Vintage Workhorse Daily Writer

[Paddler]

Sheaffer Valiant or Vigilant with the open nib and military cliip. Made in the 1940s. They are superb writers.

Then, the P45 with a real Parker squeeze converter.

Then, any of the Esterbrook J series pens.

[Dillo]

Hi,

 

In that time period, you can get the Lamy 2000 even although it may not what you think of as vintage. Anyway, that aside, the Parker "51" is quite an excellent pen, or the Parker 45. If you like something Japanese, there are actually a lot of options. If you want a long/short Japanese pocket pen, I recommend Pilot because you can use a readily available converter in the pen. That aside, there are also a lot of full-sized Japanese pens that are available. Maybe you could get a Japanese eye dropper with an ink shutoff or a pen that take cartridges and converters. There are other pens like the Aurora 88, 98, and Hastil that would fit your criteria.

 

All these pens are quite lightweight and well balanced in general especially if you get a plastic or ebonite pen. Some of these may be just a little out of your price range, but I think you should definitely look into the Japanese options.

 

Dillon

[CraigR]

Here are some of my favorite choices:

 

Parker "51" vac or aero - fine or medium nib

Sheaffer's Touchdown, Craftsman or Valiant - fine nib

Sheaffer's Snorkel, Admiral or Statesman - medium nib

 

Craig

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

In addition to the excellent suggestions above, kindly consider a Parker England Duofold Junior, or a Parker 61. Both are low mass, well balanced, somewhat slender, and can have excellent nibs.

 

The Eversharp Skyline is well worth a look or two. My first one looks as if it was used to fend-off a pack of hyenas, yet remains a lovely writer. Comes in Demi, Standard & Executive sizes. It seems a premium is being paid for those with flexi nibs and fancy caps, so the specimens with firm nibs and simple caps can be a bargain. Also, as they are simple to restore, it is quite likely that restoration was well done.

 

I've also found a Waterman W2 is very nice: the W2B nib is excellent, it is more slender than a Pelikan M200, and long enough that it is comfy unposted.

 

Bye,

S1

Edited July 15, 2014 by Sandy1

[Komitadjie]

I personally use a Parker 51 aero, and a Sheaffer Valiant (Snorkel) daily. The Snorkel, especially, has a tremendously smooth Triumph point that is really something special. I just picked up three different Sheaffers (two touchdown-fillers and one snorkel) at a local antique place in great shape for less than $20 each. Just need a quick restore, and they're back in business! The 51 is even easier to put back into shape (aerometric version, anyway) if you can find one.

[wastelanded]

 

I got an English Duofold 'NS' recently, and it's a fantastic pen with a beaufiful nib. I also have a Slimfold in the post to me, which was bought with the intention of being my daily carry after loving the Duofold so much.

 

I have the Duofold AF, pretty similar to yours except I believe yours has an ebonite section. They are built like tanks. I also have a Victory mkV with a beautiful stubbish nib. Each was less than £30.

[Lothianjavert]

I have a couple of Parker Vacumatic Majors (golden pearl and emerald pearl) that are the "house pens"- pens that generally live in the kitchen by the phone and are used for everything from jotting down phone numbers to grocery lists. My husband often grabs one if he is working on a pattern or layout as he likes how they write. Both have fine nibs and each was in the $30 price range (I did expect to have to pay to have them refurbished and was suprised when they both arrived in working order, so a price of around $70 would be more accurate had they needed work.) They are a bit small for my hand, but they are excellent writers and great workhorses. Many of the vintage Sheaffer pens would also be good candidates. A good touchdown filler or perhaps a Triumph (love that striated celluloid and conical nib) with a vacuum filler would be great pens.

[alexander_k]

Certain categories of pens made around the middle of the previous century deserve particular praise as daily writers. Inexpensive (at least today), reliable and well-made, they were intended for daily use and still manage to deliver the performance people would have expected at that time from a mid-priced writing tool. My favourites include many of the models mentioned above but the Montblanc 22x models are near perfection to me.

[dzg]

Thanks all for the very helpful replies, I am especially thankful to those who took the time to include a nib size in the recommendation.

 

I am very tempted by the wonderful descriptions so my list of possible pens has stretched more than I could imagine.

 

I shall now do the requisite research and then whittle it down to a list of about 5 pens or so. My goal would be to buy them cheap and see which ones fit me.

[AAAndrew]

I'll throw one more into all of the great suggestions above.

 

The Montblanc 12, the all-plastic version of the 22, with a fine nib. Lightweight, slim, springy nib that makes a huge difference when you're writing for long periods. (think shock absorbers). It's from the 1960's and you can find a "well loved" one for a reasonable price, despite being a Montblanc.

 

But I do love my 45's, 51's, touchdowns, snorkels and balances.

[ac12]

I recently measured with a dial caliper the width of the tips of a few of my nibs.

My Pelikan M measured 0.030 inch wide

My old US Parker Ms measure similarly 0.028 - 0.032

My old US Parker Fs measure about 0.020.

 

Without measuring a Pelikan F, but based on the above data, I would say an old US Parker F would probably be similar to a Pelikan F.

But be aware that there is significant variation in width of these older nibs. I have a wide F nib that is wider than a narrow M nib.

Also the shape of the tipping affects the line width and smoothness of the writing. I have seen various shape tips on my Parkers.

The Esterbrook nibs also have a wide variation in nib tip size. I have a M nib that writes as narrow as my F nib.

 

The good thing about the Parker 45 is that it is easy to change nibs. Just unscrew the nib assembly. This is much easier than a 51 which needs a trip to a pen tech to remove the hood.

The Esterbrook J series is also easy to unscrew the nib assembly.

[Lou Erickson]

Hmmm.

 

I think the suggestions for the Parker 45 are good - an M would suit you, I think.

 

I love writing with my Snorkels with the Triumph nib. You'll want an M in that, too. I just got one and it's a joy. Yes, they're a nail, but they're smooooth and just write and write and write. They're easy to refill, too, at least with the same color. A complete clean to change colors is a little work, as you have to suck and blow a lot of water through the snorkel.

[perth]

A Parker 51 is very much a workhorse pen. The hooded nib will keep the ink even if you leave it for a while.

[dzg]

Update:

I have a Parker 51 on its way in the mail. Once I try it out I'll see if I want to get a 45.

 

Been looking at the Sheaffer snorkels/touchdowns on the big auction site but the restored models get pricey quick .... and I don't want to take a chance on a non-restored one.

 

Lets see how the 51 pans out . Though a recent review I read was from someone extremely underwhelmed because it wrote the same as a modern gel pen, not encouraging.

I like some line variation and am not looking for a fountain pen to simply replicate the gel pen stroke and experience.

Edited July 24, 2014 by dzg

[Scribblesoften]

Parker pens are not known for their flex. Especially 51's. I hope you enjoy your new pen.

[Komitadjie]

Yeah, my 51 is a good, firm nib. Which I honestly prefer, so it works out well for me!

[CraigR]

One of my favorite vintage pens that I tend to use more often than others is the Sheaffer's full size Balance. I have several that stay inked and ready on the desk. My favorite is in striated marine green and fitted with a juicy medium open nib. This pen is a great writer, pure and simple.

 

Craig

[chad.trent]

I would think that an Esterbrook would check every one of your boxes. In fact, for your $100 budget, you should be able to get two or three...

[Garageboy]

Another vote for sheaffers- gold nibs, beautiful tipping, nice to hold, under $30, add another few bucks for restoration

[Komitadjie]

Or get the parts and do it yourself! As long as it's just a normal restore with no real complications (bent nib, etc) it's a fun and straight-forward task. Richard Binder's site has superb directions on how to do it, step by step.