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I've been using a fountain pen off and on for the past couple years, though I started using it seriously last semester for writing all my notes. I don't know what kind of pen I have, partly because it was a gift. It has a "Franklin Covey" mark on it, which as far as I can tell is a financial company that sometimes sells accessories, such as fountain pens. I've been using Monteverde black ink cartridges, but I do have a converter. Between the ink and the pen, I occasionally have ink flow problems, even when the cartridge is full. How much would switching to (non-cartridge) ink help? I like the sound of Heart of Darkness (bulletproof! very dark!) or possibly Noodler's Fast-drying Black, since I'm left handed. I guess I'm looking for advice on pens and ink. I like the look (and price) of the Pilot Metropolitan, but my current pen is working well enough...
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Jan 7, 2014 19:16
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Magnus Praeda posted:If your Franklin Covey pen is black with silver accents and has a medium nib (a.k.a. the Freemont), it's the least expensive, non-disposable fountain pen Staples carries in store. I own one (it was my second pen). Staples overprices it by at least $20, but it's a nice pen for the price. Black body, silver grip and... silver whatever the cap on the other end of the body is. Your description in regards to price sounds about right. I prefer black over blue, at least for everyday use. The 54th Mass looks nice though! I'll probably start with a sampler from Goulet and pick up HoD, 54th Mass., and maybe a couple other colors. I'm getting over trying to always keep the nib spotless. I'll take ink there as a sign of work getting done!
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Jan 8, 2014 03:04
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I'm looking at picking up a Pilot Metro and some ink samples from Goulet. The pen comes with a $5 add on for a twist converter. I'm used to using cartridges. Is the default Metro converter good, or is the piston converter so much better that the extra $5 is worth it? (I think the same converter costs $10 from Goulet, so it's a pretty good deal.)
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Jan 15, 2014 01:13
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milpreve posted:Solumin, the twist converter is worth getting just to see if you like it. I only use the squeeze thing for cleaning, and I like the small capacity of it because I love swapping out ink samples. cobalt impurity posted:The converter it comes with is a squeeze bulb type, which some people don't like. You can't see how much ink is in it, but it holds more overall and fills and cleans faster. Personally I like it but if the choice between a squeeze bulb and a piston converter were free, I'd go with the piston. Thanks for the advice! I have a twist converter that came with my Franklin Covey pen. I'll try it with the Metro once I get it. I'm going to be switching inks out for a bit, since I want to try out several samples! However, the fact that the squeeze converter holds more ink is attractive. I don't want to have to refill in the middle of taking notes--that's easy to do with a cartridge, but I would guess that converters are slightly messier.
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Jan 15, 2014 07:11
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My Pilot Metro came in today!  Thank you, USPS, for delivering before the snow storm really hit.It writes so smoothly!  I'm using Private Reserve Ultra Black, and I have samples of Noodler's Heart of Darkness and Borealis Black that I'm really looking forward to using.(I'm leaning towards Borealis Black as my daily ink, since I want something waterproof but also don't want to worry about trying to clean it up if it gets everywhere.)
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Jan 22, 2014 03:10
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Are the free Noodler's pens that come with large bottles of ink any good? The one I have feels pretty cheap, but I figure that doesn't necessarily reflect the quality of the nib.
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Feb 6, 2014 01:24
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cobalt impurity posted:They're alright. It's a Platinum Preppy with the logo missing and it's not terrible for a pen that cost $4. A Pilot Metro would be leagues better, as would a Lamy Safari/Vista/Al-star, but those don't come free with a bottle of ink! I like how the demonstrator eyedropper looks/works, and I might try to get one in the future, but I'll stick with my Metro for now then. Thanks!
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Feb 6, 2014 16:09
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Vitamins posted:I use Aurora. It's the blackest black ink I've ever used and is very well behaved making it my go-to ink. Noodler's Borealis Black is supposedly his take on Aurora Black. (Which makes sense, given the names!) They're both very, very black. The biggest difference between the two (that I know of) is price. Borealis is significantly cheaper than the Aurora ink.
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Feb 7, 2014 15:03
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kim jong-illin posted:What other converters fit a Pilot Metropolitan? The squeeze bulb one holds far too little ink and requires twice daily refilling (I write constantly at work) and I don't want to make it an eyedropper because I'd rather not run the risk of a leak over original documents or in my pocket. Mine came with a cartridge of Pilot ink. Did yours? You can wash that out and refill it with an eyedropper. It holds a lot more ink than the squeeze bulb, and you can easily tell how much ink is left.
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Feb 8, 2014 17:21
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milpreve posted:I've never smudged Heart of Darkness when I used it to write chart notes on copy paper as long as it had a few seconds to dry. Only issues I had with it were pen related (eyedropper too empty, burping). Seconding Heart of Darkness. Bulletproof, but dries fairly quickly. (Not as quickly as, say, Private Reserve Ultra Black or Noodler's Borealis Black.) I found it to be a fairly messy ink, however.
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Feb 13, 2014 17:21
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Does anyone have suggestions for loose-leaf paper? I use a lot of it for planning/thinking about projects and assignments. I usually buy Five Star Reinforced paper, which is surprisingly high quality for loose-leaf paper. I'm hoping for something fairly cheap. For reference, I usually get the Five Star paper at 100 sheets for $3-$5. (I'm not getting more of the Five Star because it's currently >$10 on Amazon!)
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Feb 21, 2014 02:17
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Bertrand Hustle posted:I love ink. That's Tengwar, isn't it? I wish my hand writing looked that good in English!  How did you manage to make the tehtar so consistent and 'square'?
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Mar 6, 2014 16:40
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He seems really, really obsessed with preventing forgery with his ink, which certainly explains why the Bulletproof line is so drat good. He's passionate to the point that he might seem weird, as far as I can tell, but he does great work and doesn't hurt anyone, as RusterChrome pointed out. Pen update: I love my Pilot Metro with Borealis Black. It's a nice, wet line, though a little wider than I like, and the color is so dark. The line width is only really a problem when I'm writing on cheap copy paper and the ink feathers horrendously. I've even managed to refill the cartridge without covering my fingers in ink! (Once, out of three tries...) I think I need to fix how I hold pens; I still have some discomfort when writing, especially in stressful environments like exams. It's still a lot better than ballpoints ever were.
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Mar 9, 2014 03:53
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PRADA SLUT posted:Is there an "improved" converter for the Pilot Metros? I'm guessing you mean besides the default squeeze-bulb converter? Goulet sells Pilot CON-50 piston converters for $5 as an add-on for Metros. AFAIK that's the only other option. It's slightly smaller (I think) but pistons outclass squeeze-bulbs in my book. Or you can just keep reusing the included cartridge. The eyedroppers on the larger Noodler's bottles let you refill the large-mouthed cartridges pretty easily.
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Mar 9, 2014 06:11
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Can anyone comment on Noodler's X-Feather? I've been using my Pilot Metropolitan with Noodler's Borealis Black for about a month now, and the one (minor) annoyance I've had so far is with feathering. I don't really have the choice to use high-grade paper, since I've had to fill out a lot of worksheets and forms on cheap copy paper. The Metro's M nib is broad enough as it is, and the feathering just makes it worse.Duro posted:Ok, two questions. I saw a Pelikan M205 in Taupe and fell in love with it. I'm just not accustomed to nib sizing of Pelikan products. I usually go for XF nibs because I prefer the finest line possible, however I've decided that I'd like a pen that is a bit smoother or wetter than my usual XF nibs. I'm tempted to try a M nib, but since I have a feeling that Pelikan nibs are very broad by default, perhaps I should try an F nib instead. Can anyone with experience help me? No personal experience, but maybe Goulet Nib Nook will help.
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Mar 16, 2014 21:47
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PRADA SLUT posted:Is there a comparison of the Pilot Iroshizuku inks? Their Amazon page is iffy. The Goulet Ink Compare Tool is pretty good for that. It's no match for seeing the ink swabs in person though.
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Mar 19, 2014 21:04
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His Divine Shadow posted:Is there a good rollerball pen that can use bottled FP ink? And that is not Noodlers. http://www.gouletpens.com/Rollerball_Pens_s/883.htm No idea about quality, unfortunately, but they're a starting point. I wish there was a deep red/burgundy bulletproof ink. It would be great for marking exams and essays.
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Mar 26, 2014 15:29
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Brightman posted:If you get it on yourself it'll wash off, it needs to come in contact with certain things (paper, cotton, etc.) to become permanent. Unless by getting it on yourself you meant your shirt or whatever, then yeah, that'd suck. According to the spreadsheet, Black Eel is bulletproof but the other Eels aren't.
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Mar 26, 2014 16:31
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Nebraska Tim posted:Never! Wouldn't using the gloves and the syringe together make you feel like more of a mad scientist?  I get ink on my fingers no matter what. It seems like there's always a little bit of ink on the bottom of the nib of my Pilot Metro, and that's where my fingers rest when I'm writing with it.
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Apr 5, 2014 00:58
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I've been using Borealis Black for a month or so now. The nib crip wasn't nearly as bad as HoD, in my experience. I'll keep using it just for how fast it dries. It's also blacker than the other inks I tried, and I like my black inks as dark as possible.
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Apr 7, 2014 16:59
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I'm having a slight problem with my pen. I'm using a Pilot Metro with Noodler's Borealis Black. There's always a small ring of ink where the grip flares out to meet the feed. I always end up with ink all over my fingers, which is getting a little annoying. It looks like there's a small seam between the grip and the piece of plastic that holds the feed/nib. Other goons here have complained about Borealis Black being really leaky, but it's never really bothered me otherwise. Has anyone had a similar problem? Should I try a different ink? Or could it be a problem with the pen?Edmond Dantes posted:I cleaned it and refilled it with Heart of Darkness. I could have sworn I remembered it being blacker than it is. Maybe I had a bit of leftover water in the feed or maybe it looks lighter when using it with a wide nib, it looks darker on the preppy I have it in. I've always found HoD to be somewhat gray, if not brown  A lot of people say it's super dark, but to me it looks a bit lighter than Aurora Black/Borealis Black or Noodler's Black.
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Apr 16, 2014 15:11
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Verdugo posted:Are you using cartridges, or eyedrop fill? The metro is not designed to be eyedrop filled. I'm using a cartridge, which I just refill when the ink runs low. Edit: I just finished cleaning it out (and covered my hands in ink in the process, yay) and there was a lot of ink in the cap. I'm not sure if the ink on pen came from the cap or vice versa. Solumin fucked around with this message at 21:50 on Apr 17, 2014 |
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Apr 17, 2014 15:27
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Bertrand Hustle posted:Examine it real closely for a hairline crack in the cap. I'm happy with my Pilot Metro, but I want a fine nib, too. I think I'm going to save up for a 580, since I've seen a lot of good reviews in this thread. I'm also looking for a good blue ink. I saw blue ballpoint that looked really nice, so I thought a blue ink would be cool too I like really bold colors--a nice, strong and vibrant blue. Noodler's Baystate Blue looks close to what I want, but I've heard bad things about that ink. Any recommendations? Bulletproof isn't necessary, but quick dry time (on cheaper paper) and low feathering would be great.
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May 5, 2014 03:52
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cobalt impurity posted:You can now get a Metropolitan with an F nib too! I saw the F Metros, and I was going to ask if anyone had tried them. But then I figured that trying new pens would be fun! Éclat de Saphir looks very nice! That one's going on my short list for sure. What about Noodler's Liberty's Elysium? It's a lovely color and seems fairly well behaved. ...this is how the addiction begins, isn't it 
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May 5, 2014 04:12
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Thanks for the ink tips! 54th Mass is a little too grey for my liking. The other ones look great. Guess I'll have to order some ink samples soon!  dexefiend posted:This is really the root of all evil. Tiananmen is an incredible color. If I need a red ink, I know what I'll pick up.
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May 5, 2014 17:13
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SnakesRevenge posted:So I've got like a billion ink samples and I've been thinking of compiling a list of inks that don't stain/stick and are good for demonstrators. Would anyone here be interested in that when I get into gear and get it put together? Yes! I feel like a lot of people in this thread use demonstrators as it is.
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May 10, 2014 22:20
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PRADA SLUT posted:I thought Aurora Black was nonpermanent I've heard that it's water resistant once fully dry. Noodler's Borealis Black is like Aurora Black, except darker and not as well-behaved. I like it though
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May 12, 2014 19:41
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^^ I'm tempted to get one of those now. I have the Medium but I think I want a finer line. It's either the Metro or save up for a TWSBI 580. Does anyone have good resources for working on handwriting? A link to Italic handwriting was posted a bit ago, but I'm looking for other styles/types and other good resources.
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May 18, 2014 20:40
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rio posted:For general improvement and technique, Mills Modern Business Penmanship is great. It is found on the IAMPETH website but it looks like the site is down so just google it. It looks like they up their set really poorly -- it's trying to redirect to localhost!
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May 18, 2014 23:18
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EagerSleeper posted:At the very least, it's good that it was still in his pocket as opposed to lost somewhere outside. This happened to me after a while. My solution was a good cleaning, including inside the cap. As far as I can tell, some ink gets smeared inside the cap and leaks onto the grip. Simply flushing the cap will fix it.
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May 26, 2014 19:07
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uXs posted:Amount of leakage depends on the type of pen too. I have a Waterman Carène that's horrible for this, and another that I can't quite remember the name of (was it a Lamy? I think it's a Lamy), that has basically no leakage at all. I figured it depended on the pen  I only mentioned what worked for me since EagerSleeper was also having problems with a Pilot Metro.blowfish posted:By the way: pen makers follow a really different approach regarding ink inside the cap. Since most people now mainly use cartridge pens (which are less likely to drip ink when dropped/shaken, or so you'd hope) and/or tend to leave pens lying around for weeks unused, most pens are made with relatively tightly sealing caps to prevent the nib from drying out. Any dripped ink can keep accumulating until it starts smudging the pen. A few pen makers keep making less-tight caps, often with holes under the clip to allow air exchange, which will let any dripped ink dry out quickly. As long as you use your pen at least once every couple of days it's fine, but people leaving them longer than that is the reason Parker Duofold Centennials/Internationals (the current ones may or may not still have the cap hole - I haven't checked), Parker Sonnets and a few other pens have acquired a reputation of being hard to start. This is really interesting! I'm new to fountain pens, so this is all new info for me.
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May 27, 2014 18:27
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powderific posted:I'd rather have a TWSBI something or other for that price range. TWSBI Diamond 580 is right in the price range, at least on Goulet.
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Jun 1, 2014 17:44
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dino. posted:I've used the platinum preppy (in purple) and loved the ink color that it has. It's that bright purple that you see in preteen girls' diaries and love notes. Anyone have any ideas as to what ink will get close to that shade? Pilot Metropolitan. Platinum makes their own ink. They have one bottled purple, Silky Purple. Is that the color? They also sell Platinum Purple cartridges, which might be the actual ink that came with the pen.
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Jun 17, 2014 02:41
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My handwriting is cramped as it is, so I find F/EF nibs (or non-Western M nibs, like the Pilot Metropolitan) work well for me. A Broad nib would probably make my handwriting unreadable.
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Jun 26, 2014 14:22
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Everything Burrito posted:My preference with the Metro is using a refilled ink cartridge. I got a box of them with one of my 78Gs and they're easy to rinse out and refill with a syringe. Per the video on that page, a cartridge holds as much as the squeeze converter that comes with the pen but you can actually see your ink and aren't shooting whatever filth that's inside that bladder back into your ink every time you fill it. I do this too. The Metro comes with a cartridge, so I just washed that out and refilled it. I use the eyedropper that comes with the large Noodler's Ink bottles, but a syringe is probably easier.
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Jul 4, 2014 19:23
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EnsGDT posted:Any of you guys have any luck with the refillable highlighters? I do a lot of highlighting at work and it seems a wiser choice than constantly buying Staples highlighters. You might want to check out brush pens, which I've seen used with highlighter inks. Noodler's Konrad brush pens use a piston-fill mechanism. The problem with them is that you have to buy replacement brushes/felt tips. It'll probably be cheaper than constantly buying normal highlighters though.
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Jul 27, 2014 02:22
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I'm thinking of getting another pen, something with a finer nib and more ink capacity (or an easier refill mechanism) than the Metro. I've seen the TWSBI Diamond 580 and Vac700 lauded in this thread several times, and they seem to be just what I'm looking for. They're in the same price range ($70 vs $65). Which one should I get?
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Aug 5, 2014 19:27
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Soricidus posted:I think the 580 should only be $50 unless you're looking at the fancy one with gold trim.  You're right, the 580 is only $50. That makes the decision a little easier. Thanks!
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Aug 5, 2014 22:56
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On a related note, would a collection of handwriting resources be helpful for the OP? It comes up every now and again in this thread, and there's definitely a connection in people's minds between "fountain pens" and "super neat and interesting handwriting". I know I'm not the only one who would like to neaten up their handwriting.
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Aug 19, 2014 05:42
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Julet Esqu posted:I thought about getting a Pilot Parallel because I normally use an F or EF nib, and I'd like to see how some of my inks shade. Then I saw this video on Goulet and realized that I have no choice but to one day buy two Parallels, and that neither of them will ever see anything but Pilot Parallel inks. That's really neat! It would be really awesome for calligraphy, I guess. Not worth picking up a couple extra pens for me though. Anyone have experience with De Atramentis inks? They've released a "Document" series that is waterproof and permanent. Seems to me they'd make a good alternative to Noodler's bulletproof inks. Now I'm wondering how many permanent/waterproof inks I've missed on the Goulet site, since the "bulletproof" and "eternal" categories contain only Noodler's inks.
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Aug 20, 2014 19:51
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