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Pen Clips _ Do They Matter?


nanahcub

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What is your favourite pen clip?

 

I like the simplicity of a simple ball at the end, that you get on many vintage pens, but also like the idea something that is special to the brand. The older Parker arrows were great. Instantly said “Parker” and it looked good. I find the current arrow on Parkers looks cheap and tacky. Nothing special about it at all.

 

I like the little diamond at the end of the Conway Stewart clip, though Montblanc does nothing for me one way or other. Pelikan is a great design too.

 

I recently saw a Platignum which had a nib shape at the end of the clip. Surely the most obvious thing in the world – but I don’t remember ever having seen it before (the great thing about this site is that someone will –hopefully – correct me, with examples). At £12, I was almost tempted to buy one just for the clip.

 

Lamy Safari is…. well, different. It works and suits the pen.

 

Visconti I don’t like. Graf von Faber Castell – Love it!

 

What do you like? What do you hate?

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I don't have a favorite however I like the Parker clip as it is instantly recognizable by pretty much all. However I am put off pens that don't have clips e.g. the Kaweco Sport as I think if a 10p bic Crystal comes with the clip included so should a £17 fountain pen.

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The only clip I really dislike is the Visconti. I think it is really ugly, and I doubt I would ever buy a Visconti pen for that reason.

I really like the clip on the MB Boheme. Apart from the 'jewel' which I like, I think it's a really nice design. I'm not keen on Esterbrook clips as I think they are too short. Pelikan clips are great. Actually, on most pens I'd be happy to dispense with the clip. I don't tend to clip my pens anywhere, and the only use is to stop pens from rolling off the desk.

Whatever is true,whatever is noble,whatever is right,whatever is pure,whatever is lovely,whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.

Philippians 4.8

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I feel the Visconti's clips are ugly, but to each their own. The GvFC is also nice; I like how it can easily bend without stressing the material. Also, I don't see how the modern Parker clips are bad. I know their construction might not be so great, but the design is iconic and tells you that it's a Parker. Montblanc clips are too generic for my tastes.

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The older Parker arrows were great. Instantly said “Parker” and it looked good. I find the current arrow on Parkers looks cheap and tacky. Nothing special about it at all.

 

 

Which ones? There are a lot of different ones, I have admit I'm not keen on the I.M's design however the older and higher end Parkers aren't bad.

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i like pen clips that work well as clips, for clipping the pen to your pocket.

 

my best clip at the moment is the Ahab's, hands down. solid enough to keep the pen in place, soft enough to easily move over even thick fabrics, wide enough to be easy to pinch up away from the pen, nicely curved to give good purchase for your fingers, and good looking too. a winner.

 

the closest i have to a "classic" is the parker-lookalike clip on the Hero 616. i really hope that this is a very bad copy of the original, because it sucks. way too stiff, way too sharp and pointy, way too narrow to work with, it's downright painful in a literal sense.

 

but the worst of them all are the plastic clips that break off. those are just mockeries of what they should be, pretensions of function that just don't function. i hate plastic clips.

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http://zobeid.zapto.org/image/pens/wahl_monitor/02.jpg

 

Wahl-Eversharp clip with the roller ball on the end. Bexley copied that idea too, and I do like my Bexleys.

 

I also like pens with an articulated (or hinged) clip, such as many of my vintage Sheaffers (Triumph, Snorkel, Imperial).

 

I do not like a clip with sharp edges that gnaw on my pocket. (I'm looking at you, Lamy 2000!) I do not like a clip so stiff that it's hard to even get onto the lip of my pocket. (The Monteverde Invincia comes to mind).

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To me, a fountain pen looks incomplete without a clip. However , the clip design must blend with the body shape- must strike some kind of

intuitive visual balance. I cant recall any branded pen with a clip that does not match. However I have seen many custom and vintage pens,

both physically and in photos-clip less caps- somewhat they look incomplete to me !! Subjective.

Edited by sanyalsoumitra
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I love the Lamy clip, but only on the Lamy. I really hate the Visconti's clip. Maybe they will get a clue with all these negative comments. I also dislike stiff clips and loose clips. I like a balance - a clip that you can easily clip to a pocket, and will hold, but you don't practically tear your pocket trying to get it on. Above all, on most pens, I really prefer any clip, rather than not have one at all.

Franklin-Christoph, Italix, and Pilot pens are the best!
Iroshizuku, Diamine, and Waterman inks are my favorites!

Apica, Rhodia, and Clairefontaine make great paper!

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I'm another one who has never been able to get past either of the Visconti clips.

 

GvFC, YoL, Fd'V, Sheaffer, pre-WWII Parkers, and ST Dupont are my favored clips.

 

Pelikan is visually great but sucks in performance.

 

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Am I the only one who really likes the Visconti clip? It really stands out from others.

I have to say I prefer the look of clipless pens though, like Nakaya's. I never use the clips anyway.

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Fabricating and Fitting a clip and providing it with the springy character, both material and mechanism, complicates the cap construction. Is that why custom pen makers tend to popularize clip-less caps? Just a thought.

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The current Visconti clip in use on most of their pens is not great, but they have produced (in my opinion) some of the most beautiful clips during their existence. Take a look at the original Voyager clip, or the first generation Van Gogh (which most people are not familiar with). Lovely clips.

the Danitrio Fellowship

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Parker Blue Diamond is my favorite clip followed by vintage Sheaffer Balance and Conway Stewart.

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Am I the only one who really likes the Visconti clip? It really stands out from others.

 

I'm perfectly happy with the Visconti clips too... the work well and look nice to me.

 

My primary concern with a pen clip is how well it works, and I find that springy clips work best. As far as aesthetics go, what I want in a clip varies from pen to pen. My Conklin has a nice springy clip, but it would look out of place on my Faber Castell (and vice-versa).

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Some Visconti clips looked like some of the classic vintage pens.

I like that Whal ball.

The clip on my MB Woolf is very nice.

 

The two simple lines on the Geha 725 are so classy.

Edited by Bo Bo Olson

In reference to P. T. Barnum; to advise for free is foolish, ........busybodies are ill liked by both factions.

 

 

The cheapest lessons are from those who learned expensive lessons. Ignorance is best for learning expensive lessons.

 

 

 

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I like the look of some clips and dislike others, However, I don't use clips and if I'm having a custom pen made, I request that it have no clip. Weird, huh? :)

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The Omas 360 (old style) clip is great. In the end it comes down to performance. Not too loose but also not too stiff. The clip on my 149 is really stiff which renders it basically unuseable.

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The look of the clip matters, but the quality doesn't matter.

I don't clip my pens.

-William S. Park

“My two fingers on a typewriter have never connected with my brain. My hand on a pen does. A fountain pen, of course. Ball-point pens are only good for filling out forms on a plane. - Graham Greene

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