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Planet X posted:Years ago, I bought a Pilot Metro based on this thread. It's been a while since I've used it, but I'd like to again and maybe pick up another pen based on thread recommendations. https://youtu.be/jblxg7sorpM
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Oct 30, 2023 16:01
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Thanks. There's so much content out there on it that I figured I'd start here. I'll have a look.
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Oct 30, 2023 17:42
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I bought a TWSBI Eco a while ago and I love it. Writes buttery smooth, and large ink capacity; feels nicer to hold than the TWSBI 580. It may be The Last Pen for me (until some other Eco color I like more)
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Oct 30, 2023 18:34
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You should pull the entire feed out (the black portion the nib sits on) and let that soak in some water and a little dish soap for a while. Then take an ear bulb syringe and squeeze some of that soapy water through the feed.
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Oct 30, 2023 20:01
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Don't forget to the make the proper sacrifices to Chupoclops the Mighty Spider, so that he may bless your pen.
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Oct 30, 2023 22:29
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PlushCow posted:I bought a TWSBI Eco a while ago and I love it. Writes buttery smooth, and large ink capacity; feels nicer to hold than the TWSBI 580. It may be The Last Pen for me (until some other Eco color I like more) I've got a Go and a 580, so the Eco is my next stop, at least so far as TWSBI is concerned. Might get that glow in the dark green one and use it for crazier inks.
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Oct 30, 2023 22:34
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twsbi eco is real classy
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Oct 31, 2023 14:01
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sb hermit posted:twsbi eco is real classy Really considering the indigo with bronze trim. It just looks so good. The Scriptus pen show was pretty fun, although it was absolutely packed which made looking at things kind of difficult. We got some new inks, something from Troublemaker and something from uh Wearingul, and also that Wonder Pens exclusive Tuna Grey and the new Tuna With Olives. My girlfriend also went absolutely nuts on sample vial mystery bags (20 new samples!) which will definitely not fill up every spare cubby in the secretary desk, no siree. I'm trying to figure out how to get her to actually USE these things...
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Oct 31, 2023 16:20
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The Indigo Blue/Bronze ECOs tempt me every time I check Jetpens. God they're beautiful. I try to hold myself back from picking up pens unless I have a purpose in mind for them but it's REAL tough sometimes.
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Oct 31, 2023 16:55
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My white/rose gold medium ECO is probably my favorite pen. Like others said, writes so smoothly, never dries out or leaks regardless of what kind of ink I put in it (I have a lot of shimmers that just wreck my Lamy feeds). I have a second ECO in fine and it's great but less smooth, but the medium nib is just perfect. I went from my first pen being a EF Pilot Metropolitan (so scratchy) to almost exclusively using mediums or higher now, just a lot more fun.
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Oct 31, 2023 18:00
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SixteenShells posted:The Indigo Blue/Bronze ECOs tempt me every time I check Jetpens. God they're beautiful. I try to hold myself back from picking up pens unless I have a purpose in mind for them but it's REAL tough sometimes. Blue and gold are my favorite color combination but I already have so many pens.
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Oct 31, 2023 18:09
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Rand Brittain posted:Blue and gold are my favorite color combination but I already have so many pens. So what you do is sell some of the pens you don't use and buy pens you plan to use. And the cycle begins anew.
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Oct 31, 2023 18:31
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roomtwofifteen posted:My white/rose gold medium ECO is probably my favorite pen. Like others said, writes so smoothly, never dries out or leaks regardless of what kind of ink I put in it (I have a lot of shimmers that just wreck my Lamy feeds). I have a second ECO in fine and it's great but less smooth, but the medium nib is just perfect.
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Oct 31, 2023 19:32
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roomtwofifteen posted:My white/rose gold medium ECO is probably my favorite pen. Like others said, writes so smoothly, never dries out or leaks regardless of what kind of ink I put in it (I have a lot of shimmers that just wreck my Lamy feeds). I have a second ECO in fine and it's great but less smooth, but the medium nib is just perfect. TWSBI has really knocked it out of the park for me, tbh. Between the 580 in Broad/1.1 Stub and the Go in Medium, they're both some of my favorite pens, and they just do not give a rat's rear end about what ink you put in them, they'll drink it up and keep on going. Probably would get the ECO in either Fine or Medium just to mix it up a little. No easily-swappable nibs is kind of a bummer, but for the price, you could honestly just get a second one if it meant that much, and really, isn't that more in the spirit of the thread? Incidentally, has anyone tried the TWSBI classic? It's got a pretty good look to it, and if it's as good as the rest of TWSBI's pens, then 55 bucks seems pretty good for it.
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Oct 31, 2023 20:38
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Doctor Hospital posted:TWSBI has really knocked it out of the park for me, tbh. Between the 580 in Broad/1.1 Stub and the Go in Medium, they're both some of my favorite pens, and they just do not give a rat's rear end about what ink you put in them, they'll drink it up and keep on going. Probably would get the ECO in either Fine or Medium just to mix it up a little. No easily-swappable nibs is kind of a bummer, but for the price, you could honestly just get a second one if it meant that much, and really, isn't that more in the spirit of the thread? The Eco you can just pull out the feed and nib super easy in my experience...
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Nov 1, 2023 18:46
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Keetron posted:The Eco you can just pull out the feed and nib super easy in my experience... I went to check if it was friction fit and found a Goulet pens video explaining exactly this. It's a lot like swapping the nib on a Pilot Kakuno, as it turns out. Thanks for the heads up! I cleaned out my TWSBI Go, Kaweco Perkeo, and Lamy Safari today and while the Safari was pretty gummed up, I was pretty pleased to find out how easy it is to disassemble the converters for both it and the Perkeo. I'll have to crack open the phial of silicone grease that came with my Diamond 580 to make sure everything's smooth, but at least I won't have to worry about dried up ink getting behind some pistons. ...And also what ink to put back in the Perkeo. It had Iroshizuku Shin-ryoku in it, which is a beautiful ink, but once it's dry it's kind of flatter than I would like. I may put some of the Abalone Troublemaker ink I got a while back in it and see how well it handles on some Tomoe River.
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Nov 1, 2023 22:42
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grack posted:Don't use pliers on fountain pens, it never ends well. Thanks again for your advice! Slight adjustments, one tine at a time, using shim stock did the trick. It's not perfect, but it's pretty good for a sub-$30 pen.  
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Nov 3, 2023 00:13
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If that thing ever starts burping up ink, a tube of plumbers silicone grease is much cheaper than the robbery you'll find online and will fix everything. You'll literally touch your finger to the grease, smear it along the point where the feed enters the housing being sure to leave the breather hole open. My 2 moonmana like that stopped burping after that. No more leaks at all.
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Nov 3, 2023 01:34
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Speaking of, I got a couple jinhaos because I wanted to get a knockabout pen that I won't be too bothered about it if it spontaneously disassembles like my last 2 candidates (a sailor pocket pen and a platinum plaisir). It must be something about me carrying them to work in a bag, although they are affixed to pen-holder slots. Also got a fude nib to try out the experience. The fude works perfectly and is great fun. I am learning to do the limited few Chinese characters I know with it and it definitely gives them flair. I recommend it! Of the other nibs, one works perfectly, one is a fine that writes satisfactorily, if a bit coarsely, and the other is an abomination against physics that will refuse to write, even when loaded with Sailor black ink. Supposedly a medium, it will lay down a barely visible gray line. Would it benefit from attempting to separate the tines a little using tools like suggested in the previous posts? Ultimate experience is: can't complain, even got a converter for each pen so welp. mortons stork fucked around with this message at 09:45 on Nov 3, 2023 |
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Nov 3, 2023 09:42
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Happy Fountain Pen day
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Nov 3, 2023 13:34
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can confirm the fude nib is really fun for drawing with
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Nov 4, 2023 01:17
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I recently got a beak point nib from Matthew Chen, which is basically a reverse fude (fine line in the front, party [fude] in the back). Great fun.
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Nov 4, 2023 03:52
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I had all the pens I needed and more ink than I can use  .Fortunately I broke my eco (it was old and I decided to use strength to turn the piston instead of lubricating it) so I might be in the market for a new pen. Now is the hard / fun part of deciding if I just replace the eco since it was pretty much perfect for my needs or if I use this opportunity to justify spending entirely too much money on a cooler pen that may not perform as well. This hobby is so stupid yet it brings me some joy daily.
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Nov 6, 2023 00:53
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tater_salad posted:Happy Fountain Pen day I made it through Fountain Pen Day without buying any pens because I successfully internalized the fact that I basically just use the same handful of vintage Sheaffer pens over and over in rotation. I was chewing over getting a Pineider Avatar (one of the transparent "ultraresin" ones) but I ended up passing. I might still get one later when it's on sale again, but this time of year makes it hard to justify buying silly hobby stuff before Black Friday.
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Nov 6, 2023 02:45
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KingColliwog posted:I had all the pens I needed and more ink than I can use I have found you can't really go wrong with Pilot, so I recommend a Custom 823 in amber. Of course, I have no clue about your needs but this is a good pen.
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Nov 6, 2023 18:56
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I am this close to purchasing a sailor 1911l ring less in the sick galaxy variant (I like the aqua one) because it’s cheaper at $260 than the other ones… lol.’
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Nov 6, 2023 19:01
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Keetron posted:I have found you can't really go wrong with Pilot, so I recommend a Custom 823 in amber. Of course, I have no clue about your needs but this is a good pen. I'm just a teacher that think fountain pens makes grading less boring to do. The Custom 823 is one of the pens I looked at quite a bit last time I was in the market, but I thought it was a bit too expensive. Currently thinking I'm either getting another cheap-ish TWSBI or some Pilot. The Falcon and the vanishing point both look fun and yeah that custom 823 is looking at me too. Also looking at sailor because many of their pens look nice, but I'm not sure the "pencil feedback" thing they supposedly have is my kind of thing.
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Nov 6, 2023 20:34
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KingColliwog posted:I'm just a teacher that think fountain pens makes grading less boring to do. Pilot is one brand where regional pricing differences can be huge (and the yen is historically low against the dollar right now). US retailes like Goulet have it for $336, but you can buy it on eBay direct from Japanese stores for about $180 shipped. eBay is full of reputable Japanese sellers doing just this and I have bought multiple Pilot pens this way. I am not a fan of the Sailor feedback, I much prefer the Pilot smoothness.
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Nov 6, 2023 21:09
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sailor nibs are really good for all the non-standard options they have
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Nov 6, 2023 21:40
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Buy an 823, then buy a 743 FA, then buy a three slit custom ebonite feed. Then party Or just buy a 733 FA, but that's less fun.
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Nov 6, 2023 21:41
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Muir posted:Pilot is one brand where regional pricing differences can be huge (and the yen is historically low against the dollar right now). US retailes like Goulet have it for $336, but you can buy it on eBay direct from Japanese stores for about $180 shipped. eBay is full of reputable Japanese sellers doing just this and I have bought multiple Pilot pens this way. kinda tempted to do this!!! Is the Pilot 823 good? I really want to try a vacuum pen. How much would it cost from a Japanese reseller?
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Nov 6, 2023 22:29
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Looks like a lot of people are effectively selling it at half price!
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Nov 6, 2023 22:40
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sb hermit posted:Looks like a lot of people are effectively selling it at half price! The 823 is one of the best out there and has a good reputation for a very good reason. It writes smooth and has a huge ink capacity. The o ly negative is that it can be a pain to clean with some inks, but that's not really a big deal unless you like to change inks regularly. Right now, the prices for Japanese fountain pens are basically half what they would be in the US due to the weak yen. Prices will fluctuate as the yen/dollar rises and falls but generally are about a couple hundred dollars off US retail. The tradeoff is much longer shipping times (no instant gratification here!).
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Nov 7, 2023 02:49
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I feel like it's a very popular sentiment for 823 owners to say that they believe buying any other pen will likely be a sidegrade at best - that they realized 9 pens ago that it just doesn't get much better than that and they are just paying for novelty now. Not the only pen people say that about, but 80% of the time they are talking about the 823 It sits at a breakpoint of price/quality where the quality exceeds similarly-priced pens, and it is substantially lower in price than the next step up in user experience. Subjective and all, but most see it as an uniquely good value Too bad I think Pilot gold nibs are boring! Sailor/Platinum for me all the way. And because buying Sailor means paying hundreds extra for nicely-colored plastic, mostly just Platinum. I recommend checking out vintage pens if you want to try out the other 2 Japanese brands. You can spot gold-nibbed pocket pens for like $20 on ebay
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Nov 7, 2023 04:24
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Thanks everyone!
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Nov 7, 2023 04:33
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My Dad purchased a Sailor Pro Gear Slim 14k (fine) and sent it to me so I could try it out before delivering to him when we go there for Christmas. I used a Sailor ink for an ink test and currently have Diamine Writer's Blood in there to see if I like it any better. But on the whole it's probably the worst gold nib writing experience I've had to date. I guess I'm definitely not a Sailor fan. The feedback is fine, I have a Compass 1911 that writes similar, but the stiffness is astonishing. I also can't get it to flow great either, despite using the wettest ink I own, it writes very dry. I'll try some other inks that have lubricants to see if it makes a difference (Iroshizuku, Monteverde) and use pen flush/monotonic, but so far I'm not impressed.
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Nov 7, 2023 04:51
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My Pilot Heritage 91 has the bizarre quirk of squeaking - like rubbing styrofoam - when I write with it. I've heard squeaking before with other pens but it's never happened as often as it does with this Pilot. I don't know if this is a helpful anecdote, but it's the main Pilot experience I have. Other than that, it works well even if it likes to squeal while doing it.Abyss posted:My Dad purchased a Sailor Pro Gear Slim 14k (fine) and sent it to me so I could try it out before delivering to him when we go there for Christmas. I used a Sailor ink for an ink test and currently have Diamine Writer's Blood in there to see if I like it any better. But on the whole it's probably the worst gold nib writing experience I've had to date. I guess I'm definitely not a Sailor fan. The feedback is fine, I have a Compass 1911 that writes similar, but the stiffness is astonishing. I also can't get it to flow great either, despite using the wettest ink I own, it writes very dry. I'll try some other inks that have lubricants to see if it makes a difference (Iroshizuku, Monteverde) and use pen flush/monotonic, but so far I'm not impressed. You could try shimming the tines apart a bit, it might make it write a little wetter. I usually use an extremely blunt X-Acto knife and gently work it between the tines. I don't personally like the Japanese fine nibs I've tried, they're usually too thin and too dry.
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Nov 7, 2023 05:51
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I think my problem with Sailor is that I just don't like any of the colors on the ones that aren't two grand or the compass, which, from what I understand doesn't give you the pencil-like feeling that you get Sailor pens for. I had been looking at the Pilot Custom 74, but now that I know you can get an 823 for not all that much, I may just spring for that. The 74 would pretty much be my choice only from a color standpoint, and the black and gold 873 is a pretty solid, classic sort of look, so it wouldn't be the biggest deal. Plus I wouldn't have to deal with the CON-70.
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Nov 7, 2023 06:36
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howe_sam posted:Buy an 823, then buy a 743 FA, then buy a three slit custom ebonite feed. Then party I really keep wanting to do exactly this... Where'd you get your 743 FA and custom feed?
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Nov 7, 2023 07:16
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Sankis posted:I really keep wanting to do exactly this... eBay, and the flexible nib guy. I see that Nibsmith is offering flexible nib factory ebonite feeds as an add-on to the 743s they sell. So you get the feed installed by a professional nibmeister, but you also have to pay full N.A. pricing.
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Nov 7, 2023 13:45
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