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Ku jaku is gorgeous normally I only get samples because I like trying stuff too much but Ku jaku is the only ink I have as a full bottle because its so drat pretty.
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Oct 8, 2016 01:09
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ZeusCannon posted:Thanks part of the appeal is the idea that this pen can ride in my pocket all day whether its business or just hiking or some such nonsense. The lid screws on and off ? Or just very tight? Again thanks pretty much cemented this will be next pen I get with the pics you posted Same here. It's in my pocket regardless of whether I'm at work or hacking down weeds and vines on the weekend. Cap screws on. I thought it might be an issue but you get a rhythm eventually and I don't notice it anymore. Now I'm glad it screws on because it adds a sense of security. You have to screw the cap onto the top of the pen to post it which gives it great balance and feels like writing with a full length pen instead of a mini pen. (If that makes sense) If I'm in a hurry, I can write with it just fine without posting the cap.
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Oct 8, 2016 01:45
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grack posted:This thing I love that pen, for real. Heath posted:What is the best green ink that isn't sparkly? I'm a big fan of Montblanc Irish Green.
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Oct 8, 2016 03:45
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What are some things that people who work on nibs for real have? A loupe I assume, what else? And where can I find this stuff? I kind of want to wreck my cheap pens and learn how to work on nibs.
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Oct 8, 2016 04:46
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Heath posted:What is the best green ink that isn't sparkly? Pelikan has a new 4001 Dark Green that I think is quite lovely. There''s also Diamine Beethoven, if dark green is your thing and you want an excuse to shell out $100 for the Diamine music set.
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Oct 8, 2016 04:47
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rio posted:What are some things that people who work on nibs for real have? A loupe I assume, what else? And where can I find this stuff? I kind of want to wreck my cheap pens and learn how to work on nibs. I bought a loupe from Amazon, but I know goulet pens offers one at a good price that people like. For nibs, I don't really use anything else. For nib misalignment I press the nib onto the table lightly and slowly get the tines back into position. I wouldn't mind some brass floss though. I just never think about it until I need it.
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Oct 8, 2016 05:12
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rio posted:What are some things that people who work on nibs for real have? A loupe I assume, what else? And where can I find this stuff? I kind of want to wreck my cheap pens and learn how to work on nibs. A loupe, brass shim stock and micromesh (6000, 8000 and 12000 grit pads). You can get them all online fairly easily, but if you don't want to shell out for shipping brass shim stock is available at any hobby place that carries stuff for model trains and micromesh in super fine grades can also be found at woodworking places like Lee Valley tools. Also a shitload of cheap pens to practice on is a good idea as well. Edit: Also read this: http://www.richardspens.com/pdf/workshop_notes.pdf
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Oct 8, 2016 05:21
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I've been using Sailor Yama dori which is similar to Pilot Kujaku. I've also been trying out Sailor Tokiwa Matsu. I got Sailor Miruai but it's too dark. Diamine sheridan green is apparently well liked as well as MB Irish green.
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Oct 8, 2016 06:08
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Heath posted:What is the best green ink that isn't sparkly? Half Apache Sunset and half Ottoman Azure. 
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Oct 8, 2016 06:46
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Apache Sunset seems to work better as a mixing base than a writer in its own right.
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Oct 8, 2016 08:09
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grack posted:A loupe, brass shim stock and micromesh (6000, 8000 and 12000 grit pads). You can get them all online fairly easily, but if you don't want to shell out for shipping brass shim stock is available at any hobby place that carries stuff for model trains and micromesh in super fine grades can also be found at woodworking places like Lee Valley tools. Adding to this, I got a sack of 10 untipped Noodler's non flexible nibs to practice grinding smooth(ish - hard to be perfect without the iridium) italics of varying size from Anderson Pens. It was like $1 a nib, basically. That, wire end cutters for the first cut, sand paper up to 1200 grit to get the cut surface ready for the micromesh. Playing with that has worked wonders for my work with tipped nibs with actual value.
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Oct 8, 2016 12:23
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atholbrose posted:Pelikan has a new 4001 Dark Green that I think is quite lovely. There''s also Diamine Beethoven, if dark green is your thing and you want an excuse to shell out $100 for the Diamine music set. Diamine Delamere Green is a very nice Green. Well behaved too.
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Oct 8, 2016 15:27
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Heath posted:What is the best green ink that isn't sparkly?
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Oct 9, 2016 01:29
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I ended up going with a bottle of Ku-Jaku, a 1.1 Lamy stub nib and a sample of Shin-Ryoku from Goulet. I wanted to get a bottle of SR but they're out of stock of full bottles. I wish they sold the half-size bottles of Iroshizuku.
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Oct 9, 2016 04:12
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Heath posted:I ended up going with a bottle of Ku-Jaku, a 1.1 Lamy stub nib and a sample of Shin-Ryoku from Goulet. I wanted to get a bottle of SR but they're out of stock of full bottles. I wish they sold the half-size bottles of Iroshizuku. I think you can still get those tiny bottles from Jetpens, and maybe Anderson Pens.
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Oct 9, 2016 04:15
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NeurosisHead posted:I think you can still get those tiny bottles from Jetpens, and maybe Anderson Pens. http://overjoyed.xyz does the full range of 15ml bottles
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Oct 9, 2016 05:22
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I just found my Waterman Carene - it was my dad's and I thought I lost it when moving but it was in a tool box for some reason. I haven't used it for so long that I forgot what a smooth writer it is - it blows all of my other pens out of the water including the other gold nibs I have and it feels so great since it is polished brass. Anyway, just to pick one pen out of the mix, is it safe to assume that ideally my Lamy 2000 (or other golds nibs) should be equally as smooth?
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Oct 10, 2016 03:47
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Hi folks, I'm looking to get my wife a nice pen for our anniversary. Could you help me with a suggestion for a nice pen that looks good as well as writes well? She grew up using fountain pens in school, and currently has a Pilot Metro based on this thread's advice. I'd like to have something for her that looks like a gift, and thus the Lamy 2000 suggested here wouldn't really do. Goulet suggests things such as the Pilot Falcon or Platinum 3776 as nice looking pens that aren't $500+. Somewhere around 200-300 would be fine for me. She would use it daily and so it wouldn't be a desk showpiece or such. Really appreciate any suggestions!
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Oct 10, 2016 13:47
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rio posted:I just found my Waterman Carene - it was my dad's and I thought I lost it when moving but it was in a tool box for some reason. I haven't used it for so long that I forgot what a smooth writer it is - it blows all of my other pens out of the water including the other gold nibs I have and it feels so great since it is polished brass. Anyway, just to pick one pen out of the mix, is it safe to assume that ideally my Lamy 2000 (or other golds nibs) should be equally as smooth? No. You can't really compare nibs across different manufacturers outside of very general terms. Ex. Pelikan nibs tend to be smooth but much wider than you would expect, or Platinum nibs are generally a full size narrower than comparable pens from Western brands. Admiral Nelson posted:Hi folks, I'm looking to get my wife a nice pen for our anniversary. Could you help me with a suggestion for a nice pen that looks good as well as writes well? She grew up using fountain pens in school, and currently has a Pilot Metro based on this thread's advice. I'd like to have something for her that looks like a gift, and thus the Lamy 2000 suggested here wouldn't really do. Goulet suggests things such as the Pilot Falcon or Platinum 3776 as nice looking pens that aren't $500+. Somewhere around 200-300 would be fine for me. She would use it daily and so it wouldn't be a desk showpiece or such. Really appreciate any suggestions! Platinum 3776, Pilot 74, Pilot 91, Pilot 742, Pilot 912. Buy from Amazon, you'll pay a shitload less money than from Goulet though you'll have to buy the converter separately for some pens (you'll still save a ton of money).
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Oct 10, 2016 18:11
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I have been using a Lamy Safari for the past two weeks. I enjoyed it a lot, so I just got a Lamy 2000, and this thing is amazing. The joy of using fountain pens is really going to change how much I use hand-writing (although sadly not yet the actual quality). I also bought a bunch of Diamine inks. Currently the Lamy 2000 is inked with a violet ink, but I really digged the Diamine Oxblood when I tried it out.
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Oct 10, 2016 18:25
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Athas posted:I have been using a Lamy Safari for the past two weeks. I enjoyed it a lot, so I just got a Lamy 2000, and this thing is amazing. The joy of using fountain pens is really going to change how much I use hand-writing (although sadly not yet the actual quality). I also bought a bunch of Diamine inks. Currently the Lamy 2000 is inked with a violet ink, but I really digged the Diamine Oxblood when I tried it out. Oxblood is my go-to red; such a great-looking ink. I have a burgundy Lamy 27e (an earleir version of the 2000, kind of a cross between a Parker 51 and a 2000) and that's what always ends up in that pen; almost a perfect match, color-wise.
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Oct 10, 2016 19:12
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I like Oxblood over Noodler's Antietam since the Oxblood produces a nice sheen. I originally wanted a red that popped with the extremity of Bay State Blue, but I don't think such a thing exists.
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Oct 10, 2016 19:31
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I ended up mixing a green out of a random assortment of oranges and blues in my stash. I'm a monster. My pen is probably going to melt, or maybe the ink will just curdle into some kind of Lovecraftian nightmare. Admiral Nelson posted:Hi folks, I'm looking to get my wife a nice pen for our anniversary. Could you help me with a suggestion for a nice pen that looks good as well as writes well? She grew up using fountain pens in school, and currently has a Pilot Metro based on this thread's advice. I'd like to have something for her that looks like a gift, and thus the Lamy 2000 suggested here wouldn't really do. Goulet suggests things such as the Pilot Falcon or Platinum 3776 as nice looking pens that aren't $500+. Somewhere around 200-300 would be fine for me. She would use it daily and so it wouldn't be a desk showpiece or such. Really appreciate any suggestions! $200-$300 seems to be a bit of a dead space between the stuff that's around $100 and the stuff that's over $500. In that range I think I'd prefer getting two TWSBI minis and some ink over one pilot-whatever, but I'm nuts for demonstrators. Also, I am not a classy lady. The only reasonably priced things I've seen on amazon.ca are Iroshizuku ink, Pilot MRs, and Pilot Parallels. Worth shopping around a bit if you're not American. Even if you are, maybe try WonderPen's website just to get another source of reviews and options. The [url=http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/[Fountain Pen Network[/url] is another exhaustive (and exhausting) source of reviews and advice.
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Oct 10, 2016 23:30
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I got my girlfriend a lavender Custom 74 demonstrator for an anniversary gift one year, beautiful and writes very smooth. A Falcon with a soft nib is also a nice option. Or a Vanishing Point. A Pilot with a gold nib always feels super nice.
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Oct 11, 2016 00:44
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Admiral Nelson posted:Hi folks, I'm looking to get my wife a nice pen for our anniversary. Could you help me with a suggestion for a nice pen that looks good as well as writes well? She grew up using fountain pens in school, and currently has a Pilot Metro based on this thread's advice. I'd like to have something for her that looks like a gift, and thus the Lamy 2000 suggested here wouldn't really do. Goulet suggests things such as the Pilot Falcon or Platinum 3776 as nice looking pens that aren't $500+. Somewhere around 200-300 would be fine for me. She would use it daily and so it wouldn't be a desk showpiece or such. Really appreciate any suggestions! Check out the production line pens from the Edison Pen Company. They're typically $150 ish, and they use all sorts of beautiful acrylics. Every nib gets a quick tuning before they're shipped, too. If you're feeling spendy, you could get one of their signature lines with a cool filling mechanism. Those are much more expensive, but they nibs get a much more in depth custom tuning as well.
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Oct 11, 2016 02:08
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Anyone have reviews of the Diamine Music Box set? I think I only want it because it's a really slick marketing ploy, but the colours are all ones I'd use.
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Oct 11, 2016 03:36
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Admiral Nelson posted:Hi folks, I'm looking to get my wife a nice pen for our anniversary. Could you help me with a suggestion for a nice pen that looks good as well as writes well? She grew up using fountain pens in school, and currently has a Pilot Metro based on this thread's advice. I'd like to have something for her that looks like a gift, and thus the Lamy 2000 suggested here wouldn't really do. Goulet suggests things such as the Pilot Falcon or Platinum 3776 as nice looking pens that aren't $500+. Somewhere around 200-300 would be fine for me. She would use it daily and so it wouldn't be a desk showpiece or such. Really appreciate any suggestions! Visconti Van Goghs are made of gorgeous materials, feel nice in the hand, and are well-suited for being daily writers. I have a Pollard Willows and am strongly considering a Portrait Blue, after Pair of Shoes turned out too weird for my taste. They run about $220 in the US, or $169 if you order them from Europe (I recommend La Couronne du Comte). In fact if you order from Europe you can upgrade to a palladium nub for around $250. (Cole's of London doesn't offer this option in the US.) (I feel like there's going to be dissent about this recommendation, but I have had good luck with Visconti nibs, and the one time I didn't, the pen took a trip to Mike Masuyama on their dime to make it right.) Pixelante posted:Anyone have reviews of the Diamine Music Box set? I think I only want it because it's a really slick marketing ploy, but the colours are all ones I'd use. C-- and I went in on a Music set. The first one broke in shipping, so Diamine sent us another; I have 6 of the 10 colors in my ink drawer, and she has the full, unbroken set in hers. I really need to get around to getting the refills to round out my set. She didn't ask if I wanted in when she ordered the Flower set because she wanted it all to herself, I suspect. I've used them all at least once; my favorites are Beethoven (green), Tchaikovsky (bright blue), Chopin (dusky blue) and Vivaldi (dusty violet). When they run out -- I'm getting close on Beethoven -- I'll probably replace them. All in all, it's a good usable assortment of colors, offering a nice range, and I've never gotten tired of a fill of one of them before the ink ran out. Most of the colors have pretty close matches, some of them even in the regular Diamine line, so it absolutely is a marketing ploy, but a nice one. If you like the colors and think you'd enjoy it, then I'd say go for it. You've also reminded me that I wanted to try Wagner in my Levenger Facets the next time I get it out.
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Oct 11, 2016 05:08
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How much do you write that you go through such an insane amount of ink?
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Oct 11, 2016 09:11
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I've just discovered that the tip of the cap of a Duke 209 will act as a Capacitive stylus.
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Oct 11, 2016 09:21
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Keetron posted:How much do you write that you go through such an insane amount of ink? Me? A lot. A lot a lot. Looking at my ink journal, there's about 170 inkings this year. Still, I don't think using 25ml or so of the Beethoven over the two years I've had it is insane...
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Oct 11, 2016 14:31
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Thank you all for the suggestions. I looked at some of the options from Pilot and such are actually made from plastic. I do want to give her something made from nice materials that looks nice. She is not so into pens that she would want several pedestrian but functional pens over one really nice item. I looked at the La Couronne du Comte site as recommended by atholbrose, but the Van Gogh pens there seem to be € 195, much more than the USD 169 suggested. With a palladium nib the cost would be closer to USD 332 (I am an American). Am I missing something foolish? (entirely possible)! Some of the Edison pens on their site are really nice looking also, too. Finally, in this price range, I also see the Pelikan M400, which has a really striking looking nib. My big question here that makes me hesitate is that for essentially every one of these pens I google, there are always people complaining about misaligned nibs, and how they had to send it off to XYZ person, or use a loupe and tinker with it etc etc. This makes me nervous that she'd open up her spiffy new box and then get something that is scratchy / weird without maintenance. Is this a real thing about which to be concerned, or is that just typical internet complaining about things a general person would not notice? Sorry for the analysis paralysis, folks, but I appreciate all the replies!
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Oct 11, 2016 16:10
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Admiral Nelson posted:I looked at the La Couronne du Comte site as recommended by atholbrose, but the Van Gogh pens there seem to be € 195, much more than the USD 169 suggested. With a palladium nib the cost would be closer to USD 332 (I am an American). Am I missing something foolish? (entirely possible)! Those prices are inclusive of VAT. Create an account with a US mailing address, and if you're logged in you'll see the no-VAT prices, so the steel-nibbed Van Gogh goes from 195 euro to 161.16 ($178 atm). Admiral Nelson posted:My big question here that makes me hesitate is that for essentially every one of these pens I google, there are always people complaining about misaligned nibs, and how they had to send it off to XYZ person, or use a loupe and tinker with it etc etc. This makes me nervous that she'd open up her spiffy new box and then get something that is scratchy / weird without maintenance. Is this a real thing about which to be concerned, or is that just typical internet complaining about things a general person would not notice? Sorry for the analysis paralysis, folks, but I appreciate all the replies! It's a mix of both, leaning towards Internet complaining, I think. The vast majority of pens I get are just fine, and new pens are under warranty, so the distributor/manufacturer will make any issues right. You could always open the box and dip the pen to see how it's writing in advance.
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Oct 11, 2016 16:26
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So I got an email from the seller of my Nemosine Singularity. I ordered through Amazon and they emailed me to check what I thought of it, and they said to write them before leaving any negative reviews. I wrote them and said that while the shipping and delivery was great, the pen itself seemed to have some nib issues (which was honestly why I expected after reading about it here) which I one tinto detail about. They wrote back within minutes and said that they are sending a new pen since they want to rectify the issue and that I should have a fully functioning pen. I am very impressed, and I really need to reply to more of the customer satisfaction emails I get from Amazon!
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Oct 11, 2016 16:29
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I have lost at Visconti steel nib roulette 4 times now, two each of Rembrants and Van Goghs. After tinkering with them they've been great, but garbage at first. There are folks who pull the trigger and come away fine every time with Visconti though, so YMMV. I have 4 Edison pens, and another 3 Edison nib units, and they have all been great. I re-ground the 1.1mm stub to flatten it out as I favor italics over stubs, but it was a perfect stub before I did that. In the $100 - $200 price range I really can't praise Edison enough. With the pen crowd, we attract some loving annoying grognards. With some of the dorks that get really worked up about pens the amount of pointless whiny complaining about their expensive anachronistic toys can be overwhelming. When it comes to the complaining, check to see if they communicated with the company at all about repair or replacement. Even with Visconti, I have yet to run into a problem that they wouldn't have addressed for me if I didn't want to void my warranty and would wait for it to get fixed.
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Oct 11, 2016 16:35
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Admiral Nelson posted:Some of the Edison pens on their site are really nice looking also, too. Finally, in this price range, I also see the Pelikan M400, which has a really striking looking nib. I've never used the M400, but the Souveran in general is one of my favorite pen designs. It's flashier than a black cigar pen, but it's not ostentatious, and the 14k nib in my M605 is a boss. The sections could stand to be a little bigger though. A celluloid 3776 is also a good bet for a fun material pen with a rock solid nib, and if you shop around you can find them for under 300
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Oct 11, 2016 16:37
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NeurosisHead posted:I have lost at Visconti steel nib roulette 4 times now, two each of Rembrants and Van Goghs. After tinkering with them they've been great, but garbage at first. There are folks who pull the trigger and come away fine every time with Visconti though, so YMMV. I was looking at Edison and saw nothing in that price range - they were all over 200. I would be all about finding a stub from those for between 100-200 though to try them out. Which models there are in that range, because I must have just been missing them somehow.
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Oct 11, 2016 16:47
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rio posted:I was looking at Edison and saw nothing in that price range - they were all over 200. I would be all about finding a stub from those for between 100-200 though to try them out. Which models there are in that range, because I must have just been missing them somehow. All of Edison's "production line" pens are around $149 USD
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Oct 11, 2016 16:50
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Admiral Nelson posted:Thank you all for the suggestions. I looked at some of the options from Pilot and such are actually made from plastic. I do want to give her something made from nice materials that looks nice. She is not so into pens that she would want several pedestrian but functional pens over one really nice item. That's why I suggest Pilots, I've heard of then not writing perfect out of the box all of once. And yeah most fountain pens are some kind of plastic. Whether it's ABS, acrylic, or celluloid. Some are metal (there's a metal version of the Falcon I believe) and you can get wooden, and even a few ebonite but for the most part they're some form of plastic.
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Oct 11, 2016 16:51
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NeurosisHead posted:I have 4 Edison pens, and another 3 Edison nib units, and they have all been great. I re-ground the 1.1mm stub to flatten it out as I favor italics over stubs, but it was a perfect stub before I did that. In the $100 - $200 price range I really can't praise Edison enough. I got a custom Edison Glenmont with a pneumatic filler. I love the pen, but the nib it came with was awful. I ended up replacing it, which Edison was great about. rio posted:I was looking at Edison and saw nothing in that price range - they were all over 200. I would be all about finding a stub from those for between 100-200 though to try them out. Which models there are in that range, because I must have just been missing them somehow. You want Production Line pens -- check the ones they sell at Goulet, f'r'instance. They're pretty much all $150. I've had my eye on one of those persimmon swirl Colliers for a while now. The guy at Appointments keeps saying they're going to start carrying Edison, so I've told him he's got at least one sale when he does... but it's so, so tempting to just go ahead and get one.
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Oct 11, 2016 16:53
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How long can inks last in their bottle? I bought a bunch of samples of Diamine ink, and I don't think I will use it all up in the short term (the Oxblood has stolen my heart). I would like to keep them for playing around with in the future, though.
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Oct 11, 2016 17:46
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