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Only superficial differences. I put a Kakuno F in my metro and I love the way it writes. The smiley face is just a nice bonus because I'm a dork that likes cute stuff.
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Jun 17, 2015 04:47
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TWSBI sucks and is awful garbage for stupid idiot babies so if you're in the market for a $50 or less piston filler please only spend your hard-earned bitcoins on top notch Noodler's pens. Annecdotally, I've had a Diamond 540 kicking around in my bag for a few years and it's never had a problem or even so much as dried out. They can be really good pens but they do have a high rate of failure, compensated for by nonpareil customer service. Plenty of people would rather spend more money on a different pen that's less likely to need to be repaired. Both sides are valid so holy poo poo please stop this dumb loving argument. Welsper posted:Anyone know where I can get a replacement body for a vanishing point Ebay? Look for a pen that's non-working being sold for parts, sometimes you get lucky. That or contact Pilot.
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Jul 20, 2015 11:46
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FAUXTON posted:Who the gently caress buys a used metro "poo poo, I'd love to get into fountain pens, but $15 for a pen, converter, and ink cartridge is just too hefty an investment this pay period." They probably sold it for parts
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Jul 20, 2015 12:33
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Finally, a pen for chefs and a pen I can coordinate with my grandmother's kitchen!
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Aug 6, 2015 20:43
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Fall posted:If anyone's looking for a dirt cheap pen storage solution--  This is advertising I can get behind! I don't like that they apparently send you a random colour and you just choose the type you want.
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Aug 11, 2015 11:45
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aldantefax posted:Speaking of Noodler's, I heard the announcement via Goulet that Tardiff's switching to plastic bottles due to glass supply issues. Better save your old bottles, I guess! There's also an amusing and traditionally ranting video from Nathan himself. This man is so angry about the free market he so heartily worships. 
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Aug 20, 2015 02:27
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My Man Shran posted:Dear Amazon, The Custom 74 is a nice pen. Go for it!
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Aug 24, 2015 20:01
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Get a metro and shove the kakuno nib into it. You have something that looks expensive and professional to the, heh, lessers, but when the cap comes off there's a happy face to greet you! :·)
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Sep 4, 2015 03:12
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It's a spendy hobby full of rich dipshits that are too busy smelling their own cinnamon-scented farts to consider their lovely stances W.R.T. these Chinese knockoff pens. They're a crapshoot and an obvious knockoff, but they're acceptable quality pens for like, two (2) dollars. But lord forbid we not constantly lambaste a pen for being made outside of either Za Fatherland or Glorious Nippon.
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Sep 9, 2015 20:13
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Soricidus posted:parker also make some decent pens. Wow look at Daddy Warbucks here. Not all of us have stacks of filthy lucre to throw around! Some of us have to steal geese from the park and make our own pens!
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Sep 10, 2015 03:44
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Rocko Bonaparte posted:Hopefully the Noodler's Ahab I got is something I can handle fixing up for my mom for Mother's Day. It sounds like the big thing is just to clean it. Barring any manufacturing flaws, Ahabs are pretty easy to get working. If you're giving it to someone who isn't expecting the smell then let it air for a few days, definitely 
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May 1, 2016 13:35
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It's actually outgassing from the plant cellulose resin used. The smell fades over time. I have two Ahabs I bought in 2012 and I have to practically shove them in my nose to get a faint smell of it. As a bonus, it's biodegradable, so if you just throw it the gently caress out it'll be gone in a few decades.
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May 4, 2016 14:00
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Shirec posted:How quickly does the Pilot Vanishing point take to normally dry out? I don't know if it's my ink (using Private Reserve at the moment) or something else, but I feel like my pen is acting flakey with how often it refuses to write. Found your problem. I use Diamine Autumn Oak in my VP (btw I got a VP) and it never has a starting problem. In my experience, Private Reserve is a very dry writing ink, as well as super prone to molding. I would recommend staying away from it if possible, as a general rule.
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May 10, 2016 15:51
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GenericGirlName posted:Uh oh, mold? Are all pen inks able to get moldy? Are there certain things that need to be done to prevent ink mold? I would google but I also do not want to see the ink mold because that would be upsetting :/ maybe this hobby was not meant to be. I have a bottle of ink that was purchased in the 1960s I inherited from my grandfather. Common-as-mud Sheaffer Skrip, still usable today. Pienipple had two bottles of Private Reserve that were so molded after only a month they had actually gone carbonated and opening them was like opening a soda bottle. It's definitely a rare occurrence and hopefully won't turn you off this otherwise fun but really loving nerdy and spendy hobby!
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May 11, 2016 14:12
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If you want a super broad line in your metro, they happen to be nib-buddies with the Pilot Plumix. You can pull the nib and feed out of one and swap it with the other, and it's only $9 for a small stub nib. Other than that you're looking at much more expensive pens like the Custom 74, that you can't swap the nibs on. Pilot uses proprietary cartridges and converters so you're basically stuck with that brand if you're dead-set on using them up. Another pen that would be good, but incompatible with your cartridges/converters, is the Lamy Safari/Vista. They're not very expensive, fit a nicely sized cartridge/converter, and the nib units are made to be swapped out and come in sizes from XF to 1.5mm stub! Linked in the OP, by the way. As for paper, Clairefontaine is great, Rhodia uses Clairefontaine paper, Tomoe River is much loved but expensive and really thin, don't bother with Moleskein they're all hype and use really inconsistent quality paper. A more reasonable option would be something like 24-30lb laser printer paper, anything made from sugar cane, and I've had good luck with "stone paper" although since it has no plant matter most permanent FP inks won't be on it. My pens have no problem writing on it though.
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May 11, 2016 18:43
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Now do it with a VP nib. 
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May 12, 2016 12:29
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For your purposes, stub and italic are basically the same thing, meaning they give a broad, flat line on a down stroke and a much thinner line on a cross stroke. Ones that just have a one or two letter size like XF, F, M, B, those are ordinary nibs and will give a constant line width. Stubs/italics will almost always be sized with numbers, indicating width of the line in millimeters.
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May 12, 2016 14:24
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Some Visconti pens can be quite handsome. I'd love to have one of those Manhattan Wall Street pens Goulet has in red, but holy poo poo are they not worth the sticker price to me.
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May 21, 2016 19:25
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Landsknecht posted:anyone here have a midori camel notebook? I have a brown passport size, and I'd like to compliment it with a fullsize, but I'm not sure of the colour Brown.
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Jun 17, 2016 22:53
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Everything Burrito posted:How absolutely necessary is an o-ring anyway? I have some because I did the eyedropper Preppy thing for a while until I got fed up with the lids cracking and tossed them all, but the ones I had kinda interfered with the lid when I put them on a 78g I was using as an eyedropper so I just greased the threads and never had any issues. I was always kinda concerned that it was a gamble on whether or not it was going to leak and eventually just went back to cartridges though. It's more of a belt-and-suspenders approach, but especially with some inks being  LASER PROOF you want to be careful. If it's ruining the pen or making it difficult to cap for you, by all means just go with the grease.Also don't buy grease from Goulet. You can get 4 times as much for the same price from any hardware store or home center.
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Jul 19, 2016 17:04
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aldantefax posted:Does anybody have any tips for cleaning fountain pens using an ultrasonic cleaner? I have a variety of pens that need some deep cleaning from old BCHR pens to newer resin pens like TWSBIs and the like; would be interested to know if I should be wary of anything and/or if any specific fluid mixes are ideal for cleaning (I've read that adding a drop of unscented ammonia works well but only in some cases, as well as using distilled water, etc). I use a 10:1 mixture of water and ammonia and just let it run. I've done it with a wide degree of pens and never had any trouble, both assembled sections and separate parts. That said, I've never tried it with something like celluloid or other exotic/vintage materials. Also don't do it if your pen has something that shouldn't go in an ultrasonic anyway like opal or emerald.
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Jul 29, 2016 03:41
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If you have paper to the tune of 800 grit or higher, draw a few figure 8 on it and graduate up to your finest, then work it on something coarse like a piece of cardboard or really fine micromesh before trying it on paper. Just work cautiously because you can't undo it and be sure to only smooth the nib the way you would write, pressure too, otherwise you can baby bottom your nib.
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Jul 30, 2016 22:53
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Nostalgia4Ass posted:I have a couple of Platinum Preppys, an aluminum Platinum Preppy, and a Pilot Metro. I think I'd like to look at what else is out there. I've been eyeballing a Custom 74 because the nib is 18k and is supposedly a little flexible and I can get one on Amazon for less than 80 USD. Is there anything European or American in the ~$100 price range that would comparable? My only experience is with Japanese pens and as much as I think they are great, I'd maybe like to see what other markets make too. I love my Custom 74. Even with a fine nib it's a nice smooth writer and the purple demonstrator with rhodium trim is gorgeous. My only complaint is that it doesn't have the heft of my Vanishing Point.
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Aug 2, 2016 19:25
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An MR is a Metropolitan that uses standard international converters. The end. e: The Japanese model is called the Cacoon so if you can find one of those on the cheap then go nuts.
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Aug 6, 2016 15:29
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unkle77 posted:So I've had my Custom 74 for about a week now, and I kind of hate it. It all but dries up on left to right strokes (can't even really cross a T), and down strokes dry up after about 5 lines. The only way to ensure a decent line is to put a ton of pressure on this thing, which seems extremely counterintuitive given that I've got 4 steel nib pens that write with no pressure at all (2 metros, 1 ECO, 1 Al-Star). Anyone know what could be the issue? Is my nib hosed? It doesn't appear cosmetically wrong but it's a real pain in the rear end to use because it's so inconsistent. I've flushed it multiple times, and I've used both De Atramentis Sherlock Holmes and Pilot's Kon Peki with the same results. Did you flush with soapy water or just water? A lot of times the problem is oils used in machining that won't wash out with just water. If you hadn't, be sure to do it with the new one first.
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Aug 20, 2016 00:25
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rio posted:new pens  yellow VP buddy!rio posted:I need to start carrying a cheap pen with me. I was out on a photo walk and we grabbed some drinks afterwards. I was the only one with a pen when we were exchanging info - like, clearly since it was in my shirt pocket. All I had on me was my vanishing point and I didn't want my first impression to be "this guy is so weird he doesn't let people use his pen". Luckily one person only used it but she was still writing with it upside down...no harm done though. This is why the Metropolitan was invented. It looks nice to those awful shitbird normies but is $18 so not a big loss if they jank it up. I always wanted to use my super-nice pens at work but I've had people snatch it from my apron too many times to know it's a bad idea.
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Oct 2, 2016 18:51
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There are a couple of really popular youtube videos out there of a Falcon that's had its nib ground to add in way more flex. It seems to give a lot of people the wrong impression about the pen, but it's something you could have done to yours if you want to.
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Oct 3, 2016 15:32
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Heath posted:The big criticism of the TN for me is that it only has one strap built into the cover. It makes fitting more than two notebooks a little awkward, as the middle one always ends up sandwiched a little funny between the others. I've seen custom ones on Etsy that have 3 strings, which seems like a better setup to me. I made one with the three-string design and I love it, but it's going to be thicker than a branded TN. I love it though and have two notebooks, two pocket folders I made out of a file folder, and a Midori card sleeve/zip pocket insert.
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Oct 22, 2016 04:13
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