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404notfound posted:If you want massive ink capacity, get a piston fill pen. Essentially, the entire barrel of the pen is one giant converter. TWSBI is a good starting point at around $50 for a pen. Not sure if there are any cheaper piston fill options. With decent nibs, not really. Your next step up is already past a hundred bucks with the Lamy 2000 or the Pilot Heritage 92 - the latter of which Goulet sells at 220, an 80 dollar markup from the actual price of 150.
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May 24, 2014 05:03
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Kessel posted:With decent nibs, not really. Your next step up is already past a hundred bucks with the Lamy 2000 or the Pilot Heritage 92 - the latter of which Goulet sells at 220, an 80 dollar markup from the actual price of 150. I suspect, based off that being the price at Fahrney's, Pen Boutique and Richard's Pens as well, that that's what Pilot has as the MSRP for the American market. It just looks really bad because a lot of the Japanese pen stores sell on Amazon to North America as well, so you can pick from ~25 stores to get your preferred model of Custom 92 for less than $160.
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May 24, 2014 07:27
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So I'm probably going to waste some money on another pen (I already have a few; but I want more!), but I can't decide what I want, so help me goons. One option is a Lamy 2000; I've heard they're tough as poo poo and the styling looks pretty cool. Can anyone speak to how tough/durable they are? People seem to whine about the Lamy quality control, is this actually an issue? The other option I'm looking into (since I'm already spending a bunch of money) is a Sailor pen. I've used one a co-worker has (a fairly large pro-gear) and oh my god it was so nice. But I have some questions about them as I really don't have much experience; what are the main differences between a 1911 and a pro-gear and the sigma editions (is it just the shape?)? How tough can I expect a sailor pen (which will cost me upwards of $300)to be? Could I take one outside and travelling or is it an at home/in the office type of pen? Has anyone ordered from engeika? FPN seems to like them; does anyone have any experience? I know I'm looking at vastly different pens (modern vs. conservative), but any help is appreciated!
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May 24, 2014 08:13
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Lamy 2000s are brick shithouses with massive ink capacity, and if you have any problems you can write to Lamy Germany for an immediate fix. Be aware that the nib tends to run wide, so even an EF won't be very fine at all. A daily writer through and through, though. There's no real difference between the Sailor pens you listed. Just pick your favourite design and run with it - they're all cartridge/converter fillers with Sailor's excellent stock nibs and very reliable converters. The only piston fillers in the entire bunch are the Pro Gear Realos, and while they're nice pens the ink capacity is pathetically low. And no, you don't need to baby them - they're meant to be daily writers as well and you can totally take them with you. I used a Realo as my daily writer for a few years and had no trouble with it. Engeika is a well-known and established Japanese seller and you should have no trouble ordering from him.
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May 24, 2014 08:59
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If you have any way to try out a Lamy 2000 before buying one I'd definitely recommend it. They tend to have a bit of a narrow "sweet spot", so if you do much rotating of your pens at all while writing you may have some trouble.
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May 24, 2014 10:30
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Solkanar512 posted:There are the Noodlers pens, but I don't think it's fair to call it "an option". All the problems I've had with my Noodler's were solved with a good, thorough flushing. They're at least as well behaved as my Metros.
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May 24, 2014 13:24
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SnakesRevenge posted:If you have any way to try out a Lamy 2000 before buying one I'd definitely recommend it. They tend to have a bit of a narrow "sweet spot", so if you do much rotating of your pens at all while writing you may have some trouble. I found this to be the case with my pelikano jr (left handed) that I bought. It's a lovely pen with a generous nib, but it will skip if I hold it wrong.
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May 24, 2014 17:43
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Kessel posted:Lamy 2000s are brick shithouses with massive ink capacity, and if you have any problems you can write to Lamy Germany for an immediate fix. Be aware that the nib tends to run wide, so even an EF won't be very fine at all. A daily writer through and through, though. Can you give any other insights into Sailors? Seeing as I'd probably be spending around $300ish at a minimum on one I'd just like to be sure of my decision.
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May 24, 2014 18:35
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Sailor has very, very, very good stock nibs - I think actually just a tad above Pilot. They're known particularly for their extensive list of handcrafted custom nibs (see: http://www.nibs.com/SailorSpecialtyNibs.htm) and their fuss-free converters. However, the converters don't hold a lot of ink and the piston-fillers are, to be blunt, pathetic in terms of capacity - some are about the same capacity as a converter  If you want a solid daily writer with an excellent stock nib, Sailor is a good choice. If you want one of the speciality nibs listed above, nobody - and I do mean nobody - does them like Sailor does.
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May 24, 2014 20:11
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I bought a Noodler's Konrad Ebonite Flex fountain pen a few months ago for journal writing but despite trying to adjust the flex and nib the thing has leaked ink from day one. Any input on how to get it to stop turning my hands into Rorschach canvases?
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May 25, 2014 02:27
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Opera Bitch posted:I bought a Noodler's Konrad Ebonite Flex fountain pen a few months ago for journal writing but despite trying to adjust the flex and nib the thing has leaked ink from day one. Any input on how to get it to stop turning my hands into Rorschach canvases? Make sure you clean out the cap as well as adjusting stuff. It's easy for standing ink in the cap to end up on the section and stain fingers that way.
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May 25, 2014 03:55
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My dipshit brother left the Cross Aventura I gave him in his pants pocket and let it go through the laundry.  He's lucky I was able to clean it up and get it working again, but he's not getting any more pens from me.
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May 25, 2014 11:20
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Kessel posted:Sailor has very, very, very good stock nibs - I think actually just a tad above Pilot. They're known particularly for their extensive list of handcrafted custom nibs (see: http://www.nibs.com/SailorSpecialtyNibs.htm) and their fuss-free converters. However, the converters don't hold a lot of ink and the piston-fillers are, to be blunt, pathetic in terms of capacity - some are about the same capacity as a converter Thanks for the help with this; I've decided to get a sailor, now it's just a choice of which look/version do I want (and why the hell does sailor seemingly set arbitrary prices based on pen size instead of other factors?). Those 1.5ml piston-filled realos look pretty silly for the price; that's as much ink as my twsbi mini holds. All Sailor 1911s and Progears are postable, right? I don't want to get a surprise that I somehow got myself a non-posting pen.
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May 26, 2014 17:38
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I have a 1911 mid size and a Pro Gear. They both post and they are both great pens. Go for it!
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May 26, 2014 17:55
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Bertrand Hustle posted:My dipshit brother left the Cross Aventura I gave him in his pants pocket and let it go through the laundry. At the very least, it's good that it was still in his pocket as opposed to lost somewhere outside.  Edit: Does anyone else have a problem with getting ink on your fingers after gripping the Pilot Metro? Everytime after I uncap it, I have to wipe the grip section with a napkin. I'm not too sure how to prevent this from happening. EagerSleeper fucked around with this message at 18:29 on May 26, 2014 |
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May 26, 2014 18:26
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Landsknecht posted:(and why the hell does sailor seemingly set arbitrary prices based on pen size instead of other factors?) Because they can, just like most other pen manufacturers If gold-nibbed pens were mass produced and considered user grade items like steel nibbed entry level pens, they'd never cost 20x as much (see: Pilot and Platinum desk pens with 14k gold nibs for about $30).
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May 26, 2014 19:03
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I CANNOT EJACULATE WITHOUT SEEING NATIVE AMERICANS BRUTALISED!
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EagerSleeper posted:At the very least, it's good that it was still in his pocket as opposed to lost somewhere outside. This happened to me after a while. My solution was a good cleaning, including inside the cap. As far as I can tell, some ink gets smeared inside the cap and leaks onto the grip. Simply flushing the cap will fix it.
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May 26, 2014 19:07
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Solumin posted:This happened to me after a while. My solution was a good cleaning, including inside the cap. As far as I can tell, some ink gets smeared inside the cap and leaks onto the grip. Simply flushing the cap will fix it. By the way: pen makers follow a really different approach regarding ink inside the cap. Since most people now mainly use cartridge pens (which are less likely to drip ink when dropped/shaken, or so you'd hope) and/or tend to leave pens lying around for weeks unused, most pens are made with relatively tightly sealing caps to prevent the nib from drying out. Any dripped ink can keep accumulating until it starts smudging the pen. A few pen makers keep making less-tight caps, often with holes under the clip to allow air exchange, which will let any dripped ink dry out quickly. As long as you use your pen at least once every couple of days it's fine, but people leaving them longer than that is the reason Parker Duofold Centennials/Internationals (the current ones may or may not still have the cap hole - I haven't checked), Parker Sonnets and a few other pens have acquired a reputation of being hard to start. Almost all pre-WW2 vintage pens have holes for drying ink splashes (and often have accumulated about a millimetre of dry ink in their caps), quite a few 50s/60s pens still have holes as well but generally the trend is towards sealing the cap. suck my woke dick fucked around with this message at 20:13 on May 26, 2014 |
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May 26, 2014 20:11
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Solumin posted:This happened to me after a while. My solution was a good cleaning, including inside the cap. As far as I can tell, some ink gets smeared inside the cap and leaks onto the grip. Simply flushing the cap will fix it. Amount of leakage depends on the type of pen too. I have a Waterman Carčne that's horrible for this, and another that I can't quite remember the name of (was it a Lamy? I think it's a Lamy), that has basically no leakage at all. Could be the ink too, or the fact that the Waterman has a converter and the other uses cartridges. The Waterman needs a lot of refills too. I like the other one a lot better and these are the biggest reasons. That and it writes more easily.
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May 27, 2014 14:02
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RustedChrome posted:I have a 1911 mid size and a Pro Gear. They both post and they are both great pens. Go for it! Yeah I ordered a sapporo (F nib). I could have probably gotten enough bics to have had a new pen every day for a full year for the same price, but fuckit.
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May 27, 2014 18:06
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uXs posted:Amount of leakage depends on the type of pen too. I have a Waterman Carčne that's horrible for this, and another that I can't quite remember the name of (was it a Lamy? I think it's a Lamy), that has basically no leakage at all. My Carene was a bad leaker too. I read somewhere about putting some wax on the sides of the nib, and that fixed the problem. I basically just took a candle and ran the side of the nib down the side so that some wax would shave off. It looked a little messy, so then I took a needle and very gently removed any excess wax. No leaking anymore and I can actually take the pen out of the house - it used to leak so bad that I just left the pen home and didn't use it nearly as much as I would have liked.
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May 27, 2014 18:06
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Landsknecht posted:Yeah I ordered a sapporo (F nib). I could have probably gotten enough bics to have had a new pen every day for a full year for the same price, but fuckit. Great choice! I have a Sapporo mini in EF as my carry-around pen and I love it.
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May 27, 2014 18:25
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uXs posted:Amount of leakage depends on the type of pen too. I have a Waterman Carčne that's horrible for this, and another that I can't quite remember the name of (was it a Lamy? I think it's a Lamy), that has basically no leakage at all. I figured it depended on the pen  I only mentioned what worked for me since EagerSleeper was also having problems with a Pilot Metro.blowfish posted:By the way: pen makers follow a really different approach regarding ink inside the cap. Since most people now mainly use cartridge pens (which are less likely to drip ink when dropped/shaken, or so you'd hope) and/or tend to leave pens lying around for weeks unused, most pens are made with relatively tightly sealing caps to prevent the nib from drying out. Any dripped ink can keep accumulating until it starts smudging the pen. A few pen makers keep making less-tight caps, often with holes under the clip to allow air exchange, which will let any dripped ink dry out quickly. As long as you use your pen at least once every couple of days it's fine, but people leaving them longer than that is the reason Parker Duofold Centennials/Internationals (the current ones may or may not still have the cap hole - I haven't checked), Parker Sonnets and a few other pens have acquired a reputation of being hard to start. This is really interesting! I'm new to fountain pens, so this is all new info for me.
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May 27, 2014 18:27
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So this being the sort of thread that has you with a full shopping cart before you finish reading the OP, I now have a Metro (fine nib, plain silver) and a bunch of samples (and some other odds and ends) coming to me from Goulet. Now, my problem here is: my handwriting is horrific. If it's more than ten minutes after I've written something I probably won't be able to read it. Can anybody recommend some sort of handwriting practice workbook that maybe doesn't look like it's for second-graders? I do need some seriously remedial help.
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May 30, 2014 01:31
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Since someone upthread mentioned Massdrop earlier for a deal on Pilot Parallels, I thought I'd point out that they just launched a drop on Pilot Metropolitans. Two Metros, medium or fine nib, for $25, assuming they get 50 people to commit. Edit: they're offering them in either medium or fine https://www.massdrop.com/buy/pilot-mr-fountain-pen
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May 30, 2014 02:10
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neongrey posted:So this being the sort of thread that has you with a full shopping cart before you finish reading the OP, I now have a Metro (fine nib, plain silver) and a bunch of samples (and some other odds and ends) coming to me from Goulet. On fountainpennetwork (the forum full of old people and weirdos)there's a good section on penmanship/improvement. You can also just search "improve penmanship" and a shitload of stuff will pop up. Protip: before seeking it improve or practice your writing, I'd suggest thinking about and choosing a style/font. Some people like to go cursive (palmer), but seeing as many people don't really know how to read cursive any more, this might be a consideration (learn to print well instead?). There's also a shitload of antiquated fonts that in some instances are neat (British civil service) or utterly unreadable but look cool (Suetterlin, which I personally use for journaling because I like the look/feel of writing it).
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May 30, 2014 02:40
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I'm in Canada, we still teach cursive here. But yeah, that's a good idea, I'll look at my options, I wouldn't mind something a bit unique.
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May 30, 2014 03:36
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Landsknecht posted:On fountainpennetwork (the forum full of old people and weirdos)there's a good section on penmanship/improvement. You can also just search "improve penmanship" and a shitload of stuff will pop up. poo poo, I need to learn Sütterlin. I speak German and I'd never even heard of it before.
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May 30, 2014 03:46
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Bertrand Hustle posted:poo poo, I need to learn Sütterlin. I speak German and I'd never even heard of it before. Learn how to read at least; it's a useful enough skill to have and it helps with understanding Kurrent/alte deutsche Schrift. It looks pretty cool with a smooth hand, and unless someone actually knows what they're looking at they can't make sense of it. There are some problems though, I don't think there's a ligature for the combination of "cc" (used in italian loanwords), so when that looks the same as "n" it's a problem.
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May 30, 2014 07:06
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Oh hey, this is why taking the week or so to go through and read the entire thread pays off; a couple pages back someone linked this and it's pretty much exactly what I was hoping for, really basic worksheets. I really need those dotted lines to start me off, hahaha.
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Jun 1, 2014 02:24
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neongrey posted:Oh hey, this is why taking the week or so to go through and read the entire thread pays off; a couple pages back someone linked this and it's pretty much exactly what I was hoping for, really basic worksheets. I really need those dotted lines to start me off, hahaha. Another option (if you have some  ) is this: http://www.amazon.ca/Spencerian-Theory-Copy-Book-Set/dp/088062096X/I've used this and if you're willing to sit down with it you can learn the fundamentals of nice writing, and from there you can move into developing your own style. Landsknecht fucked around with this message at 19:21 on Jun 1, 2014 |
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Jun 1, 2014 08:09
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Landsknecht posted:Another option (if you have some :tenbux:) is this: http://www.amazon.ca/Spencerian-Theory-Copy-Book-Set/dp/088062096X/ Yup, these worksheets are quite nice. However, I think it is helpful to start using large worksheets you print yourself (pdf), because Spencerian/Copperplate should be written by arm movement, and not by hand movement. Having to write letters large enough that you can't finish a word (or even an elaborate capital letter) without repositioning your hand will force you to do that and you can move on to a more realistic size later.
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Jun 1, 2014 08:41
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I've got those wishlisted too, so I'll probably pick them up at some point-- I think since I do most of my writing by hand at work, for now, that italic will be a better start. My pen's on its way over the border! 
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Jun 1, 2014 09:32
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neongrey posted:I've got those wishlisted too, so I'll probably pick them up at some point-- I think since I do most of my writing by hand at work, for now, that italic will be a better start. There's "business handwriting" versions of Spencerian which are work well for quick daily handwriting, though italic also works well and has the advantage of taking up less space on the page.
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Jun 1, 2014 11:44
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So to celebrate finally being employed after 5 jobless months post-graduation, I'm thinking of getting another pen. I'm looking in the mid-range, around $40-80 or so (my current pens were all $20 or less). I've been looking most seriously at the Lamy Studio and was wondering if anyone had experience with it. I've used Safaris/Al-Stars before but really didn't like the way they felt in my hand with that triangular grip.
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Jun 1, 2014 16:48
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I'd rather have a TWSBI something or other for that price range.
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Jun 1, 2014 17:26
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powderific posted:I'd rather have a TWSBI something or other for that price range. TWSBI Diamond 580 is right in the price range, at least on Goulet.
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Jun 1, 2014 17:44
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Landsknecht posted:seeing as many people don't really know how to read cursive any more, this might be a consideration (learn to print well instead?). Ugh, how can you even suggest such a thing..... I think for the most part, the majority of what people write is for themselves and not for others to read. I couldn't imagine not knowing how to write in cursive, and I find it cumbersome to write in print. I think fountain pens are much better suited for cursive writing than print. Whenever I see fountain pen reviewers that only write in print, I scratch my head a little. It's a waste of a good pen IMHO. The irony of my statement is that my handwriting looks much better with rollerball, felt tip or especially pencils. I think I need to bite the bullet and get an italic/stub nib because I feel like it would be the easiest way to close the gap between my two writing styles (I angle the pen differently when I write with a fountain pen compared to a pencil or rollerball)
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Jun 1, 2014 22:15
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Duro posted:I need to get an italic/stub nib Fixed that for you.  If you aren't sure, spend > on a Pilot Plumix. Then get a cheap Jinhao and a Goulet nib, and live happily ever after with beautifully shading inks like Noodler's Apache Sunset.Edit to add: Most scented inks are crap. I love De Atrementis Frankincense.
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Jun 2, 2014 00:57
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I don't like cursive because it isn't as legible as my print writing. When I'm taking notes or writing down a thing I want to be able to clearly read it again.
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Jun 2, 2014 14:25
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