Pens and Writing Instruments

Bluefoam

The users here are obviously a well educated and well groomed selection of societies finest... So, I was wondering if your interest in timepieces is reflected in other items or collectibles...

For instance, my interest in watches is related to the fact that I enjoy the idea of a gentleman's timepiece; the simplicity & complexity of a mechanical watch; I like design; I like to wear jewelry... but that also reflects in other areas of my life, such as nice shoes etc...

I recently started to use Moleskine notebooks at meetings etc... & now find myself drawn into the world of pens... I usually use disposable uniballs or felt tips, but the fine quality .2mm type. Now I have ordered a Monteblanc M with Artfineliner nib. I'm really looking forward to getting it & enjoy precious/coveted items that I need to take care of...

Anyone else here have an interest in writing instruments?

Homer

Bluefoam wrote: »

The users here are obviously a well educated and well groomed selection of societies finest...

You obviously haven't been to one of the W&T meet ups

Speedwell

I have a few pretty fountain pens. Right now I have a problem with a broken nib on one of them... it has never really worked right, and now I can see that the metal part has literally separated from the rest of the nib. I can only assume it was defective to begin with. Is it worth fixing/can it be fixed?

Bluefoam

Speedwell wrote: »

I have a few pretty fountain pens. Right now I have a problem with a broken nib on one of them... it has never really worked right, and now I can see that the metal part has literally separated from the rest of the nib. I can only assume it was defective to begin with. Is it worth fixing/can it be fixed?

Bring it into the Pen Corner on Dame St. Dublin. They should be able to offer you help.

Speedwell

Bluefoam wrote: »

Bring it into the Pen Corner on Dame St. Dublin. They should be able to offer you help.

Oh, god. OK. When's the next shuttle to Dublin from Outer Planet Sligo? Why does everything have to be in Dublin? (gripe gripe moan)

Jentle Grenade

I came in expecting fountain pens and instead got a Moleskine and a fine liner :P You might find that you'll get a lot of bleed through on Moleskine paper using that particular fine liner.

I'm a lifelong fountain pen user and collector. My main collection is comprised a flock of Pelikans and Indian ebonite hand made fountain pens, with some modern Viscontis and Omas thrown in for good measure. I used to own a MB149 but swapped it for a Pelikan M1005. Nice pen but black resin isn't my thing. Fountain pens are perhaps an even more slippery slope than watches, take care!

Jentle Grenade

Speedwell wrote: »

I have a few pretty fountain pens. Right now I have a problem with a broken nib on one of them... it has never really worked right, and now I can see that the metal part has literally separated from the rest of the nib. I can only assume it was defective to begin with. Is it worth fixing/can it be fixed?

What pen is it? There are some excellent nib workers in the UK that can make nib repairs but if it's a minor misalignment you can repair it easily yourself. Very slight pressure will do the trick. If it was a gold nib I would be sending it away though, unless it was very minor. I have contact details of some nib workers if required. A lot of FP nibs can come misaligned from the factory, sadly.

Bluefoam

Jentle Grenade wrote: »

I came in expecting fountain pens and instead got a Moleskine and a fine liner :P You might find that you'll get a lot of bleed through on Moleskine paper using that particular fine liner.

I'm a lifelong fountain pen user and collector. My main collection is comprised a flock of Pelikans and Indian ebonite hand made fountain pens, with some modern Viscontis and Omas thrown in for good measure. I used to own a MB149 but swapped it for a Pelikan M1005. Nice pen but black resin isn't my thing. Fountain pens are perhaps an even more slippery slope than watches, take care!

TBH, if the Fineliner works out well, I'm already considering a fountain pen to join it... with a converter & a bottle of Irish Green ink + I've a selection of notebooks to check out...

Unfortunately, I get a bit impulsive about this stuff and my brain is about 10 steps ahead of my wallet...

Speedwell

I'm not sure. It was a gift about ten years ago. It's a very little Recife cartridge pen in #B1E3AF colored resin with silver Art-Deco fittings, with small cone-shaped points on each end. (edit: found a picture!) http://thumbnail.image.rakuten.co.jp/@0_mall/akgshop/cabinet/recife/recife_06_m_003.jpg

Bluefoam

Bluefoam wrote: »

...... such as nice shoes etc.............

Anyone else here have an interest in writing instruments?......

I like watches and shoes, I wouldn't drop €600+ on a pair of Churches but less than half that on Barkers would be ok for me.

My current job/career makes nice writing instruments somewhat of a non runner but I'm trying to get another career off the ground over the next 18 months and a nice pen will be selected in due course all going well

I have a Cross ballpoint that I was given for my 21st that doesn't come to work with me.

Great topic.

Jawgap

Yes, I like my watches and my pens - in fact I was more into pens than watches until recently.

In my collection I have 4 Montblanc Starwalkers, 3 complete Cross sets (Townsend fountain, ball point and pencil), a couple of vintage Parker fountain pens, and assorted Rotring, Cross and Waterman pens.

I love using a fountain pen and Moleskine combo for taking notes and I'm a sucker for buying their stationery!! And despite having the ubiquitous smartphone, I still use a battered, leather bound A5 Filofax for diary and project planning

bren2002

Its funny you mention it.

I'm not proud to say my handwriting has always been bad but in recent years it's gotten a lot worse. Personally I blame working solely on a pc even note taking is on iPad. So I decided to try to do something about it and have this week bought a Lamy Safari fountain pen to get started. I've only used it a few times but so far it's going well and it feels like a quality thing. It made me think that I've literally only ever used disposable pens and maybe something decent is worth it.

It's not in the same league as a montblanc but it's the gateway pen. Much like my first second hand watch led to my Omega PO!

http://www.lamy.com/eng/b2c/safari/019_black

Speedwell

bren2002 wrote: »

I'm not proud to say my handwriting has always been bad but in recent years it's gotten a lot worse. Personally I blame working solely on a pc even note taking is on iPad. So I decided to try to do something about it and have this week bought a Lamy Safari fountain pen to get started. I've only used it a few times but so far it's going well and it feels like a quality thing. It made me think that I've literally only ever used disposable pens and maybe something decent is worth it.

It will help. I paid careful attention (in the way an artsy person with Asperger's often will) to my handwriting from the time I could write, and I always had graceful handwriting I was proud of. But when I discovered cheap fountain pens with italic nibs at the age of 12 (in the US, they don't commonly teach kids to use them), my handwriting really took off, and I literally got tired of hearing "wow, your handwriting is so beautiful" and getting yanked aside to fill in school certificates (with MY pens, lol).

No, my handwriting is not copperplate or even that remarkable; I am no longer so careful unless I'm handwriting a letter or an essay, and I use large/small caps on the whiteboard. I'm not sure what exactly about my handwriting, now spidery and tangled, is so appealing to people. But it's the fountain pens that really got me started.

Speedwell

Incidentally I think I have found out what was causing the little Recife to not perform properly. I found on another site that the nib could be disassembled (you cannot do this with all pens, particularly some of the Lamy ones), so I took note of the way it was assembled and took it gently apart, easy to do because it was loose in the pen. There was a lot of gunk in between the steel and the collector. I soaked and flushed the whole thing thoroughly with plain tap water and cleaned in between the fins with the edge of a piece of typing paper, and reassembled it. In the process I discovered that the nib seems to have been been factory assembled "backwards" (rotated 180 degrees from the way it actually wants to fit tightly). It seems to be working quite happily now.

Edit: No, wrote a few lines then died again. Ink is clearly getting to the nib but not to the actual point of the pen (even when I touch it against a piece of kitchen roll).

Bluefoam

My pen (Montblanc M Artfineliner) arrived two days ago & I've since used it for note taking in a couple of meetings and one site meeting... It writes beautifully. There isn't as much feedback as I would like, but that's a personal issue with me & won't effect most. The weight and handling is great, it feels fantastic in hand. Performance on regular Moleskine paper is good... I thought I'd have to change for posher paper, but Moleskine is fine; little bleed or feathering. The nib holds the page enough to help my handwriting and produces nice fine line.

The style is perfect for me. Simple and contemporary, with enough of the traditional cigar shape and Montblanc character, without the usual traditional decoration. The only negative is that the cap doesn't post; I have clipped it onto my shirt while walking site, but that isn't ideal; when it sits on the table at meetings, others seem to see it as a target when putting down samples etc... so I'll have to pay attention to the cap.

I'll probably get a fountain pen to join it eventually.

Jawgap

My 'meetings and signing things pen'

art

Have quite a few pens myself, though a terrible writer but serial doodler so like fine points and nice flowing ink.

Best writing pen I have is a Waterman's Carene which has an amazing fine point for a fountain pen and writes very smoothly without being scratchy. Also looks gorgeous of course. Have some of their roller-balls too which are quite nice, very nice finish specifically though the flow is more average. Most surprising pen has been the Faber-Castell fountain pen, Ondoro - I've the smoked oak version which is not only chunky and impressive in the hand but very smooth writer. Not as fine as the Watermans though but very good. Lamy, in general, have been the biggest disappointment for me, have a few of their fountain pens and roller balls, including two Lamy 2000s; don't think they are worth it at all, finish only average and writing frequently uneven across the range.

My recommendation though would be for all things "Ohto", Japanese pens, the roller balls in particular with the ceramic tip are just brilliant: fine, smooth and precise, very well finished, yet they are available between ten and twenty euros. Check out the Ohto Dude or Liberty pens for example, really excellent pens.

Jentle Grenade

art, if it's a fine nib you're after you won't go wrong with a true Japanese F. You can pick up a Pilot 78G with F nib for less than €20 from eBay if you want to try it out. Not a lover of fine nibs myself but I do have a PO nibbed Pilot 912 and it is the thinnest line I have ever been able to wrangle out of a fine nib, smaller than even a 0.2mm HiTec C! I'm surprised you've found Lamys to be disappointing, they're the only FPs which consistently impress me at the lower end of the scale. I've had a makrolon 2000 for about five years and its the most reliable pen I own.

emo72

ye start off with wanting a nice watch, then you want a nice pen, and then you want a lovely moleskin notebook to use with the pen and then you notice all your money is gone.....

art

art wrote: »

....
My recommendation though would be for all things "Ohto", Japanese pens, the roller balls in particular with the ceramic tip are just brilliant:......

I think I'll get one of these, thank you for the recommendation
I have to do a fair bit of handwriting at work from time to time and the likes of that would make it more pleasant I reckon.

art

Jentle Grenade wrote: »

I'm surprised you've found Lamys to be disappointing, they're the only FPs which consistently impress me at the lower end of the scale. I've had a makrolon 2000 for about five years and its the most reliable pen I own.

I guess after trying Ohto I found them disappointing, at their price point and so on: I think the Lamy 2000 cost me about 70 euros at the time and it really isn't worth it. Had a Lamy Swift though that I actually preferred for some reason to the 2000; the 2000 has those small irritating clip things on the barrel which are, by definition, small and irritating! But neither has been anywhere as good as any of the three different Ohkos I've had (and still have for that matter )

art

Augeo wrote: »

I think I'll get one of these, thank you for the recommendation
I have to do a fair bit of handwriting at work from time to time and the likes of that would make it more pleasant I reckon.

There's three I've had: if you want a really thin, elegant barrel go for the "fine slim", the Liberty is a much wider round barrel and the Dude is hexagonal but with a nice rubbery pen holder section - the latter I think is probably the most comfortable overall but all three were great, very smooth, fine writers, don't think you'll go wrong and certainly great value.

Deep Thought

This is my daily..

Karas Kustoms EDK

emo72

has a touch of 1950s soviet missile era about it.^^^

Wibbs

Emo, you say that like it's a bad thing.

art

If you're okay with dealing with Massdrop, twin pack of very nice Ohto roller balls there now:
https://www.massdrop.com/buy/ohto-dude-rollerball

art

art wrote: »

If you're okay with dealing with Massdrop, twin pack of very nice Ohto roller balls there now:
https://www.massdrop.com/buy/ohto-dude-rollerball

Top class, never got around to buying these and I was at work during the week in my Barker shoes and Longines watch looking at a Bic pen thinking this just isn't right :pac:

(I had clothes on as well as the shoes)

finooola

I started using a Sheaffer fountain pen for writing letters a few months ago. It was a gift that had lain idle in my desk for a few years. At first I found the line it produced a bit thick looking, but the smoothness of writing with it has converted me. I have come to like the heavier line too. I wouldn't be without that pen now and will probably purchase a few more fountain pens when I get the chance.

Deep Thought

finooola wrote: »

I started using a Sheaffer fountain pen for writing letters a few months ago. It was a gift that had lain idle in my desk for a few years. At first I found the line it produced a bit thick looking, but the smoothness of writing with it has converted me. I have come to like the heavier line too. I wouldn't be without that pen now and will probably purchase a few more fountain pens when I get the chance.

do you use in or cartridges ? could never properly fill one of those things wit ink

finooola

Deep Thought wrote: »

do you use in or cartridges ? could never properly fill one of those things wit ink

It takes cartridges, thankfully. I wouldn't fancy having to hand fill a pen (however that works).

I used to use dip pens as well, years ago, for drawing. That's a messy business. I love all the different nibs though.

art

I use ink in my fountain pens, do prefer it but might be just for nobbish reasons.

Not sure what the issue might be here unless you're trying to fill with the nib still on? Otherwise it's just a matter of dipping the ink converter into the ink bottle and, depending on the mechanism, screwing etc to extract ink.

Stheno

I've a fairly eclectic collection of fountain pens, most of which are scattered around the house, and I go through phases of having a favourite pen.

When I can I use a converter to fill the ink rather than cartridges.

Jentle Grenade

Filling the pen/converter with ink is really straightforward, unless you're filling out of one of those blasted 30ml Diamine plastic bottles. My ink fetish is almost as bad as the pen fetish.

Stheno

Jentle Grenade wrote: »

Filling the pen/converter with ink is really straightforward, unless you're filling out of one of those blasted 30ml Diamine plastic bottles. My ink fetish is almost as bad as the pen fetish.

I have an ink fetish too, nice deep bottles with a wide head on them.

None of your finicky fancy bottles thanks.

Jentle Grenade

Stheno wrote: »

I have an ink fetish too, nice deep bottles with a wide head on them.

None of your finicky fancy bottles thanks.

Sailor's bottles are the best (imo) followed by the Pilot regular line bottles.

Stheno

Jentle Grenade wrote: »

Sailor's bottles are the best (imo) followed by the Pilot regular line bottles.

Ah stop you'll just get me started on another spree.

firestarter51

zzzzzzzzzz cartier pen for me

Jawgap

Few more from the collection......

Titanium barrels with gold furnishings......my second favourite set after the MBs but a bit heavy in the hand......



Nice detailing on the nib.....



Cross Matrix pen from when PDAs needed styluses!! Modular design, the main barrel accepts the different modules including the PDA stylus, which reverses to reveal a fountain pen nib (fed by cartridges) - the fountain pen element can be swapped out for a fine liner rollerball cartridge or the highlighter. At the other end is a twisting barrel containing red and blue ball point pens.......

TedR

art wrote: »

If you're okay with dealing with Massdrop, twin pack of very nice Ohto roller balls there now:
https://www.massdrop.com/buy/ohto-dude-rollerball

without hijacking thread.. whats the drawbacks if any with Massdrop? I just registered on the back of this thread, it seems like a good idea. I didnt know what it was before.
Customs charges i guess at the least?

And damn this thread, I think I have a pen thing that I hadnt been aware of, I went to Pen Corner Dame St for a look, ended up buying a Faber Castell Ondoro fineliner :-), starting to prowl selling sites for MBs...

adox

I'd be really interested in rollerball recommendations as an introduction. Use disposable pens a lot in work and always wanted something a bit nicer and more permanent. Dot think I'm ready for a fountain pen yet.

TedR

adox wrote: »

I'd be really interested in rollerball recommendations as an introduction. Use disposable pens a lot in work and always wanted something a bit nicer and more permanent. Dot think I'm ready for a fountain pen yet.

If its any use, I was similar situation, I always used Faber Castell disposables, and off the back of this thread I bought their Ondoro model, (non fountain pen model).
Its pretty chunky, hex shape, but I am really liking it.
I have it with fineliner insert, but I know it takes rollerball inserts too, so that might suit you. The people in the pen shop Dame St were really great to deal with, if I was buying a decent pen thats where I would go. They were very informative and decent on price when I was test driving some of their Mont Blancs ( Have no connection to the shop by the way)

adox

Ended up ordering a Ohto Dude rollerball in black.

art

The Massdrop thing; I've ordered a few times and not had a customs charge but yes, the possibility is there. Think the dude pens are too non-expensive (cheap has too negative a connotation!!) to warrant worrying about. The other thing is there can be a wait time as the orders get collated, then submitted, received by Massdrop, then sent etc... So impatience can be a frustration!

TedR

I bought one of the Ohto Dude rollerball ceramics to try out from Amazon, have it a few days
I find it a little scratchy, its a 0.5 refill in it... did I just get a ropy one, or does that settle down in people's experience?

art

Don't remember any of them being scratchy, the ceramic ball should be very smooth. Sounds defective on the face of it.

TedR

Mm. Thanks, yeah going by the various recommendations I think maybe I got a slightly dodgy one, maybe it will settle down with some use.