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rio posted:How do you all decide what pen to use when you have several to many? I have 10, which I know is less than a lot of you guys, but I have to keep them all inked because I can never decide which to use. Do you go in rotations or something? I have two rotation of pens, daily writer pens and fancy pens. Basically one set consists of pens I'll leave at work while they're inked and if they were pilfered it wouldn't be such a big deal to replace them, although currently it's the Vac 700 which is like 70~80 bucks, but the current fancy pen is the Lamy 2000 which is like 150~175 depending. The fancy pen I use at home and sometimes I bring it to work in my shirt pocket where it remains until I need to take notes. Next up for the fancy pen is probably my VP, the daily writer...I dunno, maybe the Monteverde Black Tie or the 530, I don't think either of those have been inked recently. I don't have a planned rotation, I just ink up whatever I can't remember using recently.
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Feb 19, 2015 16:15
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cobalt impurity posted:
I think I need this cheeky-rear end nib. Having a slightly hard time finding one that is for sure winking though...guess I could swap it into my metro too and just get the white and pink capped one on Amazon... Edit: I just realized how  this could end up looking if you had nib creep happening with a dark red ink.
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Mar 12, 2015 18:32
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pienipple posted:All the "soft" pens have the winking nib, so you're fine getting any of the pastel option from Amazon or Jet Pens. Okay, guess it's a nib swap for this then (not a fan of pastels). Now, what's the bloodiest looking ink?
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Mar 12, 2015 19:24
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GoodBee posted:But if I get the F and M Metros, should I still get the Ahab? And the Safari with a fat italic nib? Is that too many pens? Many of us have like a dozen or more pens (I don't know how many I have for certain...15?) so we're poor judges of "too many pens". I'd call that a good start though. You mentioned blue ink earlier and usually the "winner" is Noodler's Baystate Blue, but the ink doesn't play well with a lot of pens, so if you get it you basically have to "sacrifice" a pen to it and hope it doesn't eat away the feed. I'm partial to the Iroshizuku blues Asa-Gao and Kon-Peki, which is more of a cerulean, myself.
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Apr 3, 2015 15:55
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cobalt impurity posted:Holy poo poo do not go recommending Baystate Blue to pen newbies. It's a beast of an ink that's particularly hard to wash out of things and it tends to destroy some pen feeds, in particular Pilot or Lamy I think. Hey I think I gave proper warning and mentioned that it eats feeds. I guess I forgot to mention it would stain anything it touches, but yeah, you pretty much have to just take a pen and sacrifice it to BSB. It's just that it is considered the blue by a lot of people; personally I don't own it because of its volatile nature.
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Apr 3, 2015 20:47
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I feel like when someone mentions they're a student, recommending a 100~200 dollar pen or even 50~80 dollar ones isn't exactly prudent. Granted if Rolled Cabbage isn't the typical poor student, then those are good recommendations, I'd probably recommend the Vac 700 due to capacity and features. Now, if you are the typical student, who's just looking for a good writer with a high capacity, then maybe a Platinum Preppy Eyedropper pen is in order. Really cheap, writes well (at least in my experience), and the capacity of an eyedropper pen is super hard to beat. I'm bored so here's the pen, instructions for modding it, and the materials needed for the mod for anyone interested in making an eyedropper pen (this item is optional but recommended). Or if you're lazy I think this still comes free with a bottle of Heart of Darkness (edit: nvm, HoD now comes with a free Noodler Charlie eyedropper pen). Brightman fucked around with this message at 15:21 on Apr 9, 2015 |
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Apr 9, 2015 15:19
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Mr. Despair posted:The newer preppies (the ones with EF nibs) have really poo poo plastic in my experience. Tons of cracks on the lid, within a month or so the one that was actually getting used couldn't even keep the cap on. Good nibs and easy to eyedrop though, but I probably won't be getting one again. Yeah, this is true, but you're only out like 4 bucks and also you can just wrap the cap with scotch tape to fix that problem. It's what I did, haven't had a problem since. The pen is just what you want for a cheap, quick solution to: writes well and has a large capacity. Everything Burrito posted:The Pilot 78G and older versions of the Sheaffer No Nonsense are also easy eyedropper conversions and quality-wise are a step up from a Preppy. Both can be found on eBay for under $15. Stepping it up to these would probably be a better idea, but I have no experience with either of them myself. Magnus Praeda posted:Lamy Safari in M? Inexpensive and lightweight. Ink capacity isn't fantastic with a converter, but a refilled cartridge should last through three hours of essay writing. Or just use the Lamy blue or black cartridges. Maybe not exciting, but very well behaved and professional. That's also got the benefit of being able to refill by just swapping in a new cart. Well if you're going the route of just switching cartridges then the solution is in the thread title 
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Apr 9, 2015 19:55
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Magnus Praeda posted:I love my Metros but they're heavier than the Safari and they're largely metal, so depending on where/how she grips it, it may be more palm-sweat-inducing. They are "juicy" for sure, especially in M. Yeah, I was thinking of the Fine, it seems well behaved. Also the grips are plastic, but I did forget that stipulation.
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Apr 9, 2015 21:27
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tater_salad posted:Thanks for the replies.. will toss a medium metro on my list for next time I go shopping around. 20 minute drying time is garbage, or more likely some crazy calligraphy ink used for making your own master calligraphy certificate....dammit, I know this is a thing but for the life of me I can't find any examples at the moment. Anyway the thread's covered your inquiries: thinner is better for drying times, and maybe find an ink that specifies that it dries quickly if it's a major problem. I think most of the stuff I have dries in like 3~5 seconds on fancy paper. Also I use Staples notepads at work all the time...or Office Max, whatever. You should be fine.
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Apr 24, 2015 14:58
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Edmond Dantes posted:Well, I finally got reunited with my Pilot Falcon from the massdrop last year (I sent it to a friend in NY and I only went there last mont), and hooooooooly gently caress it's amazing. I don't have 20 pens like some of you guys, but it's the smoothest writer I have by a long shot; the flex is not as pronounced as I would have hoped, which I knew going in, but I don't care, this thing is a loving joy to write with. Just use printer paper, you can find music templates to print out the staff. Like print off one page and see how that goes, then get heavier paper if you need it or whatever. I haven't had any issues with my 1.5 lamy writing on just regular printer paper though ymmv.
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May 1, 2015 14:41
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Was helping a friend pick out a pen online (got a Metro, of course) and saw that there's new Metro designs coming out in November. Pilot Metropolitian Retro Pop Sorta want like half of those...
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Aug 6, 2015 20:41
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A friend sent me this because they know I like fountain pens, so I guess I'm doing the same: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=459X2m5yIAY Honestly don't know wtf, but I at least find the video to be both interesting for the pen production bits and sorta funny for the rest of it coupled with the serious tone. Mecca-Benghazi posted:I'm going to get a second fountain pen guys. A solid move, I think I'd recommend the Safari, but it's a matter of preference between plastic and aluminum. Maybe consider an italic nib to spice it up, like a 1.1 maybe. You can compare nibs on Goulet's site here. Select your Pilot Metro nib and the Lamy nibs and you can see how they'll compare. The nib nook is seriously one of the best tools online imo. Actually I'm already there, so:  Looks like an Lamy EF might be necessary, but it's stupidly close, and the Lamy EFs might be scratchy, no idea though. I don't have a Lamy F nib on me or I'd check, have a Lamy 2k but I think it's M...and at work. Italic is thicker than I thought, but if you, or anyone else, likes that style then that's something to consider. Meldonox posted:Depends on how fancy you want to get I guess. I've got a Metro, Safari, Al Star, 580, and Falcon. The Safari and 580 are far and away the two that see the most use. TWSBI catches a lot of flak here (and rightly so) but when their poo poo isn't breaking it's really nice. Definitely the workhorse of my collection. Well I guess you could get a pen that costs a few hundred like a Sailor or one of those Pelikans (M800 I think?), Falcon is up there already I think. I like my Sailor 1911 Realo a lot but it's hard to use often outside of my home since it's several hundred and I worry. You could look into various filling methods you're missing like vacuumatics or get a clicky pen like the VP or the Dialog. Maybe some stub/italic nibs if you don't have some. I guess look at things like that, maybe a Lamy 2k which is slowly becoming my favorite pen. So either pricey, classy pens or gimmicky ones. I dunno, you have a pretty solid line up as-is, maybe antique shopping is in order.
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Aug 21, 2015 07:33
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My current one is a Pilot Metro with fine nib and it's been good to me; the nib size is perfect for assignments at school and it's really easy to take care of. I'd like to get a slightly nicer pen with a bit of a wider nib, just to hold another ink and use in my notebooks. At the moment I'm considering a Lamy Safari or Al Star with fine nib (since they seem to run broader than the Pilot nibs?). Is there anything else around that price range that I should look at?
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GoodBee posted:FWIW, I ordered my Safari in XF and picked up a fat italic nib for it also, since I didn't see an option to order it with just the italic nib. The italic was fun but too big to use for work or taking notes. The nibs are easy to swap. Good to hear, wasn't sure about Lamy's XFs, I know I got the Pilot Penmanship but I guess that is a Japanese EF and that thing is scratchy as all get out. I have a Lamy with a 1.5 italic that I've used for work junk before, guessing you got the 1.9 maybe? I know with the 1.5 it can be thick but if I angle it a bit I can cramp up the writing enough to write legibly on notebook paper. blowfish posted:An absolute minimum list You probably need to switch the Sailor and the gold VP, I don't know how much a steel nib VP costs, but I got my 18k gold one for $99 (130 + 2 free bottles of ink) and they typically can be had for $140...now if you get one of the collector's editions like Raden then yeah, that's super pricey, maybe that's what you were thinking of? Sailors are like 250~350 depending, the one I got has an msrp of 400 but I got it for 328, generally you can find any of the pricier pens for like 50 or more off, like the Lamy 2k can be had for 150 instead of 200 more often than not, the steel one is listed at 300 I think...maybe it's listed higher and sells at 300. At any rate the 2K has a great nib and the Makrolon version looks so classic and innocuous, I love it.
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Aug 21, 2015 15:49
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~~~
Pilot 823 or 743/742, especially with FA nib
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Kessel posted:Don't buy the steel 2000. It's slippery and therefore not as good as the Makrolon. Didn't know that, now I don't feel bad about not getting that when it was on Massdrop, granted I love the look of the Makrolon so much there wasn't much regret to begin with. aldantefax posted:I'm just gonna throw this out there that if you want a visually arresting pen that borders on tacky in the "fancy" bracket to consider a pen with Raden inlay like the Vanishing Point Raden. Basically, if you find yourself looking at Nibs.com, you're in the "fancy" bracket, and 'normal' pen vendors for most everything else. I really want one of the other two, but they're like 640 I think and I'm pretty sure the nib is the same as the carbonesque blue one I already have. Also going back to the initial post from Meldonox I think the Pilot Custom 823 might be the best recommendation. It's pricey, a vacuum filler, with a gold nib, and a great reputation. Ya know, unless you hate any of those aspects.
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Aug 21, 2015 16:43
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Massdrop has a new pen up from Porsche Designs. Choice of either a solid titanium pen or solid gold, but no cap or retractable nib, just an aluminum carry case. If it reaches its order goal it'll be almost 55% off MSRP, but this probably won't happen for various reasons.
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Sep 23, 2015 15:18
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Remember those Retro Pop Metros I mentioned a bit ago? Well Massdrop has a drop for two for about 25 bucks shipped. Basically a preorder since they won't ship until mid November, but I figured some people might be interested.
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Oct 26, 2015 21:53
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Keetron posted:Do not forget to argue about it with strangers on the internet. Just look up how many blue-blacks there are and everyone has a different favorite. Would be much simpler if everyone would agree that Sailor blueblack is the best blueblack. While I agree that it looks amazing, Sailor blue-black is a pigmentedl ink and has sediment in it that you have to be wary of when using in a fountain pen. Like if you forget to use the pen for a while or neglect to clean it then it can get clogged. Fake edit: I found out they make a blue-black that is water based now so...gently caress...might need to get me some of that.
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Nov 24, 2015 21:04
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