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Fountain pen - recommendations

Cid said:
Aye, forgot to confirm my 'raise bid'... :facepalm:

More coming up though by the looks of it, and tbh I probably shouldn't be buying more pens.
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Esterbrook / new old stock being listed again: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Old-S...117?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ab4fc995d

Currently running at $20 with 10hrs to go.

Nibs look a bit confused - listed as having a manifold (?) 9461 nib, but the details state a flexible 9048... (Same as previous one).

e2a: that's also the absolute spitting image of the Esterbrook J that went a day or two ago. Right down to a small hole in the cap below the... whatchamacallit. Metal sticky-out bit. Pocket clip? Nah.

e2a2: just received a message... Sorry about that, it is a 9461 manifold: I will offer to cancel the sale if the buyer is confused by this. EBay wont let me change it on the day when everyone is looking

Not a flexible nib, then.
 
FridgeMagnet said:
A bit of both really - I have no idea where to get one, but if I pulled my finger out I could probably manage it.

Probably quite pricey as well of course.
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nibs.com do quite a line in nibs :hmm: Can't see them listed separately, but I'd be amazed if they couldn't ship them.

Andy's Pens and the Writing Desk might also offer a decent chance; the Writing Desk were stonking with my Paloltine Purplol (aka mauve / blueberry) Saporro. Weren't meant to supply it with an EF nib (Sailor only like those going out with black models, apparently) but offered it anyway.

And eBay - in the US, in particular - seems to do quite a line in separate Sailor nibs. If a full / new Sapporo went for $63, and a Nagihara (or Naginata?) Emperor Cross 1911 went for $260 (both in the last week) I'd be kinda surprised if the nibs that came up didn't go pretty cheaply, too.
 
mrs quoad said:
Oh :( What happened to it?

A Nagahara Emperor Cross nib went on US eBay for something like $200 the other day. You could replace it with one of those :D

e2a: missed this...


Couscous is exclusively my domain. I have couscous with flavoursome fruit, vegetables, herbs, spices and proteins in it; Artichoke has boiled pasta with cheese :D

tbf, there's talk of a breeding programme at some point in the relatively immediate (coupla years, tops), so wealth conservation is meant to be relatively near the top of our list. Really nice pens excepted.

e2a2: unless I get a fucking awesome book published and make several million, or something. I'd need to write it first, though. Which is probably why I need the pens.
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The sound of one hand washing the other. :D
 
Oh, man.

It's just struck me that - although the tracking details've been listed as 'San Francisco' (IIRC, somewhere American anyhows) e2a: Los Angeles for the last 3 days, they've also listed the parcel as 'sorting office - sorted.' Or something along those lines.

It'd be a bit of a stinker if a customs form dropped through the post today, declaring full price and taxes, when I'm inevitably going to be asleep all morning :D
 
mrs quoad said:
Oh, man.<snip>It'd be a bit of a stinker if a customs form dropped through the post today, declaring full price and taxes, when I'm inevitably going to be asleep all morning :D
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You 24 carat plonker! :D
 
Got a couple of new pens this week. A beautiful '50s plunger-filler Sheaffer with a lovely fine nib, and a mint Parker 45 which my Dad spotted at a car boot for £1.50.
 
Oh and I finished a couple of restoration projects. One is a knackered Federal combination pen and pencil, which now looks good and works a treat. The other is a Frankenpen: a vintage Waterman nib and feed, in a Burnham section, which I've attached to a Criterion barrel that I had replated in gold.
 
Only new pen I got this week was a Platignum No.1 . Nice and heavy (oi loikes heavy pens) , although the medium nib is the broad side of medium.
 
Athos said:
Just saw this, and thought of you:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Black-Car...ncils_WritingEquipment_SM&hash=item1e6b6b962b

Terrible photos, and no comment on condition, but is less than a tenner.
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Well, I did look at this one, but the (blurry) "Ladies" on the case did put me off.

HOWEVER

The silky smooth Sheaffer experience did not go away, so I <blush> purchased a Sheaffer pen from Cult Pens and they are very good on their deliveries, even allowing for 1st Class post, next day delivery

So, does the new Sheaffer live up to expectations?

Well, it's a fine nib - not a million miles away, thickness wise, to the old Platinum but a goodly bit heftier. It's a good daily writer. I can see the Platinum coming home some time soon and promoted/relegated to "special use", which would be a tragic shame - so, maybe I'll have 2 daily writers - leave the Parker for general handwriting improvements (which consists of writing out "stuff" from films etc)

All in all, I am delighted I've rediscovered the joy of fountain pen usage - my handwriting has taken a turn for the better - so far I have had 2 comments on my "beautiful" handwriting. Granted this is coming from one of my team, who has benefitted from my "stroke" handwriting and a colleague who writes like an infant doodling WITH A PENCIL!!!
 
High Voltage said:
I have also been sent a free Sheaffer "biro" and it's very nice to write with - sorry!!
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No need to apologise HV - if I try to write at anything like normal speed with a nibbed fountain pen I cross the nib. Every time.

So I've got a rollerball type pen which takes cartridges instead and although the ink's slower drying than biro ink, you've still got the same wide choice of colours as with nibbed fountain pens. :cool:
 
Greebo said:
No need to apologise HV - if I try to write at anything like normal speed with a nibbed fountain pen I cross the nib. Every time.

So I've got a rollerball type pen which takes cartridges instead and although the ink's slower drying than biro ink, you've still got the same wide choice of colours as with nibbed fountain pens. :cool:
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Yep, the KAWECO liquid ink rollers are excellent, and they block less easily than fountain pens, so if you're not a daily pen user, that's obviously going to be a plus-point.
 
I tend to get biros as freebies. Cultpens sent me a really nice one a while ago - I think it might have been a Sheaffer actually - though on the other hand, one Chinese company on eBay sent me a very normal one with Disney princesses on it for no apparent reason. I mean, princesses, fine, but I at least expect a decent biro too.
 
ViolentPanda said:
Half the fountain pen enthusiasts on here also use mechanical pencils of one sort or another, and I'm sure they also have biros lurking around too!
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Never mind mechanical. It's all about the Blackwing 602. I love them.
 
Just bought a MB, off the ebay. Is broken, but was cheap enough to gamble that I can repair it.
 
mrs quoad said:
How tempted?

Going for it tempted? :D
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Very tempted.

Though if I'm going to spend that sort of money I really ought to spend it on other things.

Still very tempted, though.
 
How often will you get the chance to buy a top-to-toe hand crafted pen from 4 Japanese octogenarians? ;)

It's just the out-and-out beauty of their pens that sold me, that said. Have you looked at nibs.com's pre-owned section, too? Worth a browse IMO.
 
ViolentPanda said:
Yep, the KAWECO liquid ink rollers are excellent, and they block less easily than fountain pens, so if you're not a daily pen user, that's obviously going to be a plus-point.
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Sounds like a good tip that, so thanks, I'll look it up. I'm forever clogging up fountain pen nibs through lack of use (the latest was a Parker 45 gold italic, as I discovered today).
 
ALL the way back from Parcelforce, I was thinking 'oh, man, this is inevitably going to be SUCH a disappointment compared to my original expectations.'

And then I opened the box, and it's pretty much the most staggeringly beautiful pen I've ever seen. Just... crikey. Lovely, lovely deep lustrous wood, and it reeks of quality from top to toe.

Have written a little bit with it, after inking it with Diamine Oxblood. Am about to write with it a fair bit more :D Came with a letter emphasising that I should really take up Nakaya's offer of free nib personalisation (cost of postage aside), and I think I might do.

I'm also wondering about whether or not to change the string roll engagement pen nib to an EF. This one's an F non-flex; tbh, there's a bit of give in it (which feels quite nice), but the line's quite a bit closer to a Lamy F than a Sailor EF :hmm:
 
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