Fountain pen - recommendations
- Thread starter HackneyE9
- Start date
Athos
Well-Known Member
Tracking no.?Just ordered a clutch pencil, why not (it's been a passably austere weekend, petrol costs aside).
No news on a vintage (1920s-30s?) Swan Mabe-Todd F / v flex nib, which was posted in the US a coupla weeks back
None
(Though I've just emailed to ask).
tbf, it's a pen-of-interest. I won't be totally gutted if it has gone walkies.
(Though I will be a little bit gutted - it sounds thoroughly interesting; in great condition; and I don't have a proper FP with anything approaching a flex nib).
How's the Nakaya going? I've been annotating with mine all day
(Though, again, still no news from Japan re: the engagement pen + custom nib
)
Athos
Well-Known Member
The Nakaya is brilliant. Harldy touched another pen since.
Though did buy a couple of these (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LANBITOU-...ncils_WritingEquipment_SM&hash=item20c6487161) for knocking around in pockets etc. Really very, very good. And how cheap!?!
How the MT Swan turns up, soon.
Though did buy a couple of these (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LANBITOU-...ncils_WritingEquipment_SM&hash=item20c6487161) for knocking around in pockets etc. Really very, very good. And how cheap!?!
How the MT Swan turns up, soon.
I've given away my Lamy 2000.
A young undergraduate with a penchant for FPs (particularly a Caran D'Ache) gave me a Curly Wurly, along with several examples of her FP collection's writing.
And I thought that the Lamy 2000 was probably fair exchange for a Curly Wurly.
I hope she doesn't feel short-changed.
I'd forgotten how nice Curly Wurlies are.
A young undergraduate with a penchant for FPs (particularly a Caran D'Ache) gave me a Curly Wurly, along with several examples of her FP collection's writing.
And I thought that the Lamy 2000 was probably fair exchange for a Curly Wurly.
I hope she doesn't feel short-changed.
I'd forgotten how nice Curly Wurlies are.
FridgeMagnet
Administrator
2000s retail for £175 these days. They've gone up massively for some reason.
Athos
Well-Known Member
Now this is a shot in the dark, but was she an attractive young woman, by any chance?
She's someone who I have no sexual interest in, and who doesn't bake my particular biscuit.
I'm really not on the pull here. But I appreciated the curly wurly (it was a genuinely nice gesture), I dislike the Lamy 2000, and it was a case of either giving it away (probably through Urban) or eBaying it. She got in there first!
http://www.whsmith.co.uk/CatalogAndSearch/ProductDetails.aspx?productId=35315971&utm_source=Google+Product+Search&utm_medium=Feed&utm_campaign=Product+Link
They're only £175 at Cult Pens.
£81 at WH Smiths!
(Pretty damned sure they were £76 a week or two ago, too
)e2a: or even less, even:
e2a2: Jesus. £175 at the Writing Desk, too.
I should've eBayed it, ay
Athos
Well-Known Member
£175 buys 9240 Curly Wurlies. http://www.westoneswholesale.com/Curly-Wurly
Still.
I'd prefer a curly surly to a Lamy 2000 any day of the week.
E2a: also, you're working with the non-Smiths pricing there
The Mabe Todd arrived today.
And, bloody hell, it is in absolutely stunning condition for a pen that's 80 odd years old... Apart from some microscratches on the (beautifully shoddy) engraved initials on the cap band, it really could've come out of a blister pack yesterday.
£20 customs (£12.75 VAT, £8 delivery) on a $100ish pen...
Properly looking forward to inking it up!
e2a: I'll add, actually. It came with a bucketload of sellotape on the 1920s otherwise-pristine box (
) and a leaflet asking me what I thought I needed to do to get to heaven
And, bloody hell, it is in absolutely stunning condition for a pen that's 80 odd years old... Apart from some microscratches on the (beautifully shoddy
) engraved initials on the cap band, it really could've come out of a blister pack yesterday.£20 customs (£12.75 VAT, £8 delivery) on a $100ish pen...
Properly looking forward to inking it up!
e2a: I'll add, actually. It came with a bucketload of sellotape on the 1920s otherwise-pristine box (
) and a leaflet asking me what I thought I needed to do to get to heaven 
High Voltage
In the top 97% of Urban's most interesting posters
. . . and a leaflet asking me what I thought I needed to do to get to heaven
Give all your pens away???
'Tis easier for a pen to pass through the eye of a camel than a stationer to enter through the doors of Staples - or summit
The Lamy was the only one I didn't like
Though the body of my platinum carbon's cracked. I might replace it at some point, and farm out the old un.
Traditional flex nibs require a different hand angle for writing, don't they?
So, like, oblique nib holders... set the nib at the 'right' angle for writing conventionally. With fat downstrokes.
Whereas with a flex-nibbed pen... you kinda have to hold it vertical to the paper. Or write at a highly unusual angle.
Right?
So, like, oblique nib holders... set the nib at the 'right' angle for writing conventionally. With fat downstrokes.
Whereas with a flex-nibbed pen... you kinda have to hold it vertical to the paper. Or write at a highly unusual angle.
Right?
High Voltage
In the top 97% of Urban's most interesting posters
VAT on a second hand pen - surely that's not right!!! - genuine question - new stuff yes, but second hand????
Sold as vintage. I can't believe antiques would be VAT free?
Athos
Well-Known Member
mrs quoad said:Traditional flex nibs require a different hand angle for writing, don't they?
So, like, oblique nib holders... set the nib at the 'right' angle for writing conventionally. With fat downstrokes.
Whereas with a flex-nibbed pen... you kinda have to hold it vertical to the paper. Or write at a highly unusual angle.
Right?
I haven't found that to be the case.
From what kinda angle (or point on a clock face) is your pen approaching the paper?
Mine's coming in from pretty much 3 o'clock. Which means that - no matter how much pressure I put on downstrokes - the tines of the nib only separate 'lengthways,' so to speak, and 'along' the line. Instead of widthways, across the line, making it broader.
A very quick / lazy thingy:
The first flex is written with considerable extra pressure on the downstrokes, with my hand in its usual writing position.
The second one is written with the pen coming in from 6 o'clock. And there's - unsurprisingly - a tonne more flex evident in there.
Just as there's a tonne more line variation in horizontal lines than in vertical lines, when my hand is - yeah - in its usual writing position.
Athos
Well-Known Member
mrs quoad said:
I guess my norma angle of approach is about 4o'clock (relative to my body). But I always have the paper turned slightly, so the angle of incidence is nearer 5o'clock. Never experienced the problem you mention. I do roll the barrel slightly. Does that help?
tbf, a 4 o'clock pen plus rotated paper'd pretty much account for it.
How often do you feel the same about your 3yo, whilst at work?
e2a: I'll add: I'm properly loving the Swan. The nib's got a beautiful bit of growl (instead of hypersmooth buttery fluff). And I've been having some fun both using it for standard writing, and messing around (a bit) with semi-Spencerian / copperplate. For which it's nowhere near as good as a Gillott, but not 'arf bad.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
It's very cruel to ask Athos such...awkward...questions.
I'm glad you two exist, you make me feel ever-so-much-less of an obsessive in comparison.
Athos
Well-Known Member
mrs quoad said:
I miss them both all the time, notwithstanding their ability to embarrass me. The other day, we were on a flight. It was night time, so all quiet. The eldest was watching a film with the headphones on, which meant that she shouted whenever she wanted to talk. Particularly embarrassing when, on watching me play a popular arcade game, she bellowed "I don't like it when you touch your own snake"!
