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Hi fountain pen goons. Like many of us, my world is very digital. At work, we use OneNote for everything, so I hardly take meeting notes by hand anymore. At home, everything is google so I'm not even writing down a shopping list with the grease-sticky pencil on top of the fridge. So of course, I did what any rational person would do, and asked for a Pilot Metro for my birthday. Have had it for a week and am completely in love. I'd used lovely cartridge fountain pens in high school in the 90s because I was that guy (so much cheap ink spilled on so much terrible poetry about so many girls with issues), so I knew a bit was I was getting into with a fountain pen, but I am completely wowed by the Metro. Which leads me to looking at vintage pens on ebay last night, because it intersects nicely with a low-grade hobby of collecting interesting pocket ephemera from my grandparent's prime years, mostly some lighters and knives. So of course, laying in bed and half asleep, I throw a low bid on this set, and win: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Sh...872.m2749.l2649 The seller thinks it's a tip-dip plunger fill. Did I buy a nice conversation piece for my desk, or are there decent odds that it may work? I'm kind of OK either way, but would obviously prefer it works so that I can play NASA engineer dress-up with its matching pencil.
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May 7, 2018 13:55
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MoraleHazard posted:I'm relatively new to fountain pens, so maybe I'm wrong, but it looks like the nib is seriously bent. I think it's fixable, but I'm not sure. And I hear you re retention, but everything I do is team-oriented so the person taking the notes has to share them with 2-3 people all the time, and one note is just way more efficient for that.
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May 7, 2018 18:54
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OK, a more general question before I get myself in trouble on ebay again: I'm sure there are exceptions, but will spending $X on a new production pen get a better pen (one that writes better, doesn't leak all over, doesn't require an unobtanium parts etc.) than spending the same $X on something vintage? I have a heavy antiquing thing going on in my life, but I also want to write with any pens I buy.
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May 7, 2018 20:03
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Got it. Buy a Metro. Ordered another color Metro today so I can have two ink colors at once, along with a smattering of $2 pens from China That's sort of what I figured. I love old stuff but something is always dry rotted, burned out, or otherwise in the way of a thing working. I will still end up with old pens, though. Because I can't help myself.
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May 8, 2018 02:16
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Newbie falling deep into this rabbit hole here. My excuse/psych 101 self-evaluation is that I'm a professional writer (and amateur history nerd) who has become completely disconnected from actually writing. The clacky mechanical keyboard was a good first step to reconnecting with the process, but the experience of longhand in interesting colors with a good pen has been revelatory. Will a $5 PenBBS 309 make me happy as a first non-converter pen, or is the TWISBI worth 6x the price?
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May 9, 2018 14:13
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Eric the Mauve posted:Hi longhand writing buddy!
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May 9, 2018 15:56
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grack posted:There are no $5 PenBBS pens. Sellers put really cheap items in to the listings along with the pens so they show up first when you search by price.
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May 9, 2018 21:58
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Yet another newbie question: Got an ink sampler from Goulet, and in their little vials, some of the inks (Diamine Bilberry, to pick the one closest to me doing it) are not at all coating/sticking to the sides of the vials and almost seem to be repelled by the plastic. Others, (for example the Iroshizuku Take-Sumi) have pretty much stained the sides of the vials. Is this happening through some dark magic of chemistry that means nothing, or are the inks that are coating the vials just more "sticky" and less wet? Are the ones that coat going to dry on paper faster and/or be more water/color/life fast?
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May 12, 2018 00:05
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Tried out a sampler of Noodler's 54th Massachusetts over the weekend after being really excited about how it looks on Goulet's site and find it thoroughly meh. It ends up almost looking green to my (terrible) eyes. What's a better grey blue that has more slate in it than emerald? Branching out into colors is kind of a lamely huge personal growth thing for me. I would legitimately paint my entire house beige because it's easier to deal with, so a million ink colors to mess with is sort of like Dorothy entering Oz.
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May 14, 2018 13:23
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OK, I read some of his blog about his inks having DNA and whatnot, but, uhh, yeah. Interesting. You'd think that a product that remains consistent across batches would be desirable. I guess his insanity and people looking for artesenal handmade "authentic" things are a currently profitable match. edit: Sailor Sei Boku looks like what I thought 54th MA would be, so that works. vvvv Guess they're off my short list. That's neat if I'm buying ink at my local farmer's market, but if I went to sherwin williams with a swatch and got a different color because of Their Handmade Process, I'd be pissed vvvvv stealie72 fucked around with this message at 14:40 on May 14, 2018 |
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May 14, 2018 14:36
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Welsper posted:On that note, anyone know a good replacement for Aircorp Blue-Black that isn’t Lamy Petrol?
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May 14, 2018 14:45
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Professor Shark posted:Shack? Try a bunker surrounded by foodstuffs and ink bottles
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May 14, 2018 23:57
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Joined the Goulet fanboi Facebook group, and boy people are excited to own a safari in a different color. We make fun of ourselves, but goons are nowhere near as spergtacular as we could be.
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May 16, 2018 22:20
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I added a sample of Diamine Frosted Orchid to my last order, and it is freakin' adorable. Despite being a 42 year old male, it makes me want to write "Do you like me? ___ yes ____no" notes to the cute boys in class. It's going to be hard for me to not buy a bottle, but since most of what I write is in front of clients, not sure I can get away with using it much. But my "to do" list is super sparkly right now.
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May 18, 2018 14:10
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I went a little batshit on $2 Chinese pens on ebay, and the first of my orders are starting to trickle in, a mere 10 days after I bought them. I'm pretty goddamn impressed with the efficiency of both of our postal systems. Got a 5 pack of Hero 926es, which are OK but a bit scratchy. Going to have to look up how to play with them. And will likely dip all of their nibs and write a couple sentences to see which is the best one. Also got a Jinhao x450 which has surprising gravitas for a $4 pen. Its nib is not half bad. At less than $2/ea for 6 pens, I'm pretty happy. Worst case is the kids will get a couple to play with.
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May 18, 2018 21:16
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Edit: nevermind. Completely forgot I ordered a duplicate pen off of Amazon. I didn't get mail from China 18 hours after I ordered it.
stealie72 fucked around with this message at 21:26 on May 22, 2018 |
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May 22, 2018 21:22
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I just got a three pack of Jinhao 992 pens (one of them has a hooded nib, don't ask me why), after reading online about them being easy to turn into eyedroppers. But, all three have a decorative blind cap that pops out (so the barrel is a cylinder, not a cone), which normally wouldn't be a big deal as I've got epoxy, but also, one of the barrels has cracked from the mighty pressure of being cleaned and placed on a desk (I don't think it was cracked from the mail, but I can't prove that it wasn't). Being pure chinesium, I assume I may have gotten a bad batch, and at $1.28 shipped I have no issue with that, but has anyone had a different experience? I've already turned two preppys into eyedroppers and may just order more of those for funsies. They just look a teeny bit less professional in meetings. It's been 23 days since I got my first FP in 20 years and I think I'm about to hit a dozen owned, largely thanks to china. This poo poo is beyond addicting and has led to a chain of "where else can I unplug" in my life.
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May 24, 2018 14:22
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Ok, which $15 is better spent? A moonman M2 with a 1.1 stub nib, or a Goulet stub nib to graft to my second x750?
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May 26, 2018 20:58
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Or even get back any results on eBay...
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May 29, 2018 02:22
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Goulet announced that they are getting a new commerce site next week, requiring everyone to reset their passwords, and that those who do it within the first week will get a special treat, which I assume will be a discount code. Hopefully the wish lists carry over well, but I may turn mine into a PDF anyway.
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May 30, 2018 20:22
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kim jong-illin posted:A heads-up to any British folks in here who bought a pen case from Musubi - you're gonna get hit for import tax. Something something stamp act something something. Is US customs just uncaring? I've gotten in (too many) pens from China in the last few weeks with no customs anything. Oh, and one inexplicably from Kyrgyzstan.
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May 30, 2018 21:45
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Well, I've had a hell of an up and down afternoon pen-wise. Got a slightly beat up vaccumatic (blue diamond in the black pearl stripe color) for $10 at the local antique fair. Figured even if the diaphragm was dead, it might be worth it to get it fixed. Then I take it home and clean it, and while doing so, the freaking barrel breaks in half about 3/4 of an inch above the section (edit: just put it back together and the break is exactly where the cap ends on the barrel, so I'm guessing cumulative lifetime sideways stress or something). Like, I'm rinsing the nib and suddenly I'm holding two pieces of barrel. Really clean break, so at first I thought it might be something that was held together with shellac or something, but not, it's just broken. Guess I'm glad it didn't happen in my bag/pocket/while writing something at my desk. So, I guess next step is selling the cap and getting my $10 back out of the pen, but the nib seems nice, and I'd LOVE to transplant it to something. Anyone have any idea what pen I can graft the nib onto? Google is not being terribly helpful. stealie72 fucked around with this message at 21:27 on Jun 2, 2018 |
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Jun 2, 2018 21:00
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Ended up with an unplanned layover at Washington National this morning, so I checked out the Pen and Prose store there, which at least online looked like a nice pen/stationary shop. Not sure what I expected, given that it's an airport, but it was mostly Vera Bradley bags and other random luxury-adjacent stuff. Three cases of pens with a few decent ones, but everything was a good 25% more than goulet's prices. I'm was looking to get a kaweko sport for my travels, but it did not pan out.
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Jun 12, 2018 16:17
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OK, cheap chinapen question: Just got a pair of Wing Sung 3008s delivered and they seem pretty good, except the nibs just fall off both of them. It looks like they're designed to slide over little channels on the feed, and reddit says maybe superglue in these channels, but that doesn't seem right. Clamping with my fingers doesn't work, and I really don't want to take pliers to them and risk breaking the feed. Anyone have and fix this issue?
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Jun 23, 2018 18:39
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grack posted:Take nib off of feed, pinch together with your fingers, put nib back on feed. Repeat as necessary. Seriously, I am so loving dumb. Duh.
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Jun 23, 2018 19:46
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Just got a nice almost full bottle of quink blue black that I figure will be nice for my vintage pens at my local antique mall. Any idea on the age? Hard to find age by photo on the net. Style looks 60s, but I have no real idea. Edit: hm, found an ad from 1957 with that style of box and bottle. stealie72 fucked around with this message at 03:43 on Jul 16, 2018 |
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Jul 16, 2018 03:36
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Heath posted:It says New right on the box, are you sure it's old?  But I bought it at an antique store...
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Jul 16, 2018 03:51
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Man, that's so pretty...
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Jul 18, 2018 19:36
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MJP posted:The Sheaffer 300 is super duper smooth and has a nice weighty feel to it. It also helps to feel ~luxury~ if you get the Ferrari one, because you can then say you own a Ferrari! Can confirm that it is an awesome feeling pen for $35.
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Jul 26, 2018 02:06
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Did a presentation to a science museum staff today. 29 people and 2 we're using fountain pens. Didn't do the secret handshake because I don't want to be *that* guy.
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Sep 6, 2018 23:39
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Pixelante posted:Is the secret handshake comparing ink stains on your hands? Sshhhhhhhh! It's a secret.
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Sep 9, 2018 03:10
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Have any of you used the Noodlers V-Mail line of inks? http://noodlersink.com/whats-new/v-mail-ink-series/ They are like catnip to the history nerd that I am, but I am also somewhat wary of Noodlers' variability and refusal to play nice with pens sometimes.
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Oct 10, 2018 04:15
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tater_salad posted:Yes Just double-check the listing to make sure it also comes with a stub nib. I believe most of the ones from China ship with the fine nib in the pen and a stub nib in the box.
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Oct 13, 2018 04:15
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We, and every fp group on social media are clicking and discussing this list. It's done its job. It wouldn't have gotten anywhere near the attention if it was actually a decent ranking.
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Nov 30, 2018 03:04
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Any of you have a twsbi go? Does it make for a decent pocket pen?
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Dec 29, 2018 15:59
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I picked up a new-old-stock looking Parker 45 off ebay that's got a squeeze sac converter in it (like the kind that comes with a metro). Filled it up with a syringe yesterday and absolutely cannot get ink to flow. I can squeeze the converter and make ink come out that way, I can flick it and ink comes out, but even after sitting nib-down overnight, I cannot get the ink to flow to the nib. Any thoughts?
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Jan 7, 2019 15:42
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Thank you all. Will get to soaking. grack posted:Also why on earth are you filling the converter with a syringe? Because I was getting ar rhe last bits of a sample. Maybe should have used a tried and true ink.
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Jan 7, 2019 21:06
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Are the Sailor High Ace pens any good? They're all over Ebay for $20 from Japan, and I'm curious if they are a good "baby's first sailor."
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Jan 12, 2019 23:43
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That is literally a couple bucks. Thanks for the heads up.
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Jan 13, 2019 00:46
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I generally don't like black inks but all of these pilot ones being thrown around are making me curious if maybe I would like one of theirs. What is the most interesting one that has a little something other than basic black to it.
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Jan 17, 2019 00:53
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