Fountain pens?

Lefty and fountain pen lover here.

Can't go wrong with Lamy for an everyday fountain pen, although if you don't mind a fine nib (I find them too scratchy) then some of the Japanese stuff is brilliant.

My handwriting is still atrocious though...

Yes, for all notes and scrawlings. Daily pen is a Cross Townsend, but I have several vintage ones as well, Conway Stewart, Parker and Pelikan among others.

It certainly helps with handwriting, but it's important to get a pen/nib that works with your writing style. Ink and paper combination can change the way it dries, as well as how smooth it is in use.

FWIW, I use Cross blue/black ink on whatever ring bound notebook is to hand without issue, as well as in my sadly dwindling stock of Moleskine notebooks (Ex employer changed logo, leaving boxes of them going spare! Most useful)

Despite my shocking handwriting (even in block capitals) I recently started using a fountain pen again. I find it very therapeutic and much nicer to write with than a ballpoint or gel pen.

I got one of the TWSBI Ecos which seemed nice and don't use cartridges (less plastic waster, hurray) and can use it as an excuse to buy some outrageous coloured ink, which dries pretty fast (non-glittery ink is even faster). Can't speak for lefties, but it's a million miles away from the pens I used at school which were generally messy even for me as a right hander.

The Lamy Safaris are highly rated and you can get a converter to use bottled ink rather than cartridges too.

Yep lefty and fountain pen user here too.
I have lamy too, can't use them for official docs but when I am making notes or writing drafts they are lovely

I teach and have used a Lamy pen for years, the students love it; teaching art we write lots of notes and feedback. Some staff use computers and cut and paste generic crap.

I use different coloured ink, red at the moment and its great when the new colour mixes with what's in the nib.

Moleskines, thats another thread, always one on the go and I had an exhibition where I photocopied each page and hung them up; link below

http://schambers.co.uk/sketchbooks

http://schambers.co.uk/shows-and-exhibitions

FWIW, I use Cross blue/black ink on whatever ring bound notebook is to hand without issue, as well as in my sadly dwindling stock of Moleskine notebooks

Do you not have trouble with fountain pen ink bleeding through with moleskins? I gave up on fountain pens in my diary for that reason (although my handwriting is such a catastrophe I now use propelling pencils for everything anyway)

Got a Lamy for Christmas.
Its great for writing cards (I was making my own Christmas and now birthday cards).

Its environmentally good and one can change the ink colours.

Welcome home Flashy x

I have a Schneider iD fountain pen for everyday use. I like that is quite chunky. although my writing is still crap, it's nice to use.

I got a Namisu Ixion via their Kickstarter campaign. They're awful to deal with but make a very nice pen. I use Kaweco Purple ink in that one. It's lovely. Bock nibs are a fine thing indeed!

Do you not have trouble with fountain pen ink bleeding through with moleskins?

I use the sketchbook version,which has really good paper and takes a good kicking; I know what you mean though.

Looky here:

https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/posh-stationery-thread/

This thread has cost me £17.99!
Ive just ordered a Wordsworth & Black gift set.

I love using fountain pens. I have a Cross Townsend and a Mont Blanc cantrememberthemodel, both of which are over 25 years old and still going strong.
My handwriting is pretty bad but using a fountain pen makes me slow down and that makes it a bit more readable.

I use a fountain pen every day - a Graf von Faber Castell with Diamine ink (made just near Aintree in Liverpool). Kaweco sport pens are inexpensive and write nicely and pack down small. I used to use Lamy but found they only lasted a year or so before the clips broke and the cap would split.
For notebooks I alternate between Leuchtturm1917 and Rhodia always on gridded or dotted pages. Neither of these bleed as I use both sides of every page 😉

I have a couple of Lamy Accents in extra fine and a Lamy Dialog, which work for me as a leftie ( a quick drying ink and a fine nib are a good idea ). For Christmas I got a Pilot Capless fine, in matt black, which is lovely. That has lead me down the rabbit hole of buying both a Pilot Myu and Pilot Murex from Japan, which are even more lovely:

https://www.stutler.cc/pens/murex/index.html

There is a wealth of information on Youtube from an American retailer - Goulet Pens, and I am luckly, for ink supplies to be close ot Akkerman in The Hague, who do the most fantastic ink bottles:

https://www.vulpennen.nl/en/akkerman/p-1a/

In the UK Cultpens are very good indeed for breadth of stock and customer service:

https://www.cultpens.com/

I use fountain pens daily

I've got a Montblanc which was given to me by my work but as a daily affordable pen I use an amber Conklin Duragraph which was £40 when I got it and has a nice finish for the price

This is a Good shop to order from The Writing Desk

As mentioned above Diamine is great ink and made in blighty

I always use a fine nib which cuts down on ink bleed

Pfft, look at you using new fangled modern gadgetry. Quills are where it’s at.

A lamy whealding Lamy here too. A really a fancy Kaweco Steel Sport Fountain Pen at some point.

I'm an extra broad nib man.

I got a Cross Townsend from my dad for Christmas (I'm a teacher) and use it every day.

Handwriting was good but has improved! Really want some shimmery ink as linked up there now though...

With fountain pens I found that you have to be careful what paper you use.
the 90gsm stuff is ok but on a medium nib you get really wide lines.
I bought some lovely 120gsm stuff though and it feels amazing to write on. With fine or med nibs

Lamy user here too, used them for years.  Still fancy a Rotring 600 fountain pen, if I can find one for less than the price of a functioning kidney

I started using one on a whim about 9 years ago. Nowadays I wouldn't be without one, but I have to make a point of setting time aside to write.

I have only ever used Lamys. My first one was a lovely metal one but the catch on the lid gradually wore away until it no longer stayed in place. Built in obsolescence? Anyway it was a sad day when I had to replace it. I stick to the studio now.

I love my lamy accent, the ring of wood for a grip makes it feel really nice.
this thread has cost me though as I have just ordered some refillable cartridges and ink to get me through the lock down

Rapidly coming to the conclusion that alongside Audi/VW/Skoda and having a gas BBQ that fountain pens are the other STW thing!
I don't have the car, but do have a collection of Lamy pens. The studio is my go to at the moment, but the Lamy 2000 EF fountain pen coupled with a Moleskine hard notebook is the best combo ever.
This thread has also made me look at pens I have not done in a while and I am now looking at the current lamy range with expensive birthday urges.

Imported Diplomat here

Oh, forgot about the rotring 600. I bought one about 25 years ago. Never worked properly. Wonder where I put it.
I quite like the Tombow zoom 101 as well. Although the cap on my previous pen debonded which was disappointing.

I have a fountain pen I use for writing cards and the very occasional letter that I got through a Kickstarter campaign, trouble is I can’t remember who makes it! It’s a lovely pen, though, very smooth and sleek and fairly heavy. It doesn’t have a clip on the lid, though, so it’s really a desk pen.
The rest of the time I use cheap retractable ball pens, or Sharpies, or I have several Tombow pens that use a pump action to enable a Space Pen-like function.

ahhh...wish I hadn't starting reading this. Back in the day I had a Parker tortoise shell (yes I know but it was 1984) - purchased on staff discount from WH Smith as a Saturday lad - and had always wanted a Parker Falcon when I was in school. Damn, I'm going to have to start deciding what to get as I now deffo need one.

Jinhao pens are pretty good for less than a tenner, they usually come with a converter for bottled ink.

Cross Apogee was a real disappointment. Scratchy and frequent blockages despite trying different inks and nibs.

Pilot Capless pens have such a nice nib and are very practical. Good warranty support too.

TWSBI diamond 580 is my current favourite. The barrel is the ink reservoir do it writes for days without refilling, and has a nice nib. Also good warranty support.

Lamy pens always feel a bit stiff to me.

Cheap modern parker pens always fail for me, the lid does not stay on.

I have a kaweco sport. I like the idea of a compact pen. It writes well. The design depends on you posting the lid on to the body. I found the lid is always inky and it transfers to the body and then my hand. I don't use it much any more.

Diamine ink comes in so many colours. However it seems a bit inconsistent and doesn't always flow well. Most bottles are good, the odd one blocks my pens more than usual.

If you want to try a fountain pen without spending much get a Platinum Preppy. They write extremely well, way better than they have any right to at the price. If you like it get something fancier if you want. I’ve got a few and use them all the time. Use refillable adaptors. Often use them in preference to a fancier option. Really like a TWSBI ECO too.

@CountZero - Namisu Orion?

@ElShalamo - could be, I honestly can’t remember. I do love its heft, and the fact it’s so clean and unfussy. It fills with a screw arrangement which I really like, but it can be a bit fussy about the sort of surface it writes on, it can skip a bit on some paper.
I’ll have a bit of a dig around and see if I can go back far enough in my Kickstarter history and find out what it is.
Thanks for the suggestion, I’ll look them up, and see if there’s a connection.
😁

Found it! It’s a Trilogy Zerø, very similar to the Orion, the main difference is the Orion has three circumferential grooves at the nib end. They both use Bock nibs and the Schmidt K5 converter.
https://www.trilogypens.com/zero#new-page

Just a final point, the other difference between the Zerø and the Orion is the latter has slightly conical ends, the Zerø’s are flat, the Zerø can stand on its end if you want!

@CountZero - that's a lovely pen

Thank you, I really don’t use it as much as I’d like, but I have little need to do much writing, I’ve never been one to keep journals or anything like that, which it would be ideal for.
Really glad I’ve got it, if it had been more expensive I’d have passed, but it was only about £50 on the Kickstarter promotion, so irresistible.

Pilot capless, if you can find one get a fermo, they are very nice

Drive a Mazda

[img] [/img]

£17.99 from Amazon.
Lovely feel and weight and writes lovely.
Came with 3 black / 3 blue cart's and a convertor for ink.
I'd call that good value.

Think I'll get me a Lamy. I did have a nice SS pen but as usual, you leave it on a desk and thru go walkies. Bloody nurses/doctors/allied health.

(dud check out a couple of ti pens.... Hnmm)

@derek_starship - is that an Italix pen? I've seen reviews of them on the web

Parker 51

@ElShalimo - no it's by Wordsworth & Black.

A very nice ink, how heavy is the Kaweco ?

Shouldn’t have watched this thread.....

I am old enough to have used fountain pens when I was in school, 1960’s, before biro’s became the standard use.

Spent a bit of time researching, always liked a nice pen.

So have bought a Faber Castell Loom with ink converter.

Looking forward to using an ink pen again.

It’s well worth having a look through jetpens.com fountain pen section, there’s some great looking pens from the likes of Moonman and TWSBI which aren’t stupidly expensive, around the $19-35 mark, there are even cheaper pens than that.
This Pilot starter pen is $12.50:
https://www.jetpens.com/Pilot-Kakuno-Fountain-Pen-Clear-Fine-Nib/pd/21933
This one is the upper end of that price range:
https://www.jetpens.com/TWSBI-ECO-Clear-Fountain-Pen-Medium-Nib/pd/16632
Quite tempted by one of these:
https://www.jetpens.com/TWSBI-GO-Clear-Fountain-Pen-Fine-Nib/pd/27623

I have to admit to having bought a variety of inks, pen converters and a lamy joy calligraphy pen on the back of this thread. There is something about writing with a fountain pen that is lovely and now I can get away with using them for work then why not

I love pens but can't do caligraphy (not tried in >30yrs though)

Can anyone <span style="font-size: 12.8px;">recommend</span><span style="font-size: 0.8rem;"> any good online tutorials ??</span>

Until a month ago, I hadn’t used one since primary school. The “Platignum School Cartridge Pen”.

Now I have a couple of Parker Jotters and Lamy’s for daily scribbling, and a few Moonmans, which write so nicely:

https://www.writershelf.com/article/moonman-c1-simplicity-finely-wrought?locale=en

I like a fountain pen, although I don’t write as much in my current job as I did and I haven’t really used mine for 6+ months now.

I prefer Japanese/Chinese pens over euro pens, the nibs on euro ones don’t tend to be fine enough for me.

I really want a Pilot Vanishing Point I could probably do without a ball point all together then, but the last time I looked they were £135 and I can get a lot of Jalapeño and cheese crisps for that.

I need help.

[img] [/img]

Pretty sure there are 5 or 6 others kicking around that I couldn't find...

Really sad thing is that if we have a mechanical pencil or ballpoint/rollerball thread I could post similar images for those too.

I do try to use them in rotation, but my most used/favourites are these.

[img] [/img]

Ah, the mini Moonman / Wancai, a fantastic pocket pen!

GTDave
Ah, the mini Moonman / Wancai, a fantastic pocket pen!

Totally. Surprisingly good for what they cost.

The TWSBI GO is looking particularly enticing, it’s got a lanyard loop on the cap, which makes it practical for work instead of using a ballpoint, I have two lanyards, one has my work radio on it, the other has my security dongle, a small Spyderco knife for zip ties, and a hacked Sharpie with a split-ring bodged into the clip and the clip taped closed - I’ve lost so many Sharpies out of various pockets, it’s the only way to keep hold of the damn things, so a fountain pen I can carry easily like that is very appealing.
The price is good, too. The transparent one for the win, I can see how much ink’s in it.
https://www.cultpens.com/i/q/TW67727/twsbi-go-spring-loaded-fountain-pen-clear

Had some money refunded from a concert that’s sadly been cancelled, so I’ve just bought one of those TWSBI GO pens. Not much consolation, I was looking forward to the concert, it was an artist I haven’t seen for some years.

Fountains of Wayne?

Fontaines DC?

Sorry, I'll get my coat....

Anyone try a Noodler's flex nib? I've been hankering after a flex nib but I keep reading that the pens themselves actually stink due to the production process.

A very nice ink, how heavy is the Kaweco ?

VERY 🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘

This is my grail:

https://www.iguanasell.co.uk/products/nakaya-cigar-portable-fountain-pen-decapod-tw-toki-tamenuri

Off the back of this I've bought some ink for my fountain pens. Lock down seems a good time to start writing a diary again!

Any chance of some help?

I inherited my granddads gold parker pen 20 years ago but have never been able to use it.

The nib was bent by my cousin- thanks cuz- when we were kids. Last time I had a look at it the reservoir has perished and is now cracking up.

So I guess what I really need is a donor pen?

Cheers for any help 🙂

Parker 65 Consort Insignia?

https://www.penworkshop.co.uk/parker-65-consort-insignia-r/gold-1975.html

Awesome Thanks!

Is there any modern guts I can put in? Or should i jut buy an old one off ebay and replace the whole interior?

I'm lusting after Charlie Luxton's Pilot pencil..

@tall_martin - a new converter for a Parker pen should be no problem:

Parker piston converter

EDIT: actually, given that the penworkshop in the link above service pens, I'd get in touch and see what they can suggest.

Pencils?
Worther Shorty Lead Holder does it for me:

@ElShalamo - 🤣
Sorry, none of those. It was Cara Dillon, Irish singer/songwriter, lives in Frome, it’s been nine, ten years I guess since I last saw her play, and she was going to play in my home town. Sadly now cancelled, hope she might get rebooked some time in the future.
Maybe I can write her a letter with my new pen! 😁

Used to ride with a girl called Cara Dillon in London's many years ago. After work spins around Richmond Park.

Trying to remember if she was the same one!

@CountZero - maybe you could meet up and pen some new songs...

@tall_martin

it might take a bit of hunting as its an old pen, but looks like there is no reason why you can't change the nib, fit a new converter and be good to go.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/123845993403

http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/127387-parker-65-nib-replacement/

These are my two daily pens, a Mont Blanc slimline and a Sheafer Targa.

@cranberry and @mrmo.

Thanks for the links! I'm going to chance an old pen and transfer the guts into mine. They seem to be £40 for a whole pen on ebay.

The thought of trying to take 50 year old plastics to bits and put it back together with specific vintage tools is not a great one.

The converter looks ideal if the donor pen turns up with a broken one.

Cheers
Martin

I've found out what pencil Charlie Luxton uses... Pilot Dr Grip Full Black.

Check out the ergonomics.... ooh err!

maybe you could meet up and pen some new songs…

She’s a superb songwriter, her husband’s no slouch; I, on the other hand, don’t even have the songwriting skilz of a current Radio 1 playlister.
Some goes for playing an instrument - I’d rather let the professionals do a proper job of it.
Oh, my pen arrived this morning, it’s a lovely little thing, only had a quick scribble with it, but it seems smooth enough, and filling it’s so easy.

👍

Well couldn't decide between the TWSBI Eco and a Lamy Safari. Thought I'd order both. Problem is, mail services are screwed here atm and we've had no post for a week (but Aus Post say everything is fine).

I've got a few bits n bobs ordered that I'm waiting for and there's no local suppliers in Perth that have these pens so will just hang on until things have settled a bit, as for how long that will be, who knows?

Well I took the risk and it's being posted to work... Liked the colour. Medium nib.

Aphex, that should have the same nib as mine, and it’s really nice to write with, very smooth with no skipping, at least on the notepad paper I was making some reminders notes of new albums I want to get - certainly smoother than most ball pens, less pressure needed on the paper.

Those TWSBIs are cool, just watch the join between the main barrel and the feed section. Seems to be an interference fit and not happy with being interfered with, even accidentally...

Said the priest....

I'll keep any eye on it.

As far as ink goes, I've got a full bottle of Parker quink. Needs to be black and quick drying so my stupid left hand doesn't smudge it. Any rec's?

Moleskines, thats another thread, always one on the go and I had an exhibition where I photocopied each page and hung them up; link below

Those are brilliant - are they ordinary Moleskine books? (EDIT - I realise that sounds a bit like "those are nice photos; what camera do you use?" 🙂 )

I bought a bunch of Moleskine noteboks when I fancied myself as the next Bruce Chatwin but I never found anything profound enough to write in them.

Now I am using mostly Leuchtterm dotted books. Still nothing profound.

I’ve found out what pencil Charlie Luxton uses… Pilot Dr Grip Full Black.

Check out the ergonomics…. ooh err!

I have a few Dr Grip ballpoints and they are nice but the rubber bit goes sticky - seems to be a common problem with a certain type of rubber.

In the mid 90s I found something very similar to the Dr Grip pencil on the street outside Manchester Uni main building.

It was fantastic but the rubber did go a bit sticky. It fell apart years later but it was a great pencil. I've been looking for another since then.