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Fountain pen - recommendations

Quoad what nib does your 2000 have? I've got a studio with an EF that I like, it's not as EF as the carbon, but not far off and much smoother - quoad has a 2000 though and has been disappointed.

I actually favour a Rotring artpen with 1.1mm nib at the moment, but only because it makes me feel like a scribe.
 
Cid said:
Quoad what nib does your 2000 have? I've got a studio with an EF that I like, it's not as EF as the carbon, but not far off and much smoother - quoad has a 2000 though and has been disappointed.

I actually favour a Rotring artpen with 1.1mm nib at the moment, but only because it makes me feel like a scribe.
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In principle, it's an F. IMO it's closer to an M. It's certainly a big chunk up from EF, and I'd prefer to find something in between.

Tbh I'm thinking of disseminating the Lamy. Since the (stunning) Nakaya arrived it's queued up behind that, the Sapporo, and the Platinum Carbon. It's functionally ranked with my Safari (which has a skipping ink flow and an M nib) & Chalana (which leaks so much it's effectively untransportable without reams of spare tissue). And that feels like a complete waste of a *cough* overpriced *cough* pen.
 
twentythreedom said:
Sorry to be so cheap, but what's a decent pen for £20 max? And is Quink ink good enough?
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What kinda nib? I'd blates, blates, blates go for the Platinum Carbon for that, but it is properly properly EF.

Wrt Hassan's query wrt balance... The whole pen's really light, but to my hand the length makes it feel surprisingly ok. I'm minded to think that most of the £ is going on the nib. Which, IMO, is a good place to have it. Lovely, consistent, superfine line. Never a skip, very very rarely anything close to a snag (which is nice on an EF).
 
twentythreedom said:
Sorry to be so cheap, but what's a decent pen for £20 max? And is Quink ink good enough?
Click to expand...
Depends on what criteria you base "decent" on, but a Safari with a convertor would be my all-round choice at that price range. They're still my most-used pens: they're tough, light, easy to get hold of, and you can swap the nibs around. What is it for? There are other nice pens that are, say, more compact in that area.

There's nothing wrong with Quink - it's just in quite a limited range of colours, that's all. (Also the black is not _very_ black, and the others aren't generally waterproof, though this is considered a bonus by some.) It is the same stuff as Waterman these days, though Waterman has better bottles.
 
What kind of writing do you have? Is there a style you want to practice, or do you just like pens?
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Writing is as follows (sorry for the size), there is no style I am looking to practise, initially looking for a nice writing experience as I tend to write quite a lot during my working day.

Example 1 - Quickly written, not really concentrating.

pen2.jpg


Example 2 - A bit slower, with some more thought

pen1.jpg
 
* :D

e2a: my one beef with my Safari is inconsistent ink flow / a tonne of skipping. It kinda reminds me of why I didn't like fountain pens (particularly those at the end of their lives) at school. I should probably get around to flushing it, or something, or something.
 
I believe the Safari, Studio and a few other models all have interchangeable nibs, so this has always confused me. I remember when I used Safaris at school they were prone to bent nibs, but the nib on my Studio seems much more solid, may just be that they improved the design some time in the last 10 years. I also get a good, consistent flow with it even after leaving it unused for a while (well, probably a week at most)... Hassan, Lamy nibs are supposed to be very easy to change (even with ink in them afaik), so it might be worth getting a couple and trying them out. If you're left handed you may want to stick with fine/extra fine nibs as the ink dries more quickly, and is therefore less prone to smudging.
 
mrs quoad said:
* :D

e2a: my one beef with my Safari is inconsistent ink flow / a tonne of skipping. It kinda reminds me of why I didn't like fountain pens (particularly those at the end of their lives) at school. I should probably get around to flushing it, or something, or something.
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Well, I have four or so and they are my most reliable and least skippy pens, possibly excluding the 2000s.
 
Cid said:
I believe the Safari, Studio and a few other models all have interchangeable nibs, so this has always confused me. I remember when I used Safaris at school they were prone to bent nibs, but the nib on my Studio seems much more solid, may just be that they improved the design some time in the last 10 years.
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I think the Studio comes with a 14K gold nib, though they're all the same basic structure. I've not used them except in the last few years so can't really say about changes to quality, but certainly all the modern Lamy steel nibs I have could probably be hammered into walls without bending them.
 
The studio platinum comes with a special nib, but I think the normal model is just the standard Lamy nib.
 
twentythreedom said:
Sorry to be so cheap, but what's a decent pen for £20 max? And is Quink ink good enough?
Click to expand...

If you want to be able to choose the width of your nib, either a KAWECO Sport, a Lamy Safari or Lamy Nexx. If you're happy with a "medium" nib, then a Schneider Base or Schneider iD, a Pelikan Style or a Platinum Plaisir.

ANd yeah, Quink is fine.
 
My Safari:

Untitled-1-1.jpg


tbf, I can't really grumble, as it came free with something else. The 2000, I think.

But it's never written entirely satisfactorily. The ink flow has always been variable, despite a couple of washing-outs when I first got it and several different inks. (tbf, I've never tried the washing up liquid route).

It's not skipping there, but the ink's choking a bit and the lines certainly aren't consistent.

Meh. Maybe I should go back to Noodlers. Their bulletproofs seem to be fairly infallible when it comes to all-out splurging flow :hmm:
 
Noodler's often have surfactants in them which is like unavoidable washing-up liquid.

The soapy water can help more than any number of plain water flushes, though you do have to remember to thoroughly wash it out again afterwards.
 
Maybe it's the way you hold it... any pen will have an optimal flow rate at a certain angle. Slightly messy writing... :oops:

large.jpg
 
Cid said:
Maybe it's the way you hold it... any pen will have an optimal flow rate at a certain angle. Slightly messy writing... :oops:
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Perhaps. I've never had the same problem with any other pens, mind. Except my dad's 30-40 year old 'vintage' Cross, which he swears was really good at the time, but is actually a bit of a (fluorescent yellow plastic / stainless B nib) horrorshow.

And, tbf, it's probably suffered from neglect because it DID arrive shortly after the Chalana (I think) and at the same time as the 2000. And shortly thereafter the Platinum Carbon and Sapporo. I've hardly had the motivation to get the Nth pen in queue working.

But probably should get round to it.

Actually, maybe I'll fill the Cross with noodlers, too.
 
A range of Diamines. Oxblood and some godawful brown my mum gave me when I asked for something interesting. Thought it might work well with a 'B' nib.
 
Anyone know where I can get a Noodlers Flex Pen & inks in the UK ? Cant seem to find a supplier anywhere.
 
iROBOT said:
Anyone know where I can get a Noodlers Flex Pen & inks in the UK ? Cant seem to find a supplier anywhere.
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Nope. Tried looking myself a few weeks ago, tried the UK, France, Belgium and Germany, and couldn't find a fucking thing. The Writing Desk (the main place I've seen them) no longer import Noodler's inks, and very few places have ever sold Noodler's pens.

I've resigned myself to having to import a Noodler's pen if I want one, and swallowing the import duty if it gets tagged by Customs.
 
There's a general supply issue with Noodler's inks outside of the US - it's only one man who makes them, he refuses to take on more staff or subcontract (he's something of an... individual) and he doesn't seem to be able to keep up these days.
 
my writing is a bit like the first pic in cid's post. I write quite light and fast... seeing as I'm writing the bones of a book in longhand, should I budget more (say 60 odd quid max) and what's the deal with different inks - does type of ink really make a difference?
 
ViolentPanda said:
Nope. Tried looking myself a few weeks ago, tried the UK, France, Belgium and Germany, and couldn't find a fucking thing. The Writing Desk (the main place I've seen them) no longer import Noodler's inks, and very few places have ever sold Noodler's pens.

I've resigned myself to having to import a Noodler's pen if I want one, and swallowing the import duty if it gets tagged by Customs.
Click to expand...
twentythreedom said:
my writing is a bit like the first pic in cid's post. I write quite light and fast... seeing as I'm writing the bones of a book in longhand, should I budget more (say 60 odd quid max) and what's the deal with different inks - does type of ink really make a difference?
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Thank you to both for the replies, appriciated.

Yes I was fearing the worst, hadn't relised Noodlers was such a one man op' (makes me want one even more now). I tried one out a few years back and never got round to buying one. For the price they are exceptional and very expressive.
 
twentythreedom said:
my writing is a bit like the first pic in cid's post. I write quite light and fast... seeing as I'm writing the bones of a book in longhand, should I budget more (say 60 odd quid max) and what's the deal with different inks - does type of ink really make a difference?
Click to expand...
Different inks really do write differently. Erm, I don't understand quite what's going on or how to describe it (FM or VP almost certainly can), but despite looking thinner / more watery, Diamine inks don't seem to flow as well in my pens. So, like, they're absolutely fine with my favourite nibs (Sailor, Platinum Carbon, Nakaya, all F->EF) but some of the others seem to struggle a bit. IIRC the Lamy 2000 wasn't getting on well with them, and both the Cross and Safari really struggled to put down anything like a nice / consistent line (see the pic above).

On the other hand, Noodlers look a lot thicker. As if they have a whole lot more pigment in them. Like liquid pigment, rather than pigmented / dyed water, IYSWIM. But they seem to flow a lot more readily. That may be down to surfactants, as Fridgey said, IIRC...?

I try to avoid them where possible, because they 'fatten' the line put down by my nibs, too. So an EF with Noodlers writes more like an F with Diamine. But, irritatingly, they do seem to work far better for my more awkward / less stonking pens.
 
It could just as easily be that the fresh change of ink when you retested your pens fixed any of the flow problems from neglect etc though... For example I just started writing with my lamy studio, and the ink flow was a bit rough, after a quick wipe and a few scribbles it's working fine again... Paper type seems to affect it too - works much better on relatively smooth writing paper. Basically I'd hesitate to leap to the conclusion that it's the ink that makes the difference, at least without a fair test. Which you should do, because I don't have any noodlers and can't be arsed.
 
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