Fountain pens - anyone write?

[crusius]

From the bicycle thread I got curious about other things that people who like rangefinders are likely to like. (!)

Fountain pens: I bet other people here use them regularly. My "daily writer" is a black Parker 51 Aerometric, filled with Noodler's black ink.

Who else?

- Cesar

[HuubL]

Yep, I got a few, nothing fancy, real users. Waterman, Shaeffer, Parker. I hate writing with ballpoints or roller balls.

[PetarDima]

yes :)
a like pens - everything with old time look & smell ...
as a boy a wanted something unusual - not cheap plastic pen ...
but,
now and then, classic things(pens, RF cameras) has ''classic'' value:
they are usually too much expencive for my pocket.
Regards.

[jdos2]

Best Gift Ever Received: (given as a gift from friends in Portugal) The Aurora Da Vinci pen.

(Sadly, it's another brand new thing that has to go back to the factory before it'll work- the ink-loader system won't load ink, a la my CV lens complaints...)

Otherwise, an old Parker is the daily writer. It's a tad ugly (er... "classic") in green, but ink flow is wonderful, and though light, still feels good. Nice fine nib, too.

[john neal]

Yup,

Parker Duofold International in black, loaded with Quink blue-black ink. Makes writing a joy :D

[foma]

I have a MontBlanc Meisterstuck - Chopin Edition. Mostly limited to signing my name - which is not that often!

[nixarma]

A Shaeffer and a Cross. I usually carry the Cross with me to work.

Among the best advice my teachers gave me when I was in elementary and middle school was to write with a fountain pen. I credit my good handwriting/penmanship to their advocation of the use of fountain pens over the ball-point variety.

Also, not many things compete with the memories of a few ink-stained shirts :)

[Minos]

I use a Graf von Faber-Castell fountain pen with ebony finish. I also use the Herbin "Cacao du Brésil" ink.
I suppose we rangefinder users are hopeless romantic traditionalists, with a hint of technology love.
Ah well, "quand on aime, on ne compte pas..."

http://web.mac.com/chr.francois/iWeb/Clair%20Obscur/Welcome.html

[brachal]

I use a cheap Parker fountain pen that I bought in college. I have no idea why I still have it.

[bobkonos]

Yes! A fellow Leica user got me into these marvels several years ago and I am having good fun writing letters with them. Here is the stable: Pelikan M800, Pelikan M605, OMAS Paragon, Aurora 88, Aurora Ipsilon, Aurora Talentum, vintage Parker 51 (my first but not my last !), and a Delta Europa. Mostly medium nibs, two with fine nibs. Mostly shades of blue for ink. I love writing letters (paper of choice: Ampad Gold Label lined) and receiving them.

[rogue_designer]

I have a Pelikan (unknown model), a Shaeffer balance, a Monte Blanc and a few others... but honestly, the pen I always carry (and have for a decade in one form or another) is a Rotring 600 Trio - blue and red ballpoint, and a .07 pencil. Built like a tank, and reliable as my Canon P.

That and a small lined Moleskine notebook have spent more time in my pockets than I can imagine.

[sepiareverb]

Pelikans here- my trusty 1985 M800 size, and several newer cheap Pelikans with nicer nibs for the darkroom and studio.

http://www.nibs.com/mainpage.html

these folks are simply the nicest you could imagine to deal with should you need a replacement nib or want a new pen. (no relation to me etc.) They remind me of our sponsors in knowledge & customer service. Plus many pages to induce pen GAS.

[visiondr]

I have a MontBlanc Meisterstuck - Chopin Edition. Mostly limited to signing my name - which is not that often!

Jeez, I sign my name (or initials) all day long. Can I have your pen if it isn't really doing much?:D

My last fountain pen bit the dust when it landed nib down on a tile floor and, sadly, the nib is not replacable (I think). It is/was a Lamy.

[Tuolumne]

I use not just fountain pens, but vintage fountain pens. And I ride a folding British bike (Brompton) and shoot on vintage film cameras. Seems like a trend there.

/T

[vicmortelmans]

I'm looking for a shaeffer snorkel pen. Don't think that those are still made today and it seems like a piece of forgotten technology-culture...

Groeten,

Vic

[Vics]

Mine is a Parker 75 (I'm told by a collector friend that it's a first edition to boot) that I bought as a set with a matching ballpoint and some other goodies all in the box with the warranty paperwork. Got it for $8.00 at a church flea market.
Sadly I dropped it in the grocery store one day and the black plastic part broke off and the French replacement is round and not nearly as nice. I still write with it though.
VS

[paragon]

I have regular "back to useing a fountain pen" days

I still love my Parker 51 and my MontBlanc Meisterstuck which I use "now and again"

A bit like cameras - if they are not used the rubber can perish

[nikola]

I'm in love with my Pelikan...
doodling everyday in little moleskin...

[HuubL]

Right now we've got 21 views and 17 replies, fountain pens are more popular than RFs here!!

[juhor]

I've been lusting for a one because I keep a diary almost everyday. Now I'm using a Pilot G-2 black roller pen which is very nice but I would like to try a fountain pen. The problem is tough the fact that I'm left handed, so the text comes messy if the ink is wet. (My hand sweeps over it as I write!)

Heres my journal, the blue book:
http://koti.mbnet.fi/longinus/kuvat/bags.jpg

[MadMan2k]

I used one once, it was a dentist/fellow photographer's. Used it wrong apparently, got ink all over my hand, that's the end of that. I don't like writing by hand when I don't have to... usually avoid taking notes at class, but if I need to I'll just use a regular ball point pen.

[CosmicCharlie]

I love my Pelikan! I use brown ink.
I bet there are a bunch of bassists on the list as well?

[crusius]

I've been lusting for a one because I keep a diary almost everyday. Now I'm using a Pilot G-2 black roller pen which is very nice but I would like to try a fountain pen. The problem is tough the fact that I'm left handed, so the text comes messy if the ink is wet. (My hand sweeps over it as I write!)


Fret not. I'm left handed too, and I am having absolutely no problems with Noodler's black ink. Give it a try.

Of course, it also depends on how you write, and on which paper you write. My suggestion would be to try Noodler's black on various papers.

http://www.nibs.com/Left-hand writers.htm

We left handed people don't get much love. What's the point of keeping both eyes open on the 1:1 viewfinder of the R-D1, when all you see with the other eye is an extreme closeup of the camera's back?

- Cesar

[sepiareverb]

...I bet there are a bunch of bassists on the list as well?

Guilty as charged. Fender Mexican Jazz Bass in Midnight Blue with the bridge & pickguard covers added- so it looks like a blue '62.

[al1966]

I've been lusting for a one because I keep a diary almost everyday. Now I'm using a Pilot G-2 black roller pen which is very nice but I would like to try a fountain pen. The problem is tough the fact that I'm left handed, so the text comes messy if the ink is wet. (My hand sweeps over it as I write!)

Heres my journal, the blue book:
http://koti.mbnet.fi/longinus/kuvat/bags.jpg

Im a leftie too so the wife I learnt early on that rollerballs work better for me, sadly as I like the way a good fountain pen feels hitting good quality paper. ps whats the bag ? it looks good.

[Farace]

I have more FPs than I need, including several Esterbrooks, Parkers, Sheaffers, an Eversharp Skyline, and a few others. I've got a "51" in my pocket right now.

I'm a little surprised at the overlap between RFF, fountainpennetwork.com, and badgerandblade.com. It was the fountain pen guys that got me over to B&B (a wetshaving forum), and folks at both places got me looking over here. Strange world.

Edit: I'm a bassist, too. Favorite is my '82 Vintage 57 reissue Precision, but I've got nine . . . Now how many of you guys are Alfa owners, too . . .

[CosmicCharlie]

Fender P Bass Torino Red, Trace Elliot Boxer 30.
How weird is this

How about the following
I Like my coffee black and think letterman makes leno look like a poser!

[jesse1dog]

I have a desk tidy that carries an amazing assortment of items -I just looked a bit more carefully! There is a wonderful collection of small paint brushes, a great modellers knife with spare blades, a magnifyer, roll of double sided tape, several clutch pencils, a group of ballpoints, and 2 Shaeffer pens.
Both were gifts from my wife. The one 'in use' now is looking very worn with the brass showing through. Its mainly used for those special situations like writing birthday and family Christmas cards - somehow they seem to be appreciated more if they have 'been done' using pen and ink. The Shaeffer snorkel was another birthday present to replace one that I used at University and finally went the way of many snorkels when it refused to wind down and fill with ink despite an innumeral number of washing out.
How often are they used - not too often now that Parker Quink ink (black) is now well over £3 a bottle! But I guess several times a week.

[Peter_Jones]

I write right-handed but with my hand crooked over as though left-handed (imagine a left-hander in a mirror) so fountain pens smudge like crazy for me. I have come across antique pens while rooting through boxes of junk and made a few quid on them though :)

Bass ? used to play a copy Fender "P" with added pick-ups and rewired by my good self, sounded fantastic through a 4x12" with 400W head (and often a "Big Muff Pi" fuzzbox) :D Sadly it got damp when stored and the neck split :(

[juhor]

Im a leftie too so the wife I learnt early on that rollerballs work better for me, sadly as I like the way a good fountain pen feels hitting good quality paper. ps whats the bag ? it looks good.
Thanks for the tip! I have to find one now!

Oh, that green bag? It's a finnish designer bag from a company called Marimekko (http://www.marimekko.com) (Expensive products, beware! :-) My mother gave it to me two years ago and I've used it since then daily. It holds my camera, schoolbooks, pencils, film, music player and other things. It was a darker green colour but it has worn since. I have spilt coffee, milk and other beverages on it and washed it many times, it just keeps going.

The other one, the colorful I bought from a flea market for 2 euros. It's just for fun and sometimes I carry my camera in it.

[Max Power]

I'm another southpaw.

I found that regular ball-points etc never failed to smudge. I have a fine-nibbed Waterman and use regular Waterman ink, and never have smudge problems. I guess that the ink dries quickly.

Kent

[Joerg]

I confess to two Pelikans...
Lusting after a Nakaya Urushi model....

Ciao

Joerg

[mervynyan]

i have few, montblanc starwalker fountain pen, parker, waterman. however, the most frequent one i use is the chinese made hero 101 I bought for less than 10 bucks 10 years ago, it is perfectly balance in my hand.

i also like montblanc starwalker, but the ink cartridge is way too expensive for daily use...

[mr_phillip]

Yup, a modern Sheaffer that I use all the time and a vintage job that just lives in a drawer.

[GoodPhotos]

Guilty as charged. Fender Mexican Jazz Bass in Midnight Blue with the bridge & pickguard covers added- so it looks like a blue '62.
Mic culpa. I loved my Gibson fretless "Ripper" that I stupidly sold when I needed cash many years ago but I now play an Alvarez RB30SC electric/acoustic bass. (Have a nice Alvarez all mahogany PF2005 commemorative regular guitar with a custom rosewood pickgaurd and K&K internal pickups (http://www.gollihur.com/kkbass/pureg.html) as well.)

While I do have an inexpensive Sheaffer Fountain pen I must be doing something wrongly with it, because I get covered in ink whenever I've tried to use it. Maybe my writing style is too heavy for the medium nib? I prefer my simple but elegant Shaeffer ballpoint when signing important papers and cheap Xeno 1.0 from Staples otherwise.

I desperately wanted to be the mysterious man in the cafe scribbling arcane thoughts while 'on the road' in his Moleskine with the classic Pelikan, Leica by his side, sipping espresso, but found that I prefer a pocket sized Franklin DayPlanner (http://franklincovey.com) (been a customer since 1987) and my Palm T|X for archiving/organising my life.

I also wear a TH4 Tilley Hat (http://www.tilley.com/), Limmer boots (http://limmerboot.com) and several Utilikilts (http://utilikilts.com)! (though not always at the same time.)

[bobkonos]

Joerg,

You are not the only one wanting a Nakaya Urushi pen (heck, I thought I was alone in my lust for them). It's simplicity of shape and rich red-orange color are stunning and elegant and captivating. I have looked at these for a few years...when will I go for it?

____ _____ _______ _______ ______

There's a Fountain Pen Network? Oh my, I am doomed.

[Ken Ford]

I used to use fountain pens, but not in a few years. Many basses, though - my main players are a Bongo 5, a StingRay 5, a Sterling, a ThunderChief 5, a Steinberger XM2A and a Ric 4001.

[Joerg]

Joerg,

You are not the only one wanting a Nakaya Urushi pen (heck, I thougt I was alone in my lust for them). It's simplicity of shape and rich red-orange color are stunning and elegant and captivating. I have looked at these for a few years...when will I go for it?

.


I always thought a Nakaya in Black-red will go well with my Canon and Nikon LTM lenses :D

Ciao

Joerg

[mervynyan]

I desperately wanted to be the mysterious man in the cafe scribbling arcane thoughts while 'on the road' in his Moleskine with the classic Pelikan, Leica by his side, sipping espresso, but found that I prefer a pocket sized Franklin DayPlanner and my Palm T|X for archiving/organising my life.



and blackberry + mobile will also work, throw in a ibook and a M8 too.

life is too easy these days, where can you refill ink cartridges when you are traveling, same as batteries running dry. not very durable i am afraid.

[Thardy]

In the Late 80's and early 90s. I had some nice pens. Kids came, and the pens went away.

[eli griggs]

I have a few not too rare Parkers and Sheaffers along with Chinese Heros, etc, but my favorites are the Esterbrook '40's and '50's "J"s. I have a dozen plus of these and while several are awaiting new sacks and j bars, I manage to keep the rest in continuous rotation.

For school I usually carry three pens, with Black, Red and Green or Blue inks. I prefer the Noodlers inks, but have to confess to a bottle of J. Herbin "Violette Pensee" and some "Purple Haze" lurking about. The fine Esterbrook nibs with Noodler's Black or Rattler Red do well enough in Moleskine notebooks, as well as the Hero Parker "51" clones, but all will show through the back of a page. One day I'll get around to making up my own Moleskine style notebooks with some nice Cranes paper.

I really like the way these pens write and the fun of tweaking the many nibs for best performance, but if I was able to one day indulge myself, I'd go for a Salior "1911" Large or Standard". In Black, Yellow or Red, that's one fine looking pen.

For me, using old camera kit or fountain pens or milsurps is not about being somewhere or at sometime or assuming something I'm not, but rather enjoying the qualities of well made objects that function as they should and have some personality as well.

Eli

[rogue_designer]

upon my return home, and a dig through my desk - as well as a phone call...

I was mistaken.

The only FP's I have here with me are one of the cheaper model Aurora's, medium nib - with a converter and Pelikan black ink, and a currently empty MonteBlanc Meisterstuck fine point.

The others are apparently with my father. Which is cool - if he's using them, more power to him.

I may start taking the Aurora around more. It *is* fun to use.

[landsknechte]

I've got a few fountain pens, but nothing too exotic. I'll occasionally use them to draw, but very seldom to actually write with. Personally, I much prefer typing to writing by hand.

I like nice pens though, and I've happened upon a few interesting non-fountain pens. I've got a Mont Blanc Meisterstück Solitaire Doué that I found on the ground in a particularly ritzy neighborhood, and a simple engraved Waterman given to me by the security detail of Aleksander Kwaśniewski when he visited the U.S. as the President of Poland. (Yes, I've had some rather strange jobs.)

[Warren T.]

Yes! I have too many to list, both vintage and modern. Some brands that I have are: Waterman, Parker, Sheaffer, Cross, Montblanc, etc.

My favorite modern pen is a 1970's Montblanc 146.

--Warren

[Ken Ford]

Dammit. Y'all made me go buy an inexpensive fountain pen just now - a Rotring Initial. I used to love my Rotring Rapidographs when I was studying mechanical drawing, so I'll give this pen a try.

[raid]

I have a few gold plated Parker and Shaeffer pens from the 80's when one Iraqi Dinar was worth US $3.443. I also have a brownish Waterman from the 80's that is new.

Raid

[Rico]

In the early '80s, I bought a Mont Blanc Diplomat with a skipping nib - that POS had to be destroyed. The replacement was a much nicer Waterman. The pen I lost and really miss, however, was a cheap plastic Pelikan for artists: it used India ink and had a refillable reservoir! Never saw such a fountain pen again. India ink is black as a coal mine, and permanent... just beautiful.

[patrickjames]

I love fountain pens. I had a girlfriend in France that turned me on to them when they were still used. I have several nice ones including a Mont Blanc but I don't know the name of it.

And I have several guitars. A Reverend electric, a Seagull artist's model and a Gretch Jumbo acoustic. Sold my Fender Jazz bass a year ago because I don't play much anymore.

Patrick

[Farace]

India ink is black as a coal mine, and permanent... just beautiful.

I'm told that Aurora black is one of the nicest looking. Haven't tried it yet, but will soon (Aurora and Parker cartridges are interchangeable).

[chris000]

I went back to using a fountain pen because I found that using ball pens was making my handwriting bad (no I don't know why). I try not to use anything else now and people can read what I write again!

I think constantly using word processors also males us bad handwriters - not sure there is much I can do about that though :)

[raid]

In the early '80s, I bought a Mont Blanc Diplomat with a skipping nib - that POS had to be destroyed. The replacement was a much nicer Waterman. The pen I lost and really miss, however, was a cheap plastic Pelikan for artists: it used India ink and had a refillable reservoir! Never saw such a fountain pen again. India ink is black as a coal mine, and permanent... just beautiful.

Rico: Pelikan pens are widely used in Germany. Students must use ink at schools in Germany. I went through it myself. We typically chose between pens by Geha and Pelikan. I recently had exchange students from germany study in my department, and they used such pens.

Raid

[Farace]

I went back to using a fountain pen because I found that using ball pens was making my handwriting bad (no I don't know why). I try not to use anything else now and people can read what I write again!

It may partly be due to the extra pressure needed to use a ballpoint just to get and keep the ball rolling. The fountain pen needs no pressure at all, so the hand can be more relaxed.

I think constantly using word processors also males us bad handwriters - not sure there is much I can do about that though :)

One of the reasons I started using fountain pens again several months ago was because I noticed that as my keyboarding skills increased, my handwriting got worse.

[John Robertson]

Pelikan (black, bought in Holland in 1985) and my fathers 1920's Duofold, fountain pen and pencil set. The pen had a new bag fitted a few years ago, its brick red with 18k gold trim with matching pencil (the eraser is still unused)
Biro's I only buy cheap throw aways from Lidl!!
When I use a ball point my writing deteriorates badly!!!
Ink, I've always used royal blue!!

[leif e]

When I started reading this thread, I immidiately started a new search for my German Rotring fountain pen - a weapon I bought in the late 80´s - made of steel, in a six-sided design (the grip´s round, though). It´s so heavy and well balanced (without the hat attached) that it probably coud be used as a anti-tank missile (a small tank). But just lovely to write with - as long as you left the hat off, that is. Otherwise your hand would tire from the overload.
I used to like the mass-produced plastic Lamy pens as well ... That probably explains something about me, but Lamy makes a lovely light blue ink!

No bass, just a couple of 6- and 12-string guitars that I don´t play much. I do drive Citroën cars though.

leif e

[stumar]

Im constanly signing my name everyday at work, but due to it being on triplicate paper, by law, it must be a ball piont pen and black ink! Other times i like to use a nicley wieghted parker fountain pen with blue ink, cheap one id never trust myself with an expensive one id loose it!, but it feels nice in the hand and writes well on a molskine notbook!

Stu.

[Xmas]

Biro's

No one calls them that any more?

I have to use a cheap Parker Italic students kit, as I was taught a chancery cursive and if I dont have a chisel nib I might as well have a spider write for me.

Yes Ive still got a Parker 51, a Cross, and several Sheffars.

Nostalgia seeme to be all the rage here.

Noel

[principe azul]

Wrote with a Waterman for years, but now have a suite of Lamys. First was the Safari, a dirt-cheap pen with a polycarbonate barrel. But being a snob about metal bodies, I had to have the Al-Star, which has an aluminium barrel. Now have four of them, I think, divided among work, home and bag.

They're very reliable pens. No leaks, no skipping, and the nibs are strong enough for other people to use them without deforming them (of course, you may not like this if you go for a flexible nib that will give your penstrokes variable width). I can even press down hard enough to sign a duplicate form.

They also have that Germanic form-follows-function design that we know and love... ;)

Inks include a Herbin orange, ideal for commenting on b/w xeroxes, and Noodler's Firefly, which is a highlighting ink.

The analogies with photogear are all there. I got Aurora's black, mentioned above, because I read so many people say it was the best deep black. Two years on, I still haven't opened the bottle. What was it about doing 90% of your writing with 10% of your gear?

[Uncle Bill]

I have a fair sized collection of Parker 51's and four 75s the other main theme of my collection is Pelikan I have a few vintage 400s, some modern 400s, some M600's and a pair of M800s. In the Italian file I have Omas Ogiva Hi-tech and Saft Green Celluoid Paragon, Aurora 88p and a modern 88 and a pair of Optimas and a Talentum.

If you are in Toronto on the weekend of July 21 and 22, I am co-organizing the Toronto International Pen Show at Casa Loma. http://torontopenshow.com

Bill

[drewbarb]

I like brown ink; I use a cheap plastic Parker pen with a nib worn to a rag. My writing looks like a Tom Waits song.

I write in pencil, mostly. (Fewer problems going thru the chemistry.)

[bobkonos]

Uncle Bill,

I am hooked lately on Aurora pens; must be the Italian style. My light blue Talentium and newly aquired sterling ribbed Ipsilon give me a lot of joy to use and hold. I also recently inherited my wife's late father's Parker 51, refurbished by Richartd Binder. Now I am looking for a Cedar Blue 51...when will it end?

[crusius]

Im constanly signing my name everyday at work, but due to it being on triplicate paper, by law, it must be a ball piont pen and black ink! Other times i like to use a nicley wieghted parker fountain pen with blue ink, cheap one id never trust myself with an expensive one id loose it!, but it feels nice in the hand and writes well on a molskine notbook!

Stu.

A Parker 51 with a medium nib will work in that case. Inkwise, Noodler's black ink is the safest (archival) ink available, much safer than any ballpoint ink.

Cheers,

- Cesar

[John Robertson]

No one calls them that any more?Noel

Sorry Noel, I still call them that:rolleyes:

Oh and I still have unused in its box with instructions a 1950's Conway Stewart lever-fill fountail pen given me as a prize at school, I didn't like its colour (marbled dark red) and wouldn't use it. Ungreatfull wretch that I was, my mother put it away in a drawer where I discovered it after her death a few years ago!!

John.

[Farace]

My writing looks like a Tom Waits song.

:D I think that's one of the best descriptions of anything I've read lately. I love Tom Waits, but yeah, his voice sounds like he started smoking in utero.

[richiedcruz]

I use an Eversharp desktop model and used to carry Parker Vectors as my go everywhere pen-before it was redesigned. Plus I have a few lever fill pens sitting in a drawer that need new rubber ink resovoirs.

One thing that I have been wondering is if I am the only one that find that modern fountain pens do not write as well as their vintage counterparts?

Richie

[John Robertson]

fill pens sitting in a drawer that need new rubber ink resovoirs.

One thing that I have been wondering is if I am the only one that find that modern fountain pens do not write as well as their vintage counterparts?

Richie

I think you have to run (write?) them in as you used to have to do with cars, they are never good right out of the box. My Pelikan (20+ years old) is a smooth as silk now!!

John.

[Marc-A.]

I use a QWERTY pen ... it's fine.

No seriously, I don't use anymore fountain pen, don't know why. I prefer to use a ball pen, mostly a small and well balanced Mont Blanc or a vulgar Uniball ... doesn't change what I write.
Best,
Marc

[sepiareverb]

....One thing that I have been wondering is if I am the only one that find that modern fountain pens do not write as well as their vintage counterparts?

Richie

There certainly is a break-in for a new nib. I got a broad nib for my old Pelikan a few years ago- the first few months it wasn't nearly as nice as the old Fine nib I put in another pen. Now that the Broad has been driven a few miles it is as nice as the Fine ever was. I think pens are more like dogs than cars- some training and patience is needed with the puppy!

[Kent]

Yes, I love to use fountain pens.
I have got three "upper class models": a Parker, a Pelikan and a Mont Blanc.
Any my favourite one: a Faber-Castell - an excellent fountain pen!

[matt fury]

Most people think that modern nibs don't write as well as vintage ones, and I'm one of them. I have more than a handful of vintage (50's or earlier) Mont Blancs, and a couple of new ones, and the vintage ones are hands-down winners. There's basically no such thing as flex in a modern nib, and to me, it's the flex (& an oblique nib) that make writing with a fp so expressive.

I've also got a couple of vintage Parkers, a Pelikan, a glass-cartridge filling Waterman and a few other misc pens. I just traded some cigars for a Rotring 600, and I do like the construction, I just wish the cap clamped on more tightly.

Come to think of it...I have too much money sitting in pen cases, considering the amount I write lately. It's probably time that I put some of that money into things that will sit in camera bags....

[Uncle Bill]

Uncle Bill,

I am hooked lately on Aurora pens; must be the Italian style. My light blue Talentium and newly aquired sterling ribbed Ipsilon give me a lot of joy to use and hold. I also recently inherited my wife's late father's Parker 51, refurbished by Richartd Binder. Now I am looking for a Cedar Blue 51...when will it end?


Hate to say this, there is no end with 51's, I have about 15 at last count split equally between aerometric fill and Vacumatic fill. That being said, I am becoming a fan of the Parker 75, also a really nice writer.

I am also a huge fan of Pelikan especially their 400 line from the 1950's, I love the nibs from that era.

Bill

[visiondr]

This thread has caused me (yes, you are all to blame, not me) to order a Lamy 2000 fountain pen. I HAD to replace the old pen that hit the floor, nib first (non-replaceable nib). I can't wait. It looks like a cool pen.

[bobkonos]

This thread has caused me (yes, you are all to blame, not me) to order a Lamy 2000 fountain pen. I HAD to replace the old pen that hit the floor, nib first (non-replaceable nib). I can't wait. It looks like a cool pen.

Hey, we're here to help. And if I can help you get that new bike, just ask. :-)

[richiedcruz]

Most people think that modern nibs don't write as well as vintage ones, and I'm one of them. I have more than a handful of vintage (50's or earlier) Mont Blancs, and a couple of new ones, and the vintage ones are hands-down winners. There's basically no such thing as flex in a modern nib, and to me, it's the flex (& an oblique nib) that make writing with a fp so expressive.

I've also got a couple of vintage Parkers, a Pelikan, a glass-cartridge filling Waterman and a few other misc pens. I just traded some cigars for a Rotring 600, and I do like the construction, I just wish the cap clamped on more tightly.

Come to think of it...I have too much money sitting in pen cases, considering the amount I write lately. It's probably time that I put some of that money into things that will sit in camera bags....


You also cannot forget about weight. All my older pens are a lot lighter than any of the modern pens that I have or have tried out. Sometimes I think that modern fountain pens are more meant for signing things and looking important than actually spending long periods writing.

I can get used to the weight and different writing qualities of modern fountain pens, but I am always disappointed at the short writing times that I get out of cartidge converter style fountain pens versus the older lever filler types.

Richie

[jaypolaski]

I swear by my fountain pens. won't write with anything else. My daily carry pens are a Parker Double Jewel "51" in Cordovan with Sterling Silver cap, and a Bexley Simplicity with 18K nib. It is a limited edition of 114 made for the Fountain Pen Network earlier this year. Here's a shot of it I took (with a digital, unfortunately):

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/206/503581946_1557586f1c.jpg

[foto_fool]

I have been using fountain pens for longer than I have been using rangefinders. After trading back and forth for several years I decided I prefer the piston-fill designs by Pelikan and Omas. My daily user - and the one that actually got me to start practicing penmanship again - is a vintage black M800 with a medium-oblique nib hand-cut by John Mottishaw. My signature pen is a newer green-stripe M1000 with a Pelikan stock medium-oblique; broader and more flexible than the custom nib. My occasional-use pens are a black/gold Omas Paragon M, a black/gold Omas Ogiva F and a green Omas 360 M - all with stock nibs. I have big hands and the big pens feel better in use - less cramped. I blend an ink I like from Levenger Cocoa and Cardinal Red with a touch of Waterman Black. I also like the flow and transparency of the Pelikan Blue.

- John

[ray_g]

My love affair with fountain pens was recently rekindled when, ironically, I recently got a letter from one of the hospital VP's that my notes and operative reports were illegible! :( There's something to slowing down a bit with a FP.

I love my Pelikans: 805, 605, old 600, 205 clear demonstrator and my parker 51's. A couple of them are heading for regrinding with Richard Binder.

I discovered the Danitrio Densho on FPN... yummy :)

More recently, I have been into more vintage pens... Waterman 52 BCHR and mottled red rubber Mabie Todd Swan, with amazing flex nibs from the 1920's. A restored original Conway Stewart 58. I have to say using them daily comes close to shooting with vintage leicas. ;)

Another form of GAS... fortunately less expensive.

Unless, like Joerg, you are lusting for a Nakaya Urushi. ;)

[visiondr]

I just picked up a very nice pen for work. It's a Lamy 2000. No nonsense Bauhaus style. Nice, smooth writing. The Lamy has no cartridge or converter fill, it only accepts ink from a bottle.

Ray, since your notes are obviously important (I use my pen for charting and general office), you might consider permanent ink such as Noodlers black. I've heard once dry this stuff is more permanent (even soaked in water) than a ball point. It also has the advantage of minimal feathering. Apparently, you can practically write on paper towels! I'm ordering a bottle myself.

[GeneW]

I've always preferred fountain pens. I don't collect and don't own any vintage pens, but I have a modern Sheaffer that I use daily in my Moleskine. It uses Sheaffer ink cartridges, which I refill using a diabetic's medical syringe ($0.25 at my local pharmacy). I fill them with black Pelikan ink, thanks to Jan Normandale's recommendation. Seen here, along with a few other essentials...

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/186/436462921_6ef220144d.jpg

Gene

[mervynyan]

speak of which, is there someone who wants a Montblanc Starwalker Metal & Rubber fountain pen. The medium nib is a little too big for my writing style, and retailer won't find me a replacement. and more importantly, ink cartridges are too expensive to use. the whole box costs more $10, I used to write some serious notes that a box can only last 2-3 weeks.

I don't want to sell for cash but would be interested to trade with something interesting. Perhaps a similar value fountain pen.

[LazyHammock]

I have been writing all my personal correspondence with a fountain pen since I was forced to use one in Junior School. I now use the FP's for note-taking at work, writing grocery lists, you name it. I rarely pick up rollerballs or ballpoints anymore. I'm also working on improving my handwriting following the lessons in "Write Now" by Dubay and Getty.
My daily users are a Sailor 1911 and a Duke.
Cheers,
Nick

[Ken Ford]

I'm still waiting for my replacement Rotring Initial - the seller shipped me a broad nibbed pen instead of the fine I had ordered. I also have an inexpensive pen inbound - a Lamy Al-Star.

[smiling gecko]

...my daily pen is an older (?) middlin' size mont blanc. not sure what model, the nib is engraved with "4810". the width of the stroke seems a bit wide sometimes. could be from using my ruby red tornado (rollerball cartridge repalced with a basic parker ball point refill) more often.

for me it is an indulgence of sorts. using it slows me down a bit...and that's not a bad thing. sort of like living with my manual wind wristwatch.


"...patience and shuffle the cards" miguel cervantes
_____________________________________

smile, breathe, relax, and enjoy
_____________________________________

hasta la vista, voyez-vous lus tard, adieu, daskorava, fino al prossimo tempo, auf wiedersehen, shalom, zaijan, and ... later y’all :p :D :p
_______________________________________

kenneth lockerman
NEVER FORGET BESLAN
www.neverforgetbeslan.org
www.neverforgetbeslan.com

[AKAJohnDoe]

My daily pen is an Aurora Ipsilon in Sunny Yellow, although I have several dozen from which to choose and over a dozen inks as well.

I find that fountain pens, medium format cameras, and, yes, rangefinder cameras, are a pleasant way to slow down from the pace of life.

[Dfin]

I have two Parker 45 FP`s, one grey the other turquoise plus my fathers Conway Stewart 236 and a Onoto The Pencil, which he won as golf trophies in 1938. They both need a CLA, but will have too wait their turn, oh and I drive a C5 Citroen S/wagon. Earlier this year I was lucky enough to pick up an old Colnago steel frame bike with Shimarno 600, down tube shifters, singles, it`s red with a white Turbo saddle, real time warp stuff. Sorta matches the cupboard full of Yashica GS/N/T`s, the Leica M`s,the Linhof 6x9 & 6x7,the `blad, the nikon F/F2/Nikkormats, I think I have a problem Doctor!!!

[Artichoke]

I have used fountain pens ever since I was in college & use one daily in my work as a consulting physician
I have had a Mont Blanc, Waterman (got it in Oxford at a pen store in the mid '80's & still use it at home to sign checks & for letters), numerous inexpensive Pelikans, a Cross with cartridges that I hand filled
my favorite by FAR is a Pilot retractable fountain pen
this beautifully engineered pen retracts its nib into an air tight chamber which keeps it ready for use and assures it will not leak
there is an O ring where the body screws apart for refilling as well
filling it can be a bit messy as the screw siphon takes a little getting used to, though the technique is quickly learned
the pen fits my hand perfectly & writes quite well
unlike any other pen I have had, this one has never failed me in my years of using it & requires little maintainance ...really an outstanding design

[Superbus_]

I have been using fountain pens since my primary school years. I use daily a parker frontier and a very cheap pelikan. Now I'm looking for a replacement service for my father's parker 51. (he uses just his pc qwerty - what a generation! :) ). Im also planning to buy one of the japanese fountain pens, but a simple version.
In general I do not like too expensive fps, because I like to use it daily and not just for signing something. That's why I do not prefer too heavy fountain pens. On the other hand I like fountainpens so much, so I just registered in the fountain pen forum a few days ago... ;)

[Brad Bireley]

Is there a FSU or Yashica GSN version of fountain pens?

[payasam]

Several years ago, after despairing of finding a decent ink, I gave up a lifetime's habit and moved from fountain pens to gel pens. Three Sheaffer pens are in search of owners. Kids don't want them.

[Ken Ford]

Is there a FSU or Yashica GSN version of fountain pens?

Google Lamy Safari. I'm a FP newb, but this one gets many kudos for cost vs. utility.

[Ken Ford]

... my favorite by FAR is a Pilot retractable fountain pen
this beautifully engineered pen retracts its nib into an air tight chamber which keeps it ready for use and assures it will not leak
there is an O ring where the body screws apart for refilling as well
filling it can be a bit messy as the screw siphon takes a little getting used to, though the technique is quickly learned
the pen fits my hand perfectly & writes quite well
unlike any other pen I have had, this one has never failed me in my years of using it & requires little maintainance ...really an outstanding design

You are evil, Doctor.

One of the problems I've discovered with changing over to FPs for work is the constant uncapping and recapping. After reading your post, I spent a few hours on FPN and Google researching these Pilot pens.

The Vanishing Point sounds like a perfect solution for me! I'm talking to a vendor now about a blue one in their "Carbonesque" finish with a spare nib insert.

[RdEoSg]

I don't know much about fountain pens, but I make them on a wood lathe if that counts! I have tried writing with them but I've never had much success. I am probably doing it wrong I admit.

I doubt the tip and all is very high quality on the kits I buy to make mine, but they are fun to do with interesting woods anyways.

[Farace]

Is there a FSU or Yashica GSN version of fountain pens?

If you want to talk vintage, Esterbrooks give a great bang for the buck. They were real cheap in their day, are still rather cheap comparatively speaking, have nice celluloid bodies, and have easily interchangeable nibs so you can go from, say, a fine rigid point to a flexy expressive point in no time. They're also super easy to work on and rather reliable.

[matt fury]

speak of which, is there someone who wants a Montblanc Starwalker Metal & Rubber fountain pen. The medium nib is a little too big for my writing style, and retailer won't find me a replacement. and more importantly, ink cartridges are too expensive to use. the whole box costs more $10, I used to write some serious notes that a box can only last 2-3 weeks.

I don't want to sell for cash but would be interested to trade with something interesting. Perhaps a similar value fountain pen.

Damn, I've had my eye on one of those since before they came out...wish I could think of what to offer you in trade...

[SimonPG]

I have continued to use fountain pens (occassionally rather than always, I must admit because they are often just not practical) right up to today and I can't ever see myself not using one.

More to the point, even in business, I still send clients and prospective clients letters signed in real INK! One commented a while ago: "thanks for your letter, it was the first letter I have received in a couple of years and so refreshing!"

Maybe it is also called differentiation!:)

[Mauro]

I love fountain pens, and I have several cheap models; I like using them when writing letters, using Pelikan ink in different colours.
Now I am waiting for the return of my father's Pelikan 120 (bought in the sixties) after a CLA.

[topoxforddoc]

I only use fountain pens. At school I was told pencil or (ink) pen - no biros were allowed. So I use fountain pens all the time - both my daily writers are Conway Stewarts - a black ebonite Churchill and a red ebonite 58 Duro. I buy my ink in boxes of 12 bottles and have bottles everywhere - at home, in clinic (at both my hospitals), in my secretaries' offices etc. I almost feel naked without them!

Charlie

[netzspannung]

I have been using fountain pens for longer than I have been using rangefinders. After trading back and forth for several years I decided I prefer the piston-fill designs by Pelikan and Omas. My daily user - and the one that actually got me to start practicing penmanship again - is a vintage black M800 with a medium-oblique nib hand-cut by John Mottishaw. My signature pen is a newer green-stripe M1000 with a Pelikan stock medium-oblique; broader and more flexible than the custom nib. My occasional-use pens are a black/gold Omas Paragon M, a black/gold Omas Ogiva F and a green Omas 360 M - all with stock nibs. I have big hands and the big pens feel better in use - less cramped. I blend an ink I like from Levenger Cocoa and Cardinal Red with a touch of Waterman Black. I also like the flow and transparency of the Pelikan Blue.

- John


Doppelganger, my friend. The matrix has you. You travel the Internet and discover yourself someday.

No, seriously, I think you have more than a good taste in fountain pens - you have excellent taste. My favorites are Pelikan M800, then M700 Toledo, an Omas Bibliotheque Nationale, Medium Italic 14karat Superflex - cut by John Mottishaw of course. No need to elaborate - you know the feeling.

What's next - Zippo lighters? Bicycles? What's your dream car - i bet its a SAAB 900 SPG. Aren't we all the same kind of nuts?

P.S. Who of you freaks is receiving the Fountain Pen Hospital Catalogue? I only know a new year has started when it comes.
Fountain pen shops behind the Pantheon, Rome, anyone? Les Stylos d'Opera, Paris? Bush house, London, pen shop? Been there, done that

[SteveM(PA)]

I need to get one, I think I'll try one of those chinese Heros. My Aurora Thesi ballpoint still stops traffic, purchased long ago. It's half of the Hastil (fountain)/Thesi set. I have no hope of ever affording the Hastil. I also have a Rotring Quattro, and I'd like to try a Rotring Core. I sort of like the dichotomy of that...a fountain pen that looks like a running shoe.

[Ken Ford]

Two pens arrived today: the replacement Rotring Initial and a Lamy Al-Star. I also have a Pilot Blue Kasuri Vanishing Point on the way for a daily carry office pen.

That's it, I'm done!

[john_nyc]

Ah... it had to happen: the rangefinder/fountain pen connection...

Pelikan M800, blue
Pelikan M400, black/silver
Pelikan M400, red
Pelikan M400 ball, converted to a stylus
Pelikan 100N, green, ca 1942, w/ gold "document" nib (extra stiff to write on carbon paper)
Montblanc 1518
Sailor Music Pen
Namiki Falcon
Waterman Expert Chrome
Schaeffer Legacy, Sterling Silver
Rotring 600 fountain
Venlo 20 pen burled maple case

All are filled with Noodlers ink (black, Legal Blue, Widow Maker Red)

Pelikans are my favorite. I love that the nibs are interchangable and that relative to the ubiquitous Montblanc, the price is lower and the quality higher.

Boy, do I love fountain pens (and Leica cameras)!

John

[foto_fool]

Basil - I envy that JM Superflex for your Omas. John's nibs can cost half the pen, but are worth every penny. Matt Fury complained that modern nibs are not flexible - he should get John to cut a Superflex for him. I also recommend the Sailor line from Japan - simply amazing. Their "musical" nibs are SO flexible that the merest pressure results in a miniature brush stroke. I kept one just for the nib, even though the pens are cartridge/converter rather than piston fill. And though I don't use them because they are too small, I have a old Pelikan 400 (JM nib) and new 620 "Stockholm" that I hope I can interest the children in.

Zippos? Not yet. Bicycles? - mid-1970's Motobecane with the original work-of-art Huret derailleurs and Stronglight crankset. I did break down and put a set of new Shimano side pulls and easier-to-keep-straight Mavic wheels on it, but it is still a lightweight silver and red thing of beauty. I put almost 100K miles on an 1984 SAAB 900 Turbo and loved every minute of it. Motorcycles? Wannabe amateur racer for many years, until I built a BMW R75/5 from a basket of parts and slowed down. Eventually traded down to a Vespa 50. Vinyl? - check that other thread. Wine? Not even a hobby anymore - day job.

RFF is s self-selected group of people many of whom appreciate timeless, not to say anachronisitc, technologies. And also for many of us, not to the exclusion of the modern.

- John

[charjohncarter]

Here are my three, all cheap. The one on the left I bought in 1965. Now when someone says 'what's that' I say 'Foxtrot Oscar.'

[matt fury]

Basil - I envy that JM Superflex for your Omas. John's nibs can cost half the pen, but are worth every penny. Matt Fury complained that modern nibs are not flexible - he should get John to cut a Superflex for him.

Mottishaw can work magic, no doubt...but I have a hard time justifying the cost when there are so many wonderful vintage pens out there just waiting for me to save them! :angel:

[netzspannung]

Mottishaw can work magic, no doubt...but I have a hard time justifying the cost when there are so many wonderful vintage pens out there just waiting for me to save them! :angel:


Well, the one in question -the one I have -is nice, but not much beyond that. Frankly, I haven't noticed any special qualities in the 14k, and flex doesn't help when the nib itself is an italic - it becomes scratchy when pushed to the point of the "flex". It was listed as special occasion, used, very affordable at the time :)
BTW, the quality of omas pens is simply appalling for the price. The Bibliotheque Special I've had - it has literally fallen apart at the piston rod, impossible to fix. I salvaged the nib, putting it into a measly Omas Tokyo - that was a pain, as the threads did not match and I had to strip it all the way, changing the feeds. But - their designs are among the most beatiful. Ever

I've had more than enough "expensive" pens fail on me, very aggravating when compared with reliable $1 things. An aurora ipsilon with cracked threads, a Sheaffer Intrigue, something that looked like a dinosaur egg and broke into shreds after a month's use, a Montblanc Generations that kept annoyingly leaking onto the back of my hand when I posted the cap, etc, etc.

I even have a useless Pelikan 400 tortoiseshell that I bought in Rome for Eur 40, mistakingly relabeled as an M200 or something. False economy - the thing never wrote, no matter what I did to the nib. But the Pelikans I still love the most, they're heads above other brands.

BTW, who remembers Frank Dubiel, the author of the DA Book? That was the man. The Erwin Putz of the fountain pen. Arrogant and generally unbearable, but everyone liked him, myself included ;)

[matt fury]

It's funny...I have an Omas that I picked up on sale at FPH...the clear Ogiva Vision... it works, but definitely not the way I would expect a new pen of that caliber to perform. And that's AFTER a tune up from Richard Binder. Hell, even my Safari was something of a disappointment (until I lost it).

I've been mostly happy with my vintage FPs. Yes, I've had a couple of duds...a vintage MB 142G & a Pelikan of some sort...but the hits have far outweighed the misses...both financially & emotionally.

I remember Frank Dubiel. I've got Da Book sitting around here somewhere. I remember when he passed away...came as quite a shock, even though I didn't know him particularly well.

[amateriat]

Fountain pens have been in and out of my life since latching onto to a blister-pack Parker for a buck-forty-nine at Berman Twins on Manhattan's Upper West Side in 1965. Loved it when it worked, loathed it when it leaked, which is when I'd break it in disgust and reach for my Jotter, only to get hold of another cheap FP a month later.

Years later, a bookstore owner gave me a Tommy Hilfiger (I kid you not) branded FP. Predictably cheap, scratchy-skippy nib and all, but i was once again keen on FPs, and finally in a position to get beyond the cheap n' nasty stuff. Deliverance came in a demo, broad-nib Lamy Persona from a going-out-of-business stationer's shop near where I was working at the time. Maurice, who had been working there, sold it to me for an astounding $100...a tad over 1/4 what it went for new. It already had a converter in it, too. Heaven on paper. (Maurice went on to work at FPH, where I continued to deal with him, then, I think, went on to his great reward. I miss him.)

The Persona was quickly followed by a Lamy 2000 FP (and most of the rest of the 2000 "family", and I was off to the races. Correspondence, signing, journal writing, and a few more things besides. (Moleskine? Nope...i'm holding out for one of these (http://blackcover.wordpress.com/2007/05/07/the-perfect-moleskine-and-you-cant-have-it/) numbers)

I love the clean, "modern" aesthetic of my two Lamys, which I've now owned for about ten years, but I admit to having an odd vintage kick that wouldn't go away. I've satisfied that kick more than sufficiently by a surprise eBay find: a late-50s-early-60s Lamy 99, which, in looks (this was the product from the pre-Bauhaus-seized Lamy), and performance, appears to be the company's belated answer to the Parker 51, and, like the later 2000, is piston-fill, but unlike most modern Lamys, the 99's 14k nib has more than a bit of flex to it. Filled with J. Herbin Viloette, the thing practically sings across the page. (the others get a varied diet of Lamy or Waterman blue-black, and the late F. Dubiel's least favorite ink in the Universe, Parker Penman Sapphire and Ebony...since they've ended up in what are considered "modern" pens, that probably explains why I've never had problems with this ink).

Whew. Less typing, more scribbling...


- Barrett

[TheHub]

2 Mont Blancs - one I was going to sell but never got around to it. So it sits like new in its box :rolleyes:

1 Cross fountain pen - I'm a big fan of their ball points

1 Lamy fountain pen - they're cheap and really nice

1 Pelikan something or other - ran out of ink, haven't gotten any more since :p

[Ken Ford]

My Vanishing Point showed up today - yowza! Talk about engineering!

A very comfortable pen that is going to make a lot of sense for me at work due to the capless design.

[amateriat]

My Vanishing Point showed up today - yowza! Talk about engineering!

A very comfortable pen that is going to make a lot of sense for me at work due to the capless design. I don't own one, but have written with it, and admire its design a ton. A solid value as well.


- Barrett

[foto_fool]

Well, the one in question -the one I have -is nice, but not much beyond that. Frankly, I haven't noticed any special qualities in the 14k, and flex doesn't help when the nib itself is an italic - it becomes scratchy when pushed to the point of the "flex". It was listed as special occasion, used, very affordable at the time :)

Mottishaw nibs are not for everyone. If John understands your hand his nibs come to you. If you are a script duffer like myself, you have to come to the nib. The nice thing about 14k is that it wears in to your nondescript hand fairly quickly. If you want flexy AND smooth from the get-go I reiterate that the Sailor nibs can't be beat.


BTW, the quality of omas pens is simply appalling for the price. The Bibliotheque Special I've had - it has literally fallen apart at the piston rod, impossible to fix. I salvaged the nib, putting it into a measly Omas Tokyo - that was a pain, as the threads did not match and I had to strip it all the way, changing the feeds. But - their designs are among the most beatiful. Ever

I've had more than enough "expensive" pens fail on me, very aggravating when compared with reliable $1 things. An aurora ipsilon with cracked threads, a Sheaffer Intrigue, something that looked like a dinosaur egg and broke into shreds after a month's use, a Montblanc Generations that kept annoyingly leaking onto the back of my hand when I posted the cap, etc, etc.

I even have a useless Pelikan 400 tortoiseshell that I bought in Rome for Eur 40, mistakingly relabeled as an M200 or something. False economy - the thing never wrote, no matter what I did to the nib. But the Pelikans I still love the most, they're heads above other brands...

Quelle suprise! New model fountain pens are not made as well as pens were back when fountain pens were the only game in town! IMHO most modern FP's are more status symbols than writing instruments. I like the older models.

- John

[Ken Ford]

Well, my VP has totally displaced my other two pens for work - it's that good! I think I'm going to keep the Initial for around the house (it writes sooo nice and feels really good) and flog the Lamy.

[Robert Lai]

The best nib I've ever written with is the flexible #2 on a humble Waterman 52 (they stopped making them in 1925). The feed puts out as much ink as the nib demands. You can go from hairlines to a very wide line with this nib. Cost was $40 on evil bay for a pen in reasonable shape, then I had a new ink sac put into it.

After the Waterman, I had John Mottishaw modify the Namiki Falcon, which already comes with a flexible nib, to make it superflexible. It's far better than most modern nibs, but it does not approach the flexibility of the Waterman #2 nib.

Flexible nibs are very expressive, but delicate. Don't ever let someone else try your pen, or else you may have to fix the nib and reset it when the typical ball-point user mashes the nib and distorts it from excessive pressure.

In my collection of rigid nib pens, I use the Namiki Vanishing Point, a Lamy Safari, Pelikan 250 (transparent demo model), and a Parker 51. They all write very well. I would say that I like using the Pelikan best of all - very smooth right out of the box. The Parker 51 I picked up for $20 from a roadside garage sale as I was driving through the country. It looks mint, and works fabulously. There are still some great bargains out there!

[somecanuckchick]

From the bicycle thread I got curious about other things that people who like rangefinders are likely to like. (!)

Fountain pens: I bet other people here use them regularly. My "daily writer" is a black Parker 51 Aerometric, filled with Noodler's black ink.

Who else?

- Cesar

Once upon a time I used a Fountain Pen...

It's truly a lost art.

I miss my MB 149...

[RdEoSg]

I'm going to be in Poland and London next month. I wonder if I can scrounge up something while there? I don't even know where to look for a pen. I've tried to find nib replacements for the pens that I make but nothing seems to work right and the ones that come in the wood turning kits are crap.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I really don't have the money to spend $100 or more for a pen.

I used a Lamy er... Safari maybe? Neon yellow thing. Tried it at a store yesterday. It was interesting, but to be honest didn't feel much different to me from using one of my pens I've made on a wood lathe that I upgraded with rollerball tips.

I'd like to have something that looks different depending on how you right... Like the thick line to make a T but the thin line when you cross it? Does that make sense to anyone.

I feel like the first time I ever hear the word Rangefinder some 10 years ago... :P:P

I wouldn't mind getting some old retro something another. I write a lot of receipts at work and have a tendency to leave pens laying around the counters. Even if I could afford it, a $400 pen would be a bad idea! ;)

Oh and has anyone ever heard of an Eversharp? I seem to have one that belonged to some long lost relative. It has a matching pencil too, but the little uh... lever? that you pull to fill it with ink only moves maybe an 8th of an inch. Is that normal? I suspect maybe there is 50 year old dried ink in it!! Any ideas of how I can get it working again? I would assume this isn't a pen worth mailing off to be worked on!

In short.... HELP!

[matt fury]

Eversharp made some very nice pens (Skylines, etc), and depending on the exact model, it could be worth having fixed up. If it hasn't been used in a long long time, odds are the ink sac has dried up and will need to be replaced.

Re: shopping in Europe. I would just pick something up locally. You're not really going to find anything particularly better or cheaper (as a beginner) in .eu, and you do have some local pen stores & shows in SoCal that you could hit instead.

[shutterflower]

I once worked at a stationary store in Seattle. We sold the same stationary that the British Royals use, and we even carried some $11K fountain pens. Some Duponts, Mont Blancs, Shaeffers, and a number of other brands. Mont Blanc made a few that were absolutely spectacularly smooth writers, but I tend to like smaller barrelled pens. Duponts are nice. Heavy, small, and the refills are reasonable.

[RdEoSg]

I was just looking at the Eversharp one I have. It seems to be made of some sorta of Plastic or bakelite or something. Unfortunately the whole top of the cap is broken and falling apart. I fear it is done for.

I was at another shop yesterday that sells all sorts of pens. Montblanc Cartier, Dupont and others. I think those may all be beyond my price range at the moment. It is never a good idea to go in a store that has pens behind 1inch thick glass in walls with nifty lights on them. You can be assured the $25 pen is not behind glass :P

The $20,000 Mont Blanc was interesting, but the salesman was more interested in the M6 around my neck! :D Wouldn't let me take a piccie though! "Store Policy" I was told. :D

[peterm1]

Years ago I bought a Mont Blanc MeisterStuck when all of the Gordon Gekkos in the world had these - not that I am one, although I did wear braces! I can only say I would never buy another. The nib is far too hard to write well and costs a small fortune to have replaced if you wish to try something softer or broader. Worst of all the body is made from hard plastic that is as brittle as glass. I have broken this damn thing twice and the accompanying ballpoint has had about three new bodies and even now the latest one is cracked. NEVER AGAIN. Besides that the body of the fountain pen is about the size of a large doouble panatella and unless you have the proportions of a highland silver back gorilla its impossible to hold - the things we do for status.

On the other hand I found a lovely little tortise shell pen with solid gold nib in an antique store years ago, had it refurbished with a new bladder and its an absolute joy to use. Only minor problem is that if you use it at your desk and you are a paper pusher like me, you had better be prepared to refill it twice a day at least.

Mostly I just use a bog standard Cross, which was cheap and works quite well.

My advice overall is that if you enjoy using fountain pens, haunt the antique shops but be prepared to pay a motza as good ones have become about as collectible as a mint Leica M3.

BTW, cheap and cheerful or expensive as hell, it does not matter what wrting stick I use, my hand writing is still crap.

[matt fury]

No doubt that there are some extremely nice $11k pens, but at that point, you're just paying for a fancy barrel. That's pretty much true of anything about $2k, and even of most pens approaching that.

[matt fury]

Mont Blanc has gotten the rep of being only good for status, but even if you just look at modern pens, it's not entirely true. They make plenty of great fps (146, 149 especially), even some sized as a demitasse as opposed to a gran panatella, and you can get them significantly cheaper online or used.

There are a few SoCal pen stores that sell used pens & things like Lamy's, so you should definitely be able to find something cheap if you look around.

[amateriat]

Chris: It's a bit tough to get the price/performance/availability nexus just right with these things. As mentioned earlier in the thread, my FP "collection" consists of a trio of Lamys – two late-model examples (Persona and 2000), and, to ease my lust for something "vintage", a Lamy 99, which is a surprisingly pleasant contrast to the other two. I got the 99 on the 'Bay, in excellent condition, for somewhere around $40, give or take a fiver. A 14k B point, with a bit more flex than my later Lamys, and a piston filler, by far my favorite filling method (the 2000 is piston-fill as well, while the Persona has the optional converter – I'm not into cartridges).

99s show up on eBay from time to time. In fact, there's a nice one there right now:

http://tinyurl.com/24mqam

Of course, there's also the ubiquitous Parker "51", and, no, you don't have to pay a fortune for a good-writing example, although they're not exactly dirt-cheap; the nicest-writing example I've tried belongs to a friend who uses it most every day, cost him somewhere a bit morth of $100. (Note: near as I can remember, I think he mentioned having the nib tweaked a bit for him to get it "just right".)

So, forget about the spectre of $400 pens. A fantastic pen can be had for a fraction of that tab.


- Barrett

[RdEoSg]

I'm going to have to start keeping my eyes opened!

Can anyone recommend a good site that would explain the differences between nubs and things? I've come across a few sites that talk about ones for Pelikan pens.

Thanks for the info Barrett. I have saved that auction to keep an eye on to see how things go.

I think that is my biggest problem at the moment, there doesn't seem to be any shortage of good vintage pens in my price point, it is just a matter of knowing what I am looking at when I come across something!!

[amateriat]

I was at another shop yesterday that sells all sorts of pens. Montblanc Cartier, Dupont and others. I think those may all be beyond my price range at the moment. It is never a good idea to go in a store that has pens behind 1inch thick glass in walls with nifty lights on them. You can be assured the $25 pen is not behind glass :P That's the nice thing about pen fairs when they're held at places like this: you usually have carte blanche to scribble with FPs you likely would not sell off a good portion of your Leica kit to possess.

At the last pen fair here (at Fountain Pen Hospital in lower Manhattan – a swell place to ogle at any time), I got to fool around with a few examples from Krone and Michel Perchin, plus one example each from Yard-O-Led and Graf von Faber-Castell. The least-expensive of these hovered around $1500; the priciest (two of the Perchins) was about $4500.

The biggest thng I took away from playing with these pens was that, once you get past, say, the $200-300 mark, it's mostly about pomp and filigree, chiseled sterling silver or abalone with lacquer overcoat, or – worse still – the braided/carved Coat of Arms bit. The business end of these writing exotica generally didn't write a lick better than anything I currently own, and in a few instances didn't write as well. Furthermore, all that encrustment often made these pens heavy and ponderous in the hand, even without posting the cap.

The pen I liked writing with most at the fair? An unassuming Parker 100. Right size, right weight/balance/heft, smooth, controlled ink flow. And enough money saved over the other choices to buy a couple of Moleskines, plenty of film, and get lost in a different town (or country) for a month or so.

Given the choice, I know what I'd do. :)


- Barrett

[RdEoSg]

Moleskine.. Now you know why I want a fountain pen!

I was going to ask what can be put in a pen to make it worth $20,000!!! Apparently it was the rubies. I swear for $20,000 it better make $100 bills all on it's own!

I just wish I could find some sort of nib that I could adapt to fit in one of my pens. I love turning my own. Every one of them original, but if the ink won't flow, what good are they!

[amateriat]

I was going to ask what can be put in a pen to make it worth $20,000!!! Apparently it was the rubies. I swear for $20,000 it better make $100 bills all on it's own! It reminds me a movie review, years ago, of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, where the critic (I think it was NPR's Bob Mondello), in reference to the old Hollywood moguls' bragging about how expensive a given flick was to make, and that you "could see every dollar on the screen", comments that this movie gave him the distinct experience "of sitting in a darkened theatre, watching money."

That's what wrting with a Michel Perchin sort of felt like to me.

Now, for something completely different:

http://tinyurl.com/24f76k

This is a rather dangerous review, because it's about a pen made by a little-known but really interesting outfit. This pen is the exact same pen that they make in some pretty exotic (and pricey) finishes, but which was also made available, by request, totally unadorned – in the raw Ebonite, in fact – for relative chump-change. Read it at your peril. ;)

(Edit: you can blame Ray G for this DaniTrio stuff...he brought it up first.) :)


- Barrett

[RdEoSg]

That's pretty cool!

[RdEoSg]

So in the event that I did happen to find a vintage pen somewhere that I liked and wanted to buy, I have no idea how to repair them but realize that in all likely hood a pen that has been sitting for decades probably needs repairs! I have seen several mention the fountain pen hospital. Does anyone know how much a typical repair costs for something? I don't see a point in spending $50 for a cool looking pen only to discover it is $200 to repair it! Unless it's some valuable pen but otherwise yea...

[amateriat]

As with used cameas, "it depends."

My "priciest" pen (in terms of its original selling price), the Persona, was purchased as a demo from a stationer's shop that was going out of business. Wrote beautifully from day one. It's likely that is was scacely broken in. The 99, which I got off the 'Bay, also was a great writer from the start, although i have no idea how much use it's had in its 40+ years, although the pen's cosmetic condition hints that it wasn't in heavy rotation, or at least not carelessly tossed about. Most decent pens on the used market, if they've been handled much at all, have likely not been abused, but, just as with anything else, ask about a return policy.

Besides the nib and feed, the big deal for me would be where the ink goes, and how: sac-based filling systems have the biggest potential for hidden problems. Piston-fill systems, for the most part, are less of a problem, and what problems might exist in a given pen of this type are easier to spot. They are also easier to clean and maintain, which is why buying a used pen with a PF system, IMO, is a safer bet. (Piston-fill pens generally tend to hold more ink than any other type, save for that DaniTrio eyedropper job.)

What I mentioned before about nib tweaking usually has much more to do with having the nib tailored to your writing style than fixing something that's fundamentally broken. This was certainly the case with my friend with the "51", which he practically goes nowhere without.

Finding a pen that fits you at least reasonably well can be an amazing thing, almost disappearing in your hand like a good camera.


- Barrett

[Farace]

RdEoSg, some vintage pens (Esterbrooks, for instance) are quite easy to work on. Most will need a new ink sac, which is easily done at home if you're at all handy. Some pens aren't so easy or require special tools (I have a Parker Vacumatic that needs a new diaphragm; I'm certain I could do it myself, but the tool required for disassembly costs more than sending it off to be fixed by a professional like Richard Binder; same story with a Sheaffer Vac-fill I have). I fixed a Sheaffer Snorkel, which can try one's patience, but is doable. Don't discount your own abilities. Heck, if you can do minor camera repairs, you can repair some fountain pens, too.

BTW, if that Eversharp you have is a Skyline and it's truly trashed and you're going to toss it, I might be able to use some parts from it, depending on model and what's busted.

[RdEoSg]

I have no idea what the Eversharp is. I will take a photo to show you, but honestly I don't think I would part with it simply because I believe it belonged to my great grandfather so it has sentimental value. I'll take a photo anyways so you can see. Maybe you can tell me just what it is.

Barrett, I think I may be on the hunt. Damn you people!! :p We have lots of antique shops around here, I think I will take a look in them and see what is around. I checked out ebay but it seems to me like anything that looked halfway decent was already being bid on by lots of other people. Much like cameras I doubt you can get an amazing deal unless you know exactly what you are looking for and get lucky. That one you showed me yesterday, the Lamy 99 is a really cool looking pen but is already going up past my price range since yesterday.

It sure looked nice though. I will have to remember that one and keep looking.

Edit: As far as repairs are concerned, I am pretty mechanical and can usually work things out, I just don't have the first clue about fountain pens. I barely understand how they work, but if I find something I am sure you fine people can give me some pointers like leave the hammer on the wall when working on pens...

I tried to figure out how to get the nib out of the Eversharp but no luck yet.

[Farace]

Chris, a lot of nibs require being knocked out of the section. Generally, this is done using something called a nib block and a metal rod, but I've used a hole drilled in a piece of wood and a dowel. But you need to get the section out first. Go to www.richardspens.com and read through some of his reference articles. It will give you a good idea of what's going on inside various types of pens, and offers some advice on repair. Richard is also highly thought of as a repairman.

Besides antique shops, don't neglect to look in thrift shops and used furniture stores, etc. I found a Pelikan 120 for a quarter at a thrift shop (needed the nib to be straightened; I managed a bit of it, and it writes, but needs more work to be right) and a Waterman CF at a used furniture store for two bucks. I've also found nice pens at flea markets. I've heard of good scores from yard sales. Just keep your eyes open.

[RdEoSg]

I will have to keep my eyes open. I guess unlike cameras, people don't usually see a fountain pen and think gold mine!


No sir. You can not retire by selling your Argus C3.. Yes I realize you have the flash for it..

[DougK]

I have three fountain pens (a no-name I found at Target, of all places, a Lamy Safari, and a Waterman Phineas) and two glass dip pens. Love 'em all.

[matt fury]

I don't know, I'm skeptical about how much success you'll find as a beginner in antique shops. Pens in antique shops _tend_ to be in rough shape.

Here's one of your local stores. I've been there a few years ago, and I was able to find some things that I wanted. You might wanna give it a try..

LA Fountain Pen Shop
2640 South Myrtle, Unit 12
Monrovia, CA 91016-8204
Tel: (626) 294-9974

[Rob-F]

Sterling Silver Parker 75 for me. Been using it for 30+ years.

[Farace]

I will have to keep my eyes open. I guess unlike cameras, people don't usually see a fountain pen and think gold mine!


No sir. You can not retire by selling your Argus C3.. Yes I realize you have the flash for it..

I think with either, it can go both ways. There will be those that see an old pen or an old camera as just that, something technology has passed by and not understand why anyone would want to use it. Then there are those that think any lousy piece of junk is rare and desireable and price it accordingly, and get offended if they're told the truth.

[RdEoSg]

Thanks for the info Matt.

Isn't that the truth about people getting offended :p The funny part is they get the most upset when we tell them we don't want them at all. I could see if they thought it was worth one thing and we said something lower, but clearly we are not trying to take advantage when we say no!

[GoodPhotos]

I received an ACME Roller Ball for my 40th BDay last week. It is of Frank Loyd Wright's "Brick" design.

http://goodphotos.com/images/cameras/FLWBrick.jpg

Writes beautifully and is a work of art in itself. Until I had received this, I had never heard of ACME Studio (LINK) (http://www.acmestudio.com/) other than the Road Runner/Coyote reference of course. From the articles linked on their site it would seem that they are getting quite the name in fine writing instruments.

I had been lusting after a Mont Blanc, but got the chance to go into a Mont Blanc store and actually pick them up. They are pretty, they write well I suppose and undoubtedly are finely crafted, but I like a very heavy pen and their heaviest Mont Blanc was still lighter than my Schaefer ball point. (The price was heavy though!)
:)
The ACME Roller Ball pens are $62 US. At that price, I'm not even nervous in using it daily.