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Thelonious Monk posted:Just a quick FYI: don't wipe your pens with alcohol wipes. My Pelikan m205 is so hosed up now. The finish is all gummy. Yeah please keep harsh solvents away from delicate plastics like celluloid. Unless you know exactly what the pen is made of only ever use water on it. Except in the case of Casein pens which should go nowhere near water.
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Mar 8, 2014 13:03
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Anyone else have difficulty curbing the fountain pen purchases? I recently discovered that ebay has some Japanese dealers who sell very very nice pens at "reasonable" prices. I put reasonable in quotes because its a very relative term. This, combined with finding out about Pen Gallery, and I've dropped far more money than I should into this "craze". I refuse to call using fountain pens a hobby. *also I have no affiliation with Pen Gallery, nor am I a particularly impressed customer - just saying that the website is worse than jetpens for impulse buys So far in the past week I've purchased the following: Lamy 2000 EF nib - quite a solid every day pen Pilot Custom 823 - still in the mail Lamy Studio EF nib with M replacement nib - still in the mail WHY THE HELL DID I NEED THIS I ONLY PUT IT IN TO BULK UP MY ORDER Sailor Nano Blue Black - not as impressive as the nano-black, but its a change of pace J Herbin Eclat de saphir - in the mail J Herbin poussiere de lune - in the mail, also the reason why I ordered the Studio Waterman converter - to replace the broken one in my Carene TWSBI 580 with 1.5 Stub and 2 TWSBI notebooks: the notebooks blow, but the stub nib is surprisngly smooth. Also my first stub nib, so justifiable. Thank god inks aren't expensive, but this is getting out of hand. How do you guys who have more than one pen rotate them? Use them until the pen is dry, then rinse? Or just waste the ink? I hate leaving the ink in the pen for more than a week or two without using the pen. Thelonious Monk fucked around with this message at 14:12 on Mar 8, 2014 |
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Mar 8, 2014 14:10
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Thelonious Monk posted:Thank god inks aren't expensive, but this is getting out of hand. How do you guys who have more than one pen rotate them? Use them until the pen is dry, then rinse? Or just waste the ink? I hate leaving the ink in the pen for more than a week or two without using the pen. I have the same problem. I have one inked at a time. When it runs out I switch.
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Mar 8, 2014 15:18
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Thelonious Monk posted:
I just have several running at once. I have a Metro in my work apron, I have a Diamond 540 in my bag, and I have a Kakuno I keep at my desk at home. I gave my old Vista as a gift (since I lost it, replaced it, and found it afterward) and the Preppy that came with some ink broke and I've lost track of it during my move. My Ahabs are more for novelty now or when I need to write out greeting cards or gift tags, and the Hero 200a has been relegated to a show piece since I've had such an rear end of a time getting it to work. e: and each one has a different ink! I usually rotate between HoD and 54th for work, but the other two are anything-goes
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Mar 8, 2014 16:14
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I keep all of my pens in rotation with different inks. I take a lot of notes and I can't stand having them in all black, not big on highlighters either. If I don't need to use a pen and I think the ink might evaporate and cause a problem I'll clean it out until I need it again.
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Mar 8, 2014 17:39
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Can someone help a newbie out with some general ink recommendations? Reading a bunch of different reviews for individual inks is kind of a pain in the rear end. All I'm looking for is some generalizations about ink manufacturers - Noodler's, Private Reserve, Diamine, and De Atramentis seem to have the broadest color ranges, from what I can tell, so general thoughts on those would be appreciated.
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Mar 8, 2014 18:35
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Remora posted:Can someone help a newbie out with some general ink recommendations? Reading a bunch of different reviews for individual inks is kind of a pain in the rear end. All I'm looking for is some generalizations about ink manufacturers - Noodler's, Private Reserve, Diamine, and De Atramentis seem to have the broadest color ranges, from what I can tell, so general thoughts on those would be appreciated.
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Mar 8, 2014 18:53
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Remora posted:Can someone help a newbie out with some general ink recommendations? Reading a bunch of different reviews for individual inks is kind of a pain in the rear end. All I'm looking for is some generalizations about ink manufacturers - Noodler's, Private Reserve, Diamine, and De Atramentis seem to have the broadest color ranges, from what I can tell, so general thoughts on those would be appreciated. Noodler's: Usually highly saturated colourful inks, and have a massive range of colours. They range from generally well behaved to hard starting, nib creeping monsters. They also have permanent, completely permanent, washable, highligher, and glow-in-the-dark inks which are fun. The dude that owns Noodler's is also completely mental. Diamine: Massive range of colours, generally well behaved inks. There are a few stand-out colours with very nice shading like Kelly Green and Red Dragon/Oxblood, though many are unremarkable inks, though that is by no means a bad thing. I've had some nib creep from these too. De Atramentis: Big on scented inks, which you may or may not like, though the colours are usually great which offsets the sometimes horrible scents. Sometimes they can be hard to start but usually perform well. Private Reserve: Also have a massive colour range. In my experience these are some of the more free flowing inks so will improve a dry pen but may gush out of a wet pen. Some have had problems with mould, but I've never experienced that myself so, as usual with fountain pens, your mileage may vary. And some brands that you didn't mention but may want to look into: J. Herbin: Dryer inks, but also has a quite large range of colours. They usually are mildly saturated inks and behave well. Can get some very nice shading with a broader/wetter nib. Waterman: Pretty much considered the benchmark for good ink behaviour. Usually have very low water resistance. Has a small range of colours but each of them has been perfected over time to have great properties. Excellent starting ink. Pilot Iroshizuku: Very expensive ink, but has properties to match. They have some very beautiful colours and are extremely smooth to write with.
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Mar 8, 2014 21:00
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TWSBI 700 on order from Goulet, and might as well get another bottle of ink (De Atramentis Blackberry) as well, since I've used up about 1/10th of a bottle in each of the four I already have! At that rate I'll run out in 10 years, best get some more to be sure! Normally only computer purchases make me this excited. At least this is a cheaper thrill.
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Mar 8, 2014 21:16
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I'm finding the J. Herbin inks to be extremely well behaved, smooth flowing and shade nicely. Violette Pensee is my ideal purple. Private Reserve has really saturated colors but the mold incident has kinda scared me off. Every noodler's color I've tried has had issues, either running out of the pen or barely starting.
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Mar 8, 2014 21:46
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Thelonious Monk posted:Anyone else have difficulty curbing the fountain pen purchases? I had kind of a manic period where I bought a bunch of pens but now I feel like most of my needs & wants are met and haven't had a real urge to buy for a while. I think some of that has been curbed by looking at pretty pens and seeing that they only come in F or M nibs which is totally boring. I like having several inks in rotation, although admittedly I think I have too many going right now and when they run out I'll probably clean and put them away rather than filling back up. I've had pretty good luck with pens not drying up and I try to use each one a few times per week at the minimum. Does anyone have opinions about highlighter ink? I've been feeling the need for a highlighter and I was planning to get some ink samples to figure out what brands/colors I prefer. If there's a well-regarded favorite I want to be sure to get a sample. I write on yellow notepads a lot, so while I typically just reach for a yellow highlighter I think it might be useful to have another color like blue or green.
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Mar 9, 2014 00:04
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Vitamins posted:The dude that owns Noodler's is also completely mental. Is he really? I've watched a lot of his youtube videos and he seems like a bit of a character but not crazy. You have my attention, I'd like to hear some more about this.
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Mar 9, 2014 02:44
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Nathan is not crazy at all. He's just passionate about his political beliefs and that spills over into everything he does. He may not be mainstream but he doesn't advocate taking away anyone's freedoms, persecuting people or anything like that.
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Mar 9, 2014 03:34
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I rotate inks more often in my converter-equipped pens, since they're relatively easy to flush out and have a smaller ink capacity. If (when) I get a TWSBI, that'll probably be my everyday pen that I'll keep loaded with a sensible color like black or blue. Lately I've been using my cheapo Hero like a dip pen for ink tests, because the feed holds enough ink to do a couple pages of calligraphy without issue, which is great for showing off pretty ink colors. e: Nathan makes pretty inks that's all I know about him 
venus de lmao fucked around with this message at 03:54 on Mar 9, 2014 |
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Mar 9, 2014 03:48
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He seems really, really obsessed with preventing forgery with his ink, which certainly explains why the Bulletproof line is so drat good. He's passionate to the point that he might seem weird, as far as I can tell, but he does great work and doesn't hurt anyone, as RusterChrome pointed out. Pen update: I love my Pilot Metro with Borealis Black. It's a nice, wet line, though a little wider than I like, and the color is so dark. The line width is only really a problem when I'm writing on cheap copy paper and the ink feathers horrendously. I've even managed to refill the cartridge without covering my fingers in ink! (Once, out of three tries...) I think I need to fix how I hold pens; I still have some discomfort when writing, especially in stressful environments like exams. It's still a lot better than ballpoints ever were.
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Mar 9, 2014 03:53
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Is there an "improved" converter for the Pilot Metros?
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Mar 9, 2014 06:04
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PRADA SLUT posted:Is there an "improved" converter for the Pilot Metros? I'm guessing you mean besides the default squeeze-bulb converter? Goulet sells Pilot CON-50 piston converters for $5 as an add-on for Metros. AFAIK that's the only other option. It's slightly smaller (I think) but pistons outclass squeeze-bulbs in my book. Or you can just keep reusing the included cartridge. The eyedroppers on the larger Noodler's bottles let you refill the large-mouthed cartridges pretty easily.
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Mar 9, 2014 06:11
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A lot of the names of Nathan's inks and reasons why he names his inks after what he does are pretty cool, the art is pretty wicked too. He's very politically charged and appears learned on many different histories. I haven't found it to be a problem because from what I've watched and read of his he doesn't very preachy about it, and if I really didn't like his opinion about an event I wouldn't buy the ink. But if being outspoken about history and politics makes you mental, then there's a lot of loony people in the world.  EDIT: I really want to like R&K Scabiosa but the ink is so drat dry, I feel like there's nothing in-between the nib and paper. Is this a thing with iron-gall inks in general or just with this particular one? Kiran fucked around with this message at 07:59 on Mar 9, 2014 |
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Mar 9, 2014 07:28
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Ok mental is probably an exaggeration, but the ideology behind some of his inks is a bit weird, see the Bernanke inks on his website. Though maybe that's what passes for being interested in politics over there. I'll admit he's a very learned man, though I want to say I remember some post about his very strong libertarian beliefs but I may be mistaken. He's certainly a character, but I'll happily take back the mental part.
Vitamins fucked around with this message at 10:39 on Mar 9, 2014 |
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Mar 9, 2014 09:54
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Everything Burrito posted:I had kind of a manic period where I bought a bunch of pens but now I feel like most of my needs & wants are met and haven't had a real urge to buy for a while. I think some of that has been curbed by looking at pretty pens and seeing that they only come in F or M nibs which is totally boring. Same here, I practically only use two pens now, mainly my pilot Metropolitan and an ivory Jinhao X750. Noodlers Eel blue in both of them.
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Mar 9, 2014 10:00
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Verdugo posted:I just got a flexy Eversharp Symphony No. 913 M as a birthday gift. Anyone know of a guide to writing with flex? Everything I've come across is superflex crazy copperplate stuff. For every day writing, use with a light touch so it doesn't flex very much (this is actually how flex nibs were originally used by most people). For pretty writing: make sure all downstrokes are of the same angle, lower case letters are of consistent height and spacing, and add pressure on the downstroke for certain letters for consistent shading. I recommend looking at Spencerian on the IAMPETH website. The basic Spencerian capitals look great even without elaborate flourishes you'll see calligraphers doing and the lower case letters don't involve lots of flexing so you can write at a useful pace.
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Mar 9, 2014 12:50
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I CANNOT EJACULATE WITHOUT SEEING NATIVE AMERICANS BRUTALISED!
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I'm trying to learn a new hand, but dislike some of the letter joins in the cursive italic I found. Can anyone recommend a good cursive that's not too fancy? I'm looking for an everyday hand with clean lines.
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Mar 9, 2014 15:57
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You know the free eye dropper pen that comes with Noodler's ink? Well I just found/actually read the documentation that comes with it and I had no idea that inside the barrel is a roller ball attachment for the pen! I would love to try it (although it is and has been swimming in ink for a week since I filled up the barrel with ink not realizing what that thing was). However I like the fountain pen too much to want to not use it to attach the ball point attachment. Has anyone given the rollerball a spin (haha)? Worth trying it or just keep enjoying the fountain pen itself?
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Mar 9, 2014 19:45
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rio posted:Has anyone given the rollerball a spin (haha)? Worth trying it or just keep enjoying the fountain pen itself? From what I've heard (note that I don't own a Noodler's pen) the roller ball attachment is very smooth and requires very little force to be placed on it just like a fountain pen. How's the free fountain pen anyway? Does it feel cheap?
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Mar 9, 2014 20:58
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It's an un-branded fountain pen by a Japanese company that retails by itself for $4. It's pretty good, considering that, but the plastic isn't very resilient and the cap on mine cracked... somehow. I honestly have no clue when it happened, I just noticed the cap was loose one day and that was why. I wouldn't buy one myself, but I'd definitely use one that came with ink I already wanted. 
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Mar 9, 2014 22:57
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Mine Kiran posted:From what I've heard (note that I don't own a Noodler's pen) the roller ball attachment is very smooth and requires very little force to be placed on it just like a fountain pen. How's the free fountain pen anyway? Does it feel cheap? Mine is an unbranded Preppy. It is a cheap plastic pen with a surprisingly nice nib. The rollerball works fine, though I think I might it have put it in correctly as it leaked the first time I used it. Now it's fine; I use it when I need to write on transfer paper. I actually have purchased a few Preppies, and use them fairly regularly. I ended up giving my pink one to a friend's daughter.
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Mar 10, 2014 01:23
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Preppies are famous for cracking - don't put too permanent an ink in them and then rustle them about too much.
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Mar 10, 2014 02:00
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Is it bad to store a fountain pen upright? (nib up) I carry mine clipped to my breast pocket or on my backpack's inside flap. Wouldn't the ink collect at the bottom or something?
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Mar 10, 2014 02:23
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E: /\ no, that's the way you should be storing it - nib up makes the ink flow back out of the nib/regulator. A crapped-up reservoir is easier to clean than a crapped-up section and nib  I think the cap cracks unless you're a complete autist while posting the cap. I put a few rubber bands on there, fixed it right up. FAUXTON fucked around with this message at 02:48 on Mar 10, 2014 |
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Mar 10, 2014 02:27
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FAUXTON posted:E: /\ no, that's the way you should be storing it - nib up makes the ink flow back out of the nib/regulator. A crapped-up reservoir is easier to clean than a crapped-up section and nib Thanks!
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Mar 10, 2014 03:46
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Everything Burrito posted:I had kind of a manic period where I bought a bunch of pens but now I feel like most of my needs & wants are met and haven't had a real urge to buy for a while. I think some of that has been curbed by looking at pretty pens and seeing that they only come in F or M nibs which is totally boring. Same here, almost seems weird considering how many pens I was buying and now I haven't bought a pen since I think August. The only pens I have inked up right now are the TWSBI 700, because it's still inked up from the second time I inked it up, about 1/3 gone now, my stone pen, and the eyedropper that is always filled with HoD and used for writing checks and other things I want written in black-as-gently caress ink. I think the Scheaffer is inked up too now that I think about it, but it needs to be emptied and cleaned if that's the case. I'm pretty poo poo at rotating the pens, I mostly stick with a TWSBI and one other pen, and I keep inking up the stone pen. Guess I need to set up a proper rotation.
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Mar 10, 2014 14:56
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Finally ordered a new sac for the Esterbrook LJ. Gonna fix it but good.
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Mar 10, 2014 21:59
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I recently picked up a disposable fountain pen from my school store and I've sort of discovered I really dig 'em. Then I found out my dad has some old fountain pens he picked up in China a long time ago and he gave me one, never used. I'm wondering what sort of general care tips I can get for handling an old fountain pen and if anyone has one like it, how I fill it. It's got this little rubber reservoir with a tube on the inside and it doesn't seem to come off or unscrew, at least not with gentle efforts. 
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Mar 11, 2014 18:19
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A Frosty Beverage posted:I recently picked up a disposable fountain pen from my school store and I've sort of discovered I really dig 'em. Then I found out my dad has some old fountain pens he picked up in China a long time ago and he gave me one, never used. That chrome/metal part, it goes over the rubber sac and there's a springy part you press in on the side (visible in photo) to compress the sac for inking. Barrel goes over all of that. It's like a Hero I got a while back, and it's a royal PITA to ink properly because you're only partially and unevenly compressing the sac, so you only get like half-full at any time.
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Mar 11, 2014 18:46
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FAUXTON posted:It's like a Hero I got a while back, and it's a royal PITA to ink properly because you're only partially and unevenly compressing the sac, so you only get like half-full at any time. I know a bunch of folks take off the "flange-squeeze" converter and just squeeze the sac itself to get a better fill, and then stick the squeezy-deal back on. Might be harder on the pen, but every Hero I've had has died from other issues long before anything sac-related showed up.
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Mar 11, 2014 19:16
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Ahhh, I didn't even know that bit moved. I thought that was like a view area to see how much ink was left. Cool. Trying it out, I felt some pressure coming out of the writing end. Do I just dunk the tip in ink and pump it a few times to fill it up? Also, what sort of ink should I be looking out for? I saw a thing that suggested that India Ink is an absolute no, but that's about all I have heard.
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Mar 11, 2014 19:17
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I highly suggest getting some needles and using those, especially if you can see how much you need to fill in. So quick, so much cleaner. You can also wear disposable gloves. Say goodbye to dirty hands.
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Mar 11, 2014 20:34
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A Frosty Beverage posted:Ahhh, I didn't even know that bit moved. I thought that was like a view area to see how much ink was left. Cool. Trying it out, I felt some pressure coming out of the writing end. Do I just dunk the tip in ink and pump it a few times to fill it up? Yep. As for inks, try finding some Waterman ink. They don't have crazy colors but they're very well behaved (they flow evenly out of the nib, not too dry, not all drippy) and great if you're looking for newbie-friendlyness.
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Mar 11, 2014 20:56
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Audax posted:I highly suggest getting some needles and using those, especially if you can see how much you need to fill in. How on earth do you fill an aerometric-syle pen with a syringe?
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Mar 11, 2014 21:47
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I could see maybe filling up an aerometric converter with a syringe but the low-tier Chinese pens I have don't have a removable converter, it's all glued together and you'd have to shoot ink up through the feed somehow or something I dunno. I stopped using them because they were a pain in the rear end to clean.
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Mar 11, 2014 22:40
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