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It's been a few days since I messed up my Falcon. It's not nearly as bad as I seem to remember it being. It actually feels really smooth. Maybe im secretly a nib genius? I'll still probably send it somewhere for some tuning, maybe along side some other pens.
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Jun 17, 2023 11:14
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| # ? Jun 3, 2024 22:36 |
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NPD. Picked up an EF Lamy Al-Star in Petroleum, because I am a weak man whose addictions are enabled by the monsters in this thread. I’m going to pair it with the Ferris Wheel Press in Glistening Glass so I’ll have a Petrol Princess theme going.
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Jun 24, 2023 20:41
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Catastrophe posted:I fixed my ~100 year old Waterman 52... again. The original ink sac inside had turned to dust when I bought this so I bought a new one and some cement for it and went through the steps to replace it. It worked great. Then, one day, I went to refill it and the ink sac had turned to a pile of melted snot inside of the barrel. No clue. The only thing I can think of is that I had a brain fart and accidentally put Noodler's "Baystate Blue" ink in it. Anyway, I tore it down, flushed it all out, cleaned everything, scraped the old cement off, fitted a new ink sac on, polished that lovely ol' 14k nib for a sec again, and tada it's working again. It has lasted one century and I'm going to try to get it to last another. What is the issue with the Baystate Blue that would cause this? Ed.: Or any ink in general? Are certain inks not compatible with the ink sac material? Also, any thoughts on where to buy supplies for renovating old pens? Pigsfeet on Rye fucked around with this message at 15:42 on Jul 3, 2023 |
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Jul 3, 2023 15:39
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Pigsfeet on Rye posted:What is the issue with the Baystate Blue that would cause this? From some quick research, it looks like BSB is a more alkaline than most inks and that can interact badly with certain materials, especially some of the ones found in certain vintage pens.
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Jul 3, 2023 16:36
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Pigsfeet on Rye posted:Also, any thoughts on where to buy supplies for renovating old pens? Where are you located? If the US, Pentooling, Indy-Pen-Dance and Anderson Pens are all good.
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Jul 3, 2023 17:17
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Dad Hominem posted:Where are you located? If the US, Pentooling, Indy-Pen-Dance and Anderson Pens are all good. I’m in NJ, so I’ll look at what they have, learn some about the subject, and try my hand on a poor-quality pen.
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Jul 3, 2023 18:12
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I got some Kaweco Palm Green and was unsatisfied with the ink flow and how it looked on the page. That prompted me to switch my safari back to an M nib and it looks gorgeous now. Exactly the green I wanted. I also realized just how much ink I'm pissing out with the M nib lol. One converter's worth will last a month of journaling and unrelated office note-taking on the F. I think one converter's worth can be expected to last the week, just barely, at the same rate, on the M now. Hey I need to make a dent in my ink supply anyway so I can buy more!
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Jul 3, 2023 19:01
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Pigsfeet on Rye posted:I’m in NJ, so I’ll look at what they have, learn some about the subject, and try my hand on a poor-quality pen. Don't do that, just try an inexpensive one. 
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Jul 3, 2023 19:26
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I thought I liked F points for the first few years I had fountain pens due to pretty small handwriting, then I got a M Al-Star that by happenstance I paired up with some Skull and Roses, and I liked it so much that I learned to just write bigger because it's so drat pleasant. Laying down lines of ink that are just barely 3D is one of the pleasures of being a pen nerd.
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Jul 3, 2023 19:26
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Yeah, it's incredibly satisfying. And springing a couple extra bucks for nicer paper is worth it. I have seen the light.
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Jul 3, 2023 21:34
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mortons stork posted:Hey I need to make a dent in my ink supply anyway so I can buy more! hell,  stealie72 posted:I thought I liked F points for the first few years I had fountain pens due to pretty small handwriting, then I got a M Al-Star that by happenstance I paired up with some Skull and Roses, and I liked it so much that I learned to just write bigger because it's so drat pleasant. Laying down lines of ink that are just barely 3D is one of the pleasures of being a pen nerd. I feel the same way with M nibs. Now that my vision is deteriorating due to age, I prefer to write in larger strokes which makes it easier to write with my M nib on my twsbi without bleeding. I still prefer F nibs for most writing and notetaking but using the M nib for nightly journaling has already been a welcome change in pace since I can do it without glasses.
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Jul 4, 2023 00:41
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Medium nibs let me lift up the pen to dot every lowercase 'i' and 't' immediately and continue the word without looking like a hack. With fine, I have to go all the way and then finish those letters like I was forced to do in elementary school. It is really . . . attriting.
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Jul 4, 2023 03:04
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Fine points are okay for jotting stuff down but nothing really beats a bold or 1.1 mm Stub nib as far as making writing just feel better. My Diamond 580 in 1.1 mm Stub is still my favorite pen partially because it's the smoothest nib I own, but also because it makes my handwriting look so drat good.
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Jul 4, 2023 10:59
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I'm a broad nib person because I love how it makes my (janky) handwriting look. Recently started getting into zoom, architects, and music nibs and now its like I'm writing with a wonderful, expressive brush.
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Jul 4, 2023 16:20
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I normally use fine nibs in everyday use because my handwriting is horrible and would be completely illegible otherwise
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Jul 4, 2023 17:51
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Yeah if I don't write real big now a bunch of my cursive letters become useless squiggles.
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Jul 4, 2023 19:15
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Up to 77 Deltas and six Delta-adjacents Excellent
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Jul 5, 2023 01:40
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Chip McFuck posted:I'm a broad nib person because I love how it makes my (janky) handwriting look. Recently started getting into zoom, architects, and music nibs and now its like I'm writing with a wonderful, expressive brush. Same. I started with EF and F, mostly, and have gone all in on broads and stubs. My recent Pilot Custom 74 music nib is so nice.
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Jul 5, 2023 03:08
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I do find stubs and music nibs a little too finicky for how I write, but broads and double broads are my happy place.
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Jul 5, 2023 04:34
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Wanna see Platinum make some nibs? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1FBe6fFLw4
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Jul 9, 2023 04:24
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howe_sam posted:Wanna see Platinum make some nibs? That was really interesting, thanks for it!!
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Jul 9, 2023 13:42
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howe_sam posted:Wanna see Platinum make some nibs?
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Jul 9, 2023 19:25
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Visconti dip tests their nibs instead of loading the pen with ink. By far the biggest issue I see with Visconti is the nibs not being flat on the feed, which won't show up with a dip test.
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Jul 10, 2023 19:21
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So buy Visconti if you want a very, very expensive dip pen that will maybe do other stuff
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Jul 11, 2023 00:12
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I was going to dabble on 3d printing an adapter to convert a lever fill I have to a piston converter. I talked about this before and don't have much confidence, but I'm just tacking on to my experiences with CAD and 3d printing here. Is there a well-regarded piston converter I should target? I would assume I should have something with a wide mouth.
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Jul 11, 2023 02:41
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Rocko Bonaparte posted:I was going to dabble on 3d printing an adapter to convert a lever fill I have to a piston converter. I talked about this before and don't have much confidence, but I'm just tacking on to my experiences with CAD and 3d printing here. Is there a well-regarded piston converter I should target? I would assume I should have something with a wide mouth. It's a little polarizing, but the Pilot CON-70 has its fans and the Pilot standard should be the widest mouth in general use.
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Jul 11, 2023 02:54
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That's fine. I ordered one of them and a CON-40 and will see what trouble I can get into with either one.
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Jul 11, 2023 06:53
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poo poo, they arrived today! Looks like I screwed up with these converters. They're too big! (measurements are being done naively with calipers and assumptions) The CON-70 and CON-40 both have a business-end diameter of 7mm on the outside, and what looks like an inner diameter of 5.75mm. It looks like the CON-70 chonks out at 8.75mm at the widest. The CON-40 is thinner at only ~7.15mm at its widest. I couldn't slide the CON-70 into this old lever fill body I was using as an experiment, but the CON-40 fit. The I don't want to cut off the sac on this pen yet since its still good, and I may have a new lever coming in that will fix it anyways, but its number and another one that's totally busted come up similar. I have another one where the sac end is about ~7mm (probably 9/32"). For giggles, the inner diameter is ~4mm (probably 5/32"). The old sac adds another 1mm around the outside. I have some fodder for figuring out if I can even do this. I suspect I can't make the walls thin enough and still get decent flow. I'd need a thinner converter. Does anybody have an international slim converter? I'm curious if they're actually thinner.
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Jul 13, 2023 07:00
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Is there a mechanical pencil thread or is this the de facto one?
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Jul 25, 2023 04:00
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I think this is pretty much the thread for any kind of "fancy" writing instrument, so ask away. We've definitely talked about mechanical pencils in this thread before.
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Jul 25, 2023 05:01
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Catastrophe posted:I fixed my ~100 year old Waterman 52... again. The original ink sac inside had turned to dust when I bought this so I bought a new one and some cement for it and went through the steps to replace it. It worked great. Then, one day, I went to refill it and the ink sac had turned to a pile of melted snot inside of the barrel. No clue. The only thing I can think of is that I had a brain fart and accidentally put Noodler's "Baystate Blue" ink in it. Anyway, I tore it down, flushed it all out, cleaned everything, scraped the old cement off, fitted a new ink sac on, polished that lovely ol' 14k nib for a sec again, and tada it's working again. It has lasted one century and I'm going to try to get it to last another. I have a similar "vintage" pen--except it's the 52 1/2V model. What are some of the "safest" (mostly black) inks to use with it to avoid such a thing happening?
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Jul 25, 2023 16:32
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Woof, finally got this month's Delta purchased. Left it a little late
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Jul 25, 2023 17:13
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Is it just me or some inks feel a lot more generous (for lack of a better word) when used on the finer nibs? The Sailor black cartridges that came with my new pen felt I think incredibly smooth, it laid a nice and shiny line and the black color felt p. strong and deep. I've been loading in tsuki-yo by converter since, and while it doesn't feel bad, I do think it feels different to write with. Not to mention it looks like I lose quite a bit of depth of color (kinda duh, I know) Is this a thing? Like some inks come out better or worse depending on nib size?
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Jul 25, 2023 17:21
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mortons stork posted:Is it just me or some inks feel a lot more generous (for lack of a better word) when used on the finer nibs? The Sailor black cartridges that came with my new pen felt I think incredibly smooth, it laid a nice and shiny line and the black color felt p. strong and deep. I've been loading in tsuki-yo by converter since, and while it doesn't feel bad, I do think it feels different to write with. Not to mention it looks like I lose quite a bit of depth of color (kinda duh, I know) Yes, some inks play a lot better (or worse) in certain nib sizes and have different flow properties.
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Jul 25, 2023 17:32
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Pioneer42 posted:I have a similar "vintage" pen--except it's the 52 1/2V model. What are some of the "safest" (mostly black) inks to use with it to avoid such a thing happening? As a very general rule of thumb you can stick to inks made by pen manufacturers that existed in the sac era. Waterman is a pretty safe bet. This will limit your ink choices but you can do more research on particular other inks if you're interested in them.
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Jul 25, 2023 18:07
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DurianGray posted:Yes, some inks play a lot better (or worse) in certain nib sizes and have different flow properties. Good to know. Will have to keep in mind which pen I want to get my inks for, which I didn't expect but makes sense. Thanks!
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Jul 25, 2023 21:38
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mortons stork posted:Good to know. Will have to keep in mind which pen I want to get my inks for, which I didn't expect but makes sense. Thanks! You also might be aware of this already, but the paper you use can make a pretty big difference too, especially with how some inks will actually look when they dry, whether they feather or not, etc. You can get different effects with slower-drying paper vs. more absorbent paper, for instance.
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Jul 25, 2023 22:24
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Generally speaking, a finer tip will do better on less absorbent paper. Tomoe River is good, but I like Rhodia for a nice balance between cost and FP friendliness.
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Jul 25, 2023 22:40
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Pioneer42 posted:I have a similar "vintage" pen--except it's the 52 1/2V model. What are some of the "safest" (mostly black) inks to use with it to avoid such a thing happening? When I use old pens I try to opt for something that existed during the era to be safe (or if it's going to destroy my pen, historically accurate) which tends to mean I just use some Parker Quink since it's been in production for like 90 years and not destroying pens and being an alright black is sort of its thing speaking of black inks, this is NOT fountain pen ink but it's still neat. I ordered a bottle of this. https://www.culturehustleusa.com/collections/black/products/blink-black-ink Seems fun for dip pens
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Jul 26, 2023 00:02
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| # ? Jun 3, 2024 22:36 |
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Personally my favorite black is Herbin Perle Noire. Not had any problems with it in vintage pens.
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Jul 26, 2023 05:43
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