Fountain pen - recommendations

[FridgeMagnet]

Cult Pens have 10% off Platinum pens right now Platinum #3776 | Cult Pens and I'm thinking of getting a 3776. (I did improve the 1911's nib but I still never felt comfortable with it. Currently using an F nib in a Capless.)

I am strangely tempted by the Ultra-Extra-Fine nib which is 0.1mm.

ETA: ah you know why not eh. Long time dead.

This nib does what it says on the tin. I have a 0.2mm Preppy and it is indeed noticeably finer than that. I have been testing it with the blue cartridge that came with the pen but with that sort of line, it's way too pale. I just put in a carbon ink cartridge so let's see how that goes.

You have to write quite lightly and carefully, mostly because otherwise your handwriting looks like shit. Fine nibs really make any slight issues look very obvious. I would still use a medium nib for note taking but so far this feels ideal for my style of journaling. You could easily use this in a Hobonichi without running out of space.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Can anyone recommend a fountain pen for travel - no leaks, doesn’t dry, clip not too tight so that it can be clipped into jacket pocket, lid screws on ideally.

Also a rollerball with similar properties.

What sort of budget? Most of them don't leak really, I've never had one that does, even on planes.

Lamy make a number of good tough pens which have rollerball equivalents though they tend not to have screw caps (though personally I don't find screw caps any more secure - in fact more screw cap pens have come undone in my bag than slip caps).

 

[Winot]

What sort of budget? Most of them don't leak really, I've never had one that does, even on planes.

Lamy make a number of good tough pens which have rollerball equivalents though they tend not to have screw caps (though personally I don't find screw caps any more secure - in fact more screw cap pens have come undone in my bag than slip caps).

Pretty flexible budget.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Pretty flexible budget.

Well, there are a lot of options, but here are the ones I've used when travelling:

- Lamy Safari or Al-Star pens for work trips. Tough as the proverbial old boot and don't cost much. Can take cartridges as well as filling from bottles (cartridge/convertor system) which is handy for travel as you can carry emergency cartridges. Can dry out easily if left for a few days, though usually quick to restart.
- Pelikan M205 - small, good price, good performance and holds a shitload of ink. Fills from a bottle but as long as your trip isn't too long this isn't a problem, you can just fill before you leave.
- Sailor 1911 (cartridge/convertor). Sailor, Platinum and Pilot all make quite similar pens which behave in a similar way, e.g. the Platinum 3776 that I mention above. Once you get to this price point, £100-150, you shouldn't need to worry about ink flow or anything, they should behave perfectly indefinitely.
- Pilot Capless. Expensive but has a retractable nib which makes it convenient, and writes very nicely. Cartridge/convertor.

I prefer compact pens generally so the above is biased towards those.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

This nib does what it says on the tin. I have a 0.2mm Preppy and it is indeed noticeably finer than that. I have been testing it with the blue cartridge that came with the pen but with that sort of line, it's way too pale. I just put in a carbon ink cartridge so let's see how that goes.

You have to write quite lightly and carefully, mostly because otherwise your handwriting looks like shit. Fine nibs really make any slight issues look very obvious. I would still use a medium nib for note taking but so far this feels ideal for my style of journaling. You could easily use this in a Hobonichi without running out of space.

Okay, don't try carbon ink with a 0.1mm nib. The ink went into the feed fine but wouldn't come out at all. In the end I had to remove the cartridge, flush the pen and put it through the ultrasonic cleaner for good measure (you don't want to leave carbon ink lying around inside a pen).

I have loaded it with Noodler's Heart of Darkness instead and so far that seems to be working okay. It is still extremely spidery of course.

 

[Callum91]

Just bit the bullet and ordered myself a Montblanc Meisterstuck 149 Gold, fine nib... Down from £660 to £460, for that kinda reduction I had no choice

 

[High Voltage]

Fuck! You've saved £100

What else can you get?

 

[Callum91]

Fuck! You've saved £100

What else can you get?

I saved £200! I think it's literally just that pen and that nib size and that trim, the medium is still £660... I thought it was an error but nope, email confirms it, just got myself a 149 for little over what I paid for my Souveran M1000.

Meisterstück 149 Gold-Coated Fountain Pen

From here.

 

[High Voltage]

I saved £200! I think it's literally just that pen and that nib size and that trim, the medium is still £660... I thought it was an error but nope, email confirms it, just got myself a 149 for little over what I paid for my Souveran M1000.

Meisterstück 149 Gold-Coated Fountain Pen

From here.

Drink has been taken

 

[Callum91]

Someone else should order one so I don't feel quite so brown in the trouser department

 

[High Voltage]

No!

 

[High Voltage]

Really. No!

 

[Callum91]

Oh come on someone we can rub our Meisterstuck's together

 

[ViolentPanda]

Can anyone recommend a fountain pen for travel - no leaks, doesn’t dry, clip not too tight so that it can be clipped into jacket pocket, lid screws on ideally.

Also a rollerball with similar properties.

I've been using Platinum Plaisirs for about 4 yrs now, and have never had a leak, nor a dry-up situation. A couple of my Plaisirs use Platinum cartridges, and a couple have been converted to eyedroppers. No problems with either.

 

[izz]

Someone else should order one so I don't feel quite so brown in the trouser department

I've paid less for a car !

Happy writing

 

[Callum91]

I've paid less for a car !

Happy writing

I just keep repeating to myself ''You've worked really hard for this, you're a father now, you deserve it...''

 

[High Voltage]

I just keep repeating to myself ''You've worked really hard for this, you're a grown up now, you deserve it...''

FIFY

 

[Callum91]

FIFY

Hey I've had alot of shit to deal with this past year having a baby puts it all into perspective. He's totally going to love pens as much as I do

 

[Cid]

Hey I've had alot of shit to deal with this past year having a baby puts it all into perspective. He's totally going to love pens as much as I do

Basically what's going to happen is this: You'll have a 'dad's stuff' drawer which you fill with nice things, but gradually gets a bit full. He'll become increasingly inquisitive and one day will work out how to get it open (no, the pocket of that old jacket in the cupboard wasn't a good place to hide the key). It'll be a bit stuck, so he'll wrench it a bit, hear a cracking sound and hurriedly scarper. Next time you open it you will get a sense of mounting horror as first it feels stuck, then you reach in to shift whatever it is sticking and your hand emerges coated in the black ink now covering your most cherished possessions.

Congratulations!

 

[High Voltage]

Hey I've had alot of shit to deal with this past year having a baby puts it all into perspective. He's totally going to love pens as much as I do

I hope he does it sound like a major part of his inheritance has just been blown

 

[Callum91]

I hope he does it sound like a major part of his inheritance has just been blown

Well both my grandfathers were into pens, my dad is, I am and now hopefully a new generation of pen lover has been born

Now about those Nakaya pens...

 

[FridgeMagnet]

I just got myself a Kaweco Brass Sport, with EF nib.



I've wanted one for ages but they are a little expensive. However there was a sale on and I felt self indulgent.

It's a lovely pen already - solid metal, nice and heavy in the hand (good in a small pen IMO), nib and feed all great - plus brass weathers nicely too. All I have to do is not lose it.

 

[High Voltage]

. . . All I have to do is not lose it.

Paging mrs quoad

 

[FridgeMagnet]

I'm proud to see, by the way, that this thread has been active for over twelve years. There are old threads on urban but most of them go on hiatus. Must be the quality subject matter.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Thought I might splash out on this one next: Platinum #3776 Century Fountain Pen 'The Prime' Limited Edition - bit of a bargain really.

 

[High Voltage]

Thought I might splash out on this one next: Platinum #3776 Century Fountain Pen 'The Prime' Limited Edition - bit of a bargain really.

Faaarking Hell - How much

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Faaarking Hell - How much

It is at least made of solid platinum - even just the raw metal would cost nearly a grand and a half.

 

[Winot]

Well, there are a lot of options, but here are the ones I've used when travelling:

- Lamy Safari or Al-Star pens for work trips. Tough as the proverbial old boot and don't cost much. Can take cartridges as well as filling from bottles (cartridge/convertor system) which is handy for travel as you can carry emergency cartridges. Can dry out easily if left for a few days, though usually quick to restart.
- Pelikan M205 - small, good price, good performance and holds a shitload of ink. Fills from a bottle but as long as your trip isn't too long this isn't a problem, you can just fill before you leave.
- Sailor 1911 (cartridge/convertor). Sailor, Platinum and Pilot all make quite similar pens which behave in a similar way, e.g. the Platinum 3776 that I mention above. Once you get to this price point, £100-150, you shouldn't need to worry about ink flow or anything, they should behave perfectly indefinitely.
- Pilot Capless. Expensive but has a retractable nib which makes it convenient, and writes very nicely. Cartridge/convertor.

I prefer compact pens generally so the above is biased towards those.

After this very useful post I actually ended up with a Kaweco Sport (F nib). I liked it so much I bought a second one with a BB nib. Didn't know they came in brass but now want one.

I've realised after a bit of experimenting that I only like B/BB nibs.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

I've been using the Brass Sport for a while for journalling but I fancied a new pen (ideally one that didn't use cartridges, so that I could use all my nice ink) and settled on an Opus 88 Omar eyedropper with EF nib, which came today. Unlike most eyedroppers apart from the most expensive, it has a valve which seals off the ink supply from the feed, and when you close that for travel it won't burp or leak - in fact it is probably safer than a more conventional filler. You open it up by twisting a cap at the end when you want to write, although for just a quick paragraph there will be plenty of ink in the feed anyway. (The TWSBI Vac 700 has a similar system though it isn't an eyedropper.)

It is also something of a "chunky boi" and holds far too much ink for anyone to ever use, particularly with an EF nib. I should really have loaded some prettier coloured ink but actually I just have Noodlers Zhivago in it now which is a very dark green so looks like black. Oh well.

They have other pens with similar mechanisms in different shapes and sizes - most of them a lot more colourful, all slightly chunky.

 

[Throbbing Angel]

Looking for an everyday paper/notebook to use with my pen. I tried a Ryman version of what looks like a Moleskine. Utter shite - too sucky and scratchy.

I'm using a Waterman Expert with a medium nib (and Waterman ink).

I want it to glide rather than drag - as it the fountain pen way, or is supposed to be.