Mark my words. We are all going to be writing on triangles in our Mars colonies. We'll chuckle to ourselves about how we used to think notebooks should have an extra, totally wasted side.
I'm pleasantly surprised to find that, in the future, the paper in our triangle notebooks will not be half bad.
I forget what ink I have in the Ondoro, but it's definitely on the wetter side. The paper doesn't do a perfect job with it, but this is not bad at all. The cursive italic nib in my Franklin-Cristoph with...whatever ink this is...does better. With a finer nib and slightly drier ink, you can totally combine fountain pens and triangles. The future is now.
The Faber-Castell Ondoro continues to delight. It's almost always in my work bag. My other pen in heavy rotation is the Franklin-Christoph model 20. It writes so beautifully and is such a pleasure to hold and look at.
At work, I have developed a preference for Caran d'Ache ballpoint cartridges. I have a growing collection of rollerball pens modified to take Parker-style ballpoint refills. My current favorite is a titanium model from Right Choice Painting Company. The model designed to take a Pilot G2 is slightly longer than you'd expect, which makes it really fun to fiddle with (please hold your jokes). They're sold out of just about everything, it seems, but they just offered their non-clicky version on Massdrop, which was neat to see.
I want to rope my coworkers into doing a big survey of ballpoint pen refills this year. We'll see if I can find time to set that up!
*edit* I forgot to add my two cents to the Lamy discussion. I have not run across any quality control issues with my Lamy pens, but I'm hearing about issues more and more. What's interesting is that 3/4 of the posts in the UK fountain pen group I follow on Facebook seem to be about Chinese pens. At the same time, every time someone orders an unbelievably priced Pilot Vanishing Point or whatever, they receive a Chinese Lamy Safari knockoff. It's always a fake Safari. I sort of wonder, looking at these two little things, if Lamy is caught between a rock and a hard place. If you raise the price of the Safari, it becomes way less attractive as a starter pen. But if they cut costs by letting the QC slide a bit, it stops making sense to spend $30 for a real Safari, when you can instead buy 10 knockoffs and have 3 or 4 of them work really really well. They basically need to make a pen good enough that you'll always go for the Lamy brand, but within a pretty narrow acceptable price window. I get the sense that they are leaning pretty hard on special editions to drive some enthusiasm, but to the point where they don't feel super special any more.
Or that could all be rubbish, it's business as usual at Lamy, and precision manufacturing is tricky.
I want to see a complete page filled in that notebook before I pass final judgement.
The Lamy QC issues are strange to me. I only see it happening with the lower end pens yet I still hear great things about the safari.
You guys are asking a lot of me! Every time I take my triangle notebook off the shelf and bring it to my desk to write in it, I'm worried I'm going to trip and fall and it's going to stab all the way through me.
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That triangle notepad is a massive "nope" for me. The crease down the centre, the angle of the crease , urgh urgh urgh.
If this is the future, I'm off to Dignitas.
If this is the future, I'm off to Dignitas.
LOL that was my first thought. "A hardcover notebook with acute corners..." I was more imagining the divots I'd be creating on my hands/wrists as I gouged myself trying to take this out of a bag. The future is lethal, man.
I can offer you my new signature notebook. It's shaped like an actual bagel.
I wonder if some of these Lamy issues might have something to do with all the Lamy counterfeits running around. There don't seem to be any fake Lamy 2000s, so I've never heard of any issues about them, but I know that there are tons of fake Safaris and the like.
The primary choice of pen for calligraphy have been dip pens, but some people do use fountain pens for that purpose. My personal pick would be the Pilot Parallels series of pens. The finer ones can be used for day to day writing while the widest ones can make for some really nice art pieces. You can get all four in a set. They don't come with converters so you'll either have to buy Con-40s for them (or Con-20s or Con-50s if you can still find them) or stick to cartridges. The Parallel is designed for the Pilot Mixable Color cartridges, so that might be worth investigating as well.
Alright folks, I've got a Pilot con-50 that is sitting around neglected. I bought it, but found that the regular old ink cartridges hold slightly more ink than the con-50 does, and I have an ink refill syringe that makes refilling the ink cartridges a breeze.
So, my loss is your gain. Anyone want a free con-50? I'll even cover the postage.
So, my loss is your gain. Anyone want a free con-50? I'll even cover the postage.
Does the book have a supply list? If there are projects in it that require specific tools, it might be good to focus on that for a gift package. I am not identifying much on the cover and preview that is "calligraphy pen" stuff - it looks like the lettering art has been done with pigmas and paints/gouache. If your GF doesn't have those types of supplies on hand and is interested in doing the projects in the book, picking some of that stuff up for the gift and maybe a brush pen would be cool, so she can try something similar to pointed pen that is a bit easier to start off with.
That said, when it comes to pen calligraphy, there are different types that require different gear.
Italic nib calligraphy
The Pilot Parallel pens 4tran suggests are easy to use and work beautifully - great for a beginner who wants to be able to practice very easily. She can try some colour-blending if she has two of them, so I think it would be good getting a couple of sizes - maybe the smallest and the second-largest, if you think a set of four is overkill. They come with some cartridges to get started. No hesitation to recommend one of these to someone interested in lettering.
Pointed pen calligraphy
It's beautiful, but it's a steeper learning curve. Your gf may like the style enough to be motivated, but if she likes the shapes but would find the dip pen too fiddly, I'd suggest brush pen calligraphy. It's hard to get a few minutes of casual practice with a dip pen.
https://www.jwlettering.com/blog/2017/8/7/calligraphy-getting-started
This page has a list of supplies/tips for pointed pen beginners and paper suggestions. Keeping it simple, I'd say it would be easiest to buy a Brause nib holder and a couple of Brause nibs so you know they'll fit - I like the steno aka blue pumpkin, some ink, and a Rhodia pad. For pointed pen supplies, Jetpens appears cheaper than amazon for picking up individual nibs. Amazon does have some boxed Brause sets that come with several nibs for 35 bucks, holder and ink included though.
https://www.jwlettering.com/blog/2017/8/7/calligraphy-getting-started
This page has a list of supplies/tips for pointed pen beginners and paper suggestions. Keeping it simple, I'd say it would be easiest to buy a Brause nib holder and a couple of Brause nibs so you know they'll fit - I like the steno aka blue pumpkin, some ink, and a Rhodia pad. For pointed pen supplies, Jetpens appears cheaper than amazon for picking up individual nibs. Amazon does have some boxed Brause sets that come with several nibs for 35 bucks, holder and ink included though.
So I've kind of fallen into a hole.
Last week I bought a Lamy safari in the petrol collour with a medium nib. I'm in love, it writes so smooth and is pleasent to hold for longer times. Unlike the shitty pen I used before. I bought it with some ink cartridges to avoid spending too much. Well, now I can't stop looking at pens like the kaweco sport and the pilot metropolitan or even inks and stub nibs for the safari.
It's like a curse, one that i don't want to escape. Luckely my pen case is getting full, otherwise i would not be able to resist.
Last week I bought a Lamy safari in the petrol collour with a medium nib. I'm in love, it writes so smooth and is pleasent to hold for longer times. Unlike the shitty pen I used before. I bought it with some ink cartridges to avoid spending too much. Well, now I can't stop looking at pens like the kaweco sport and the pilot metropolitan or even inks and stub nibs for the safari.
It's like a curse, one that i don't want to escape. Luckely my pen case is getting full, otherwise i would not be able to resist.
It sounds like you just need a bigger pen case! Just don't go and buy twenty pens that you can't use.
Going and buying 20 pens you *can* use, however, is highly encouraged. Just... maybe not all at once.
I got a Platinum pen that seemed to have unfortunately been damaged during shipping, and the box was open (the pen was skipping and the nib tip seemed bent down). The company I got it from didn't respond to a request for information on how to ship it for repair (my next order went to a different company, naturally) so I tried to fix it myself and unfortunately only made it worse! (Lifted the whole nib up from the feed.) It wasn't suuuper expensive so I figured it's ok if it's just a write-off and a pen I mess around with.
I had given up on it for a while but recently tried again to take apart the pen. It was reallllly jammed together. I had to use pliers and rubber bands, but I eventually managed to unscrew it so I could pull the nib out. Sooo much easier to try to bend things back in place when you have the nib separate. I had to bend the tip up by pressing against a soft wood surface, then flip the nib over and rub it against the surface to bend the whole thing back down, testing frequently by putting it against the feed to see my progress. I also somehow managed to make the tip bend to the left when bringing it back up (there's a dirty joke in there somewhere) so I had to use pliers and the surface to try to push it back over.
Shockingly, when I inked it up to see just how terribly I'd messed things up with the rotten fruits of my labours, it actually wrote. Really well. Super smooth, and it actually feels better than my other pens. I'm kind of shocked I didn't permanently wreck it. I think it's writing a bit too wet though. I'll fiddle with the nib some more once I finish up the ink it has in it. I've got Diamine Sherwood Green in it.
Also I just want to say I love Noodler's #41 Brown. It doesn't bleed through on thinner, cheaper paper when all my other inks do, even with a wider nib. I guess it's a drier ink than others - less water content? It certainly builds up a bunch of gunk on and under the nib, but it doesn't clog. I'm going to keep one pen permanently inked up with this one.
I'm also liking 54th Massachusetts a lot more. Yeah it spreads but it flows realllly well and dries quickly. I also enjoy that weird faded colour. I tried Diamine Blue Velvet and it's vibrant and it sheens but I think I realised that I don't really like standard blue ink... I've had lots of rollerball pens with bright blue ink and it doesn't seem special.
I had given up on it for a while but recently tried again to take apart the pen. It was reallllly jammed together. I had to use pliers and rubber bands, but I eventually managed to unscrew it so I could pull the nib out. Sooo much easier to try to bend things back in place when you have the nib separate. I had to bend the tip up by pressing against a soft wood surface, then flip the nib over and rub it against the surface to bend the whole thing back down, testing frequently by putting it against the feed to see my progress. I also somehow managed to make the tip bend to the left when bringing it back up (there's a dirty joke in there somewhere) so I had to use pliers and the surface to try to push it back over.
Shockingly, when I inked it up to see just how terribly I'd messed things up with the rotten fruits of my labours, it actually wrote. Really well. Super smooth, and it actually feels better than my other pens. I'm kind of shocked I didn't permanently wreck it. I think it's writing a bit too wet though. I'll fiddle with the nib some more once I finish up the ink it has in it. I've got Diamine Sherwood Green in it.
Also I just want to say I love Noodler's #41 Brown. It doesn't bleed through on thinner, cheaper paper when all my other inks do, even with a wider nib. I guess it's a drier ink than others - less water content? It certainly builds up a bunch of gunk on and under the nib, but it doesn't clog. I'm going to keep one pen permanently inked up with this one.
I'm also liking 54th Massachusetts a lot more. Yeah it spreads but it flows realllly well and dries quickly. I also enjoy that weird faded colour. I tried Diamine Blue Velvet and it's vibrant and it sheens but I think I realised that I don't really like standard blue ink... I've had lots of rollerball pens with bright blue ink and it doesn't seem special.
If you can figure out a way to do that, please let me know. Right now, I use about 6 pens a day, and it takes me forever to empty a pen. There are pens I purchased over a year ago that I still haven't refilled yet!
Congrats on your first pen repair! I've heard of a lot of people tweaking their pens to work better, although I've also heard that it's a bit too easy to wreck a nib with pliers - using your fingers seems to be safer. Generally, they'll do the repair with the nib still in the pen, and with the pen inked up. That way it's easier to test if what you're doing is making the pen easier to write with.
Yeah but then you get inky fingies. D-:
It's extremely hard to bend a nib back down to sit flush on the feed while the nib is still on the pen. You kind of need to overbend the material because it springs back up a bit. I doubt I'll use the pliers more, but when I used them, I had rubber bands and wads of kleenex underneath to protect the nib so it wouldnt be metal-on-metal. But yeah you're right - pliers were how I made it worse in the first place lol.
Pen Chalet has some interesting new inks. I am not familiar with the Korean Colorverse brand, but I ordered a bottle to try out. They have a strange gimmick where you get both a 65mL bottle and a 15mL bottle of each ink. I guess that is a cool way to get ink to share? Maybe? They get points for trying something different anyway.
The multiverse line has the best take on this idea, giving you a small bottle of a unique ink that compliments whatever the main color is. That honestly seems really cool.
Unfortunately, the really neat looking combos are all sold out. I'm hoping they'll stock more, as that Photon/Gluon combo is calling to me.
The multiverse line has the best take on this idea, giving you a small bottle of a unique ink that compliments whatever the main color is. That honestly seems really cool.
Unfortunately, the really neat looking combos are all sold out. I'm hoping they'll stock more, as that Photon/Gluon combo is calling to me.
The names of these inks are amazing! Bungubox still has the best names for inks in Ink of the Witch and Clown Tears, but these come pretty close.Pen Chalet has some interesting new inks. I am not familiar with the Korean Colorverse brand, but I ordered a bottle to try out. They have a strange gimmick where you get both a 65mL bottle and a 15mL bottle of each ink. I guess that is a cool way to get ink to share? Maybe? They get points for trying something different anyway.
The multiverse line has the best take on this idea, giving you a small bottle of a unique ink that compliments whatever the main color is. That honestly seems really cool.
Unfortunately, the really neat looking combos are all sold out. I'm hoping they'll stock more, as that Photon/Gluon combo is calling to me.
My once-perfect Platinum 3776 randomly started "dry firing" and skipping after I refilled the converter. Bubbles, maybe?
That sounds about right. I believe that Platinum recommends that you eject a drop or two of ink back into the bottle on refilling. You can try giving that a shot. What I do instead is to put the nib deeper into the bottle and to turn the converter knob slowly. That seems to do the trick so I've never tried what the manufacturer recommends.
My Wing Sung 3008s just came in, and they're pretty cool piston-filling demonstrators that feel a lot like TWSBIs. They do have their drawbacks though: they feel cheap and the piston knob is really loose. I'd also advise against posting these pens because the cap anchors to the knob itself, so it can actually activate the piston while in use. On the plus side, the nib is a revelation. It's fully compatible with the steel Lamy nibs, and it actually writes better than the real Lamy nibs I have. The 3008 is only about $3 on eBay so they're almost free to check out.
Oh, tragedy! I bent the nib of my Pilot Metropolitan when capping it. Don't become the twisted monster that I am, folks. Cap with care!
Well, less tragedy, and more misfortune. I tried correcting it, but it feels rough now. Oh, well.
I still have the Con-50 if anybody wants it.
Well, less tragedy, and more misfortune. I tried correcting it, but it feels rough now. Oh, well.
I still have the Con-50 if anybody wants it.
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