ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
And, of course, Lamy do converters for most of their pens, so you can use bottled inks at your own convenience.
Fountain pen - recommendations
- Thread starter HackneyE9
- Start date
And, of course, Lamy do converters for most of their pens, so you can use bottled inks at your own convenience.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
I currently have two absolute cheapos as workhorse pens - a Platinum Preppy with EF nib, fitted out as eye-dropper filled, and writes beautifully-smoothly (filled with Diamine Emerald Green), and a fine-nibbed Pilot Kakuno - a childrens' cartridge pen loaded with a pilot converter, and currently filled with Rohrer & Klingner Scabiosa.
eoin_k
Lawyer's fees, beetroot and music
I've resisted the temptation to buy one because you need to use disposable ink cartridges due to their size... The Sport looks more practical, but I can't justify spending the money on one either.
Athos
Well-Known Member
I can't link to it from phone, but just saw some NOS on eBay, for under a tenner (plus p&p from Canada). The seller had 10 on sale. That includes a new nib, as well as the section.
High Voltage
In the top 97% of Urban's most interesting posters
Hello pen heads, I would like some advice. A good friend is celebrating his 50th birthday next week and I've decided to get him a fountain pen, mainly on the grounds that he and his husband have a house full of all the things they could possibly want, so I want to get something personal. I know he likes good design, and before he met his Mr, he was all about the minimalism and the modernist, but now he has wholeheartedly embraced antique-y old stuff.
So any recommendations? - budget around £30-40. Ta.
So any recommendations? - budget around £30-40. Ta.
FridgeMagnet
Administrator
The Lamy 2000 has won some awards for its Bauhaus type design iirc though you might be pushed to get one in that price range. (I got my dad one for his 70th.) You might find something on eBay though.
I'm also fond of the TWSBI which has also won an award for design and is more in that bracket. There are various different models; at the moment I lust after the Mini.
The Kaweco Sport as loved by VP and myself is also a nice classic piece of design. The cheaper ones are just over a tenner but they have more "luxury" ones in different materials. I might go for that as they are kind of fun and quirky, are compact and convenient, and also take cartridges, meaning that they are more usable for people who don't tend to own bottles of ink.
cultpens.com is a good starting point site for buying pens (potentially addictive though).
High Voltage
In the top 97% of Urban's most interesting posters
Two words - Pencil Extender
Enabling you to extract the most possible use out of a normal pencil no matter how short they are
Two have arrived from the above mentioned Cult Pens - a snappy looking Staedtler one
and a sleek, black classy one
Enabling you to extract the most possible use out of a normal pencil no matter how short they are
Two have arrived from the above mentioned Cult Pens - a snappy looking Staedtler one
and a sleek, black classy one
High Voltage
In the top 97% of Urban's most interesting posters
Oo Oo Oo - Mrs Voltz was given some W H Smiths student vouchers or some such - and she gave them to me and I got a Lamy pen as well - it looks like all the nibs are the same so I'm guessing that Lamy pens write pretty much the same - but can you change the nibs? and if so, how?
FridgeMagnet
Administrator
Yes, they just slide off. A few models don't use the same nibs but most of them do. See Lamy Z50 nib | The Writing Desk, Fountain Pen specialists established 2000.
Which Lamy did you get? As far as I know only the Joy has a calligraphy nib??
You can swap out the nibs though, I was going to get a fine writing/drawing nib at one point but have decided to stick with the calligraphy one
Did you get any of the funky coloured inks? I cant wait to try them ...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product...fl_title_14?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3MXMMSUBRF134
You can swap out the nibs though, I was going to get a fine writing/drawing nib at one point but have decided to stick with the calligraphy one
Did you get any of the funky coloured inks? I cant wait to try them ...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product...fl_title_14?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3MXMMSUBRF134
FridgeMagnet
Administrator
New colours of the Diamine shimmer inks being released at the end of the month... Diamine Shimmertastic ink | The Writing Desk, Fountain Pen specialists established 2000.
My glitter pen needs are very well fulfilled by the Crayola Glitter Gel pens.. these are truly amazing, and are the smoothest writing gel pens I've ever used... sorry to derail the thread a bit... but glitter is always good, whatever the form it comes in
I guess your shimmer ink uses mica though so a more subtle glittery effect, I have some pearlescent FW ink that looks quite similar..
btw true fact, FW stands for Fucking Wonderful...
I guess your shimmer ink uses mica though so a more subtle glittery effect, I have some pearlescent FW ink that looks quite similar..
btw true fact, FW stands for Fucking Wonderful...
FridgeMagnet
Administrator
It's more of a variable sheen than a glitter TBH - I imagine the particles are way finer so they don't clog fountain pen feeds. Areas which have more ink will catch the light in a surprising way. Of course you need a pretty broad (or flex) nib, there's not much point in a fine one.
J Herbin do a couple of them too.
J Herbin do a couple of them too.
Sasaferrato
Super Refuser!
I used Kaweco rollerballs for years, with the turquoise ink which I've used exclusively for nearly fifty years. Kaweco have stopped making the cartridge type now, but a company called Herbin still does them.
The Cult Pens website is a good place for pens.
Cult Pens - the widest range of pens and pencils on the planet!
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ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
Sasaferrato
Super Refuser!
FridgeMagnet has long been a fan of J. Herbin inks, I believe, even their scented ones!
I bought a J Herbin pen recently, which came with six free cartridges, unfortunately... no turquoise.
J. Herbin Metal Barrel Ink Rollerball Pen
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
I bought a J Herbin pen recently, which came with six free cartridges, unfortunately... no turquoise.
J. Herbin Metal Barrel Ink Rollerball Pen
They're quite nice.
I'm not sure that it's turquoise exactly, but I'm a big fan of Rotring's "Brillant" cartridges. Very bright, good permanence - Stuff I wrote with them 1-15 years ago is still as bright as when I wrote it - and reasonably-priced. Oh, and Cult Pans sell them.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
Oh, and by the way, the Schneider ink cartridge rollerballs for sale on the Cult Pens site are very lurid, but they're great writers for something so cheap (£2-3). I bought one, tried it, then bought another three. 
SikhWarrioR
And the Worms ate into his brain
Wouldnt mind getting a decent calligraphy nib for my waterman had a cheapy calligraphy pen for writing in Arabic to my arab friends but it got lost
FridgeMagnet
Administrator
Kaweco do still make cartridges - they may have restarted recently - and there is one that looks turquoisey, called Paradise Blue. Suspiciously similar to Waterman South Seas Blue which is another turquoisy blue ink. Not sure if this is the one you mean though.I bought a J Herbin pen recently, which came with six free cartridges, unfortunately... no turquoise.
J. Herbin Metal Barrel Ink Rollerball Pen
Kaweco Ink Cartridges
Sasaferrato
Super Refuser!
It is the rollerballs which take the short universal cartridge that Kaweco have stopped making, I think J Herbin are now the only maufacturer of those left now. I bought a couple of these J. Herbin Metal Barrel Ink Rollerball Pen, which should see me out.
FridgeMagnet
Administrator
Oh right, I see... I didn't know they'd stopped those, that's a bit crap
Sasaferrato
Super Refuser!
Oh right, I see... I didn't know they'd stopped those, that's a bit crap
My feelings exactly. In a positive note, the J Herbin pens are very good. Metal body, nice weight to it, and very smooth writer.
My handwriting is so appalling that I need a fixed-width pen, but not a ballpoint. The rollerball is just the thing, liquid ink, and slows me just enough to be able to read what I've written.
On a complete aside; the word processor/printer combo has been the greatest thing since sliced bread for me, I can communicate legibly.
Sasaferrato
Super Refuser!
FridgeMagnet has long been a fan of J. Herbin inks, I believe, even their scented ones!
It would need to be sented, I can't go all that way to collect it.
Cid
Proper break this time
Which Lamy did you get? As far as I know only the Joy has a calligraphy nib??
You can swap out the nibs though, I was going to get a fine writing/drawing nib at one point but have decided to stick with the calligraphy one
Did you get any of the funky coloured inks? I cant wait to try them ...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product...fl_title_14?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3MXMMSUBRF134
My (thankfully semi-retired) exam pen is a Lamy Accent with 1.1mm calligraphy nib, they're interchangeable.
Crikey. My Nakaya briarwood has been a total twat of late. Was pissing ink into the barrel, and pissing ink through the cap. General ink-pissing issues. Piss, piss, piss everywhere. I had got to the point of thinking I was going to have to send it back to the US, when the unscrewability of the top half went wonky. Whilst trying to get it undone (so I could access the cartridge), I had to twizzle so hard that the feed and nib began inching out. And I thought 'wtf,' and totally yanked those fuckers out.
I've subsequently given every inch of it a clean (tbh, it was already pretty bloody clean).
And pared down the top of the cartridge converter with a razor blade. Just on the off chance.
And re-set everything.
And, erm. To my surprise. It's now working perfectly.
Better, even (I think) than it was when I first got it. A distinctly juicier flow.
(And I was a bit disappointed to find that the feed was bog standard cheap moulded plastic, lol. That's clearly not where the costings go :lol: )
All of which left me wondering - when I went to look at the pricing of Nakaya nibs (should I be tempted by an additional one) why the fuck they refuse to sell them separately / loose?! It was such a piece of piss to set that... erm... I struggle to believe that it's anything to do with expertise. A clear attempt at stopping Nakaya nibs being attached to cheaper / other pen bodies, perhaps?!
I've subsequently given every inch of it a clean (tbh, it was already pretty bloody clean).
And pared down the top of the cartridge converter with a razor blade. Just on the off chance.
And re-set everything.
And, erm. To my surprise. It's now working perfectly.
Better, even (I think) than it was when I first got it. A distinctly juicier flow.
(And I was a bit disappointed to find that the feed was bog standard cheap moulded plastic, lol. That's clearly not where the costings go :lol: )
All of which left me wondering - when I went to look at the pricing of Nakaya nibs (should I be tempted by an additional one) why the fuck they refuse to sell them separately / loose?! It was such a piece of piss to set that... erm... I struggle to believe that it's anything to do with expertise. A clear attempt at stopping Nakaya nibs being attached to cheaper / other pen bodies, perhaps?!
