I'm just wondering if students use their fountain pens in situations like in class exercises, where the paper you have to write on is cheap, and the ink feathers. Or is anyone in another setting where this happens (having to write on someone else's cheap paper). Do you save fine or extra fine nibs for these occasions?

John

Edit: I just realized this posted in the wrong forum. Is there a way to move it to Writing Instruments?

I used a Vector for all my blue book exams, I never really noticed issues with feathering. (I didn't know what feathering was back then, but I never noticed if the line didn't look good or if there were any legibility problems.) Plain old black Quink carts.

I use my Pelikan M 605 for my notes and exams.

For my own notebooks i use lamy safari fine or medium or a Sheaffer Imperial <m> with whatever ink I have. but when I have to write on something else I use just my lamy safari, usually with medium nib cause the thin one scratches too much and lamy nibs ar stiffer and takes more beating.

I have settled almost exclusively on fine, finer side of medium and extra fine nibs for my daily use due to the lousy paper we use at my office. I have one true medium that I can get away with on our lined notepads but it's too broad on the copier paper. That is the broadest nib I have or use regularly.

I've tried some broads and even broad cursive italics and they just don't work that well day to day which is when 99% of my use occurs (other than jotting notes around the house). Just not worth it really to tie up capital with a pen that can't be used every day.

I use my fountain pens whenever I can, even at school. My everyday-usage pens include Pelikan M150, Parker Sonnet (Stainless Steel), Inoxcrom, Parker Vector and a Manuscript fountain pen

Sizes vary from Medium to Extra Fine and I always have a use for every single one of them on a day to day basis. I can comfortable lend my Vector, Inoxcrom and Manuscript fountain pens for the curious as they are tough, durable school pens that can survive in the hands of a modern-day ballpoint caveman Otherwise I also have in my pencil case a Rollerball Jotter, and a Mini ballpoint pen attached on my Cell Phone Keyring.

In my pen cup at my home desk, I have a set of various Stubs (which I clipped myself), Italics and a couple of Vintage pens that I use every now and again when I feel like being fancy in my homework (such as for titles)

Fountain pens sure are delightful for a student Studying becomes blissful opportunities to write with a fountain pen

Sheaffer No Nonsense or Pelikano here. The copy paper they give us isn't that bad, my filler paper is much worse

This thread has me curious: can writing on low-quality paper actually damage an FP? I know that thermal credit card paper can mess up a nib, but I wasn't sure about other types of paper.

I ask because I work at a bank, and thus I fill out TONS of forms all day, lots of checking debits, deposit slips, general ledger credits, oh it is so exciting. But I'd hate to find out I'd been damaging the nib on my Hero 100. Sure it's not the most expensive pen in the world, but its mine and I want to take good care of it.

I have noticed that my writing looks much better in my Black N' Red then on any standard banking form. I didn't know what "feathering" was until I saw it, now I'm pretty sure I know what it is.

I do alright with my fountain pens in exam booklets. I try to stick to drier and finer nibs, otherwise the feathering can get bad. They don't want you to write on both sides of the paper, so bleed through has never been much of an issue.

ick, blue books! I hardly ever have to take tests in them thankfully. Most of the time it is just plain copier paper, and I use fountain pens for (almost) all my academic needs. Ballpoints or g2's go in the research lab, I dont care about losing them in the clutter or having them beat up.

I asked the question because many of my pens don't do well on plain copy paper. So I was curious how others handle it. Because of the feathering, are you finding Noodlers is the ink of choice on the lousy paper, or are you getting away with lots of different ink? I think my Esterbrooks may do the best when I can put on a rather fine nib, using Noodlers.

I believe Noodler's was originally formulated to write on newsprint, so was "designed" to feather as little as possible.

I don't suppose you have the option of changing copy paper? Some of them are quite good with FPs.

I think it's pretty clear that the less ink is put to paper, the smaller the likelihood of feathering. So, the finer and drier the nib, the better.

As for ink, the thicker ones tend to feather the least, and those with the highest water content bleeding the most. I think it has something to do with the fact that water travels easily through the fibers in the paper.

With that said, I typically use my Pel M750 fine with Noodler's black on worksheets and handouts. For my own paper, pretty much anything flies.

Just my two cents. I hope that helps.

THN

edit [BTW, I haven't tried too many inks/colors on copy paper, but Noodler's and Quink black seem to work best. I have noticed feathering with Sheaffer Skrip Black (a lot) and Waterman Black (somewhat)]

My pens write fairly wet and smoothly on almost any kind of paper. Works perfectly on copy paper

I just use Quink and have no troubles at all.

Not a student and when I was I used a PFM given to me brand new by my folks. Does this date me? Anyway, my wife used a Parker "51" Demi, which she bought new, and while I was cleaning and repairing the nib the other day I found a wad of what appeared to be paper fibers clogging the feed. This pen had not been used since my wife was in high school (that was long ago; I'm in trouble now). I believe poor quality paper can cause some ink flow problems. The slight nib misalignment I fixed may have contributed to the paper fiber problem by scrathing the paper's surface and picking up the fibers.

Awesome! I'm not the only person who thinks this. :bunny1: I seriously don't understand how other students get any work done using BPs; using a BP feels like carving runes onto marblestone using a screwdriver

Of course, I don't mean to offend any BP lovers. BPs are our friends, too (along with fractions and partial derivatives ).

I have the same problem and have tended to lean toward finer nibs as a result. Noodler's black does a nice job on bad paper - although the flow properties are a little tricky depending on the pen. I have had decent luck with PR midnight blues and a fine nib as well.

My issue is I don't really like black ink for document editing - which is primarily what I don with copy paper printed material - for obvious reasons. I haven't gotten to try something like legal lapis or gulfstream blue to see if they have the same properties as black when it comes to feathering.

Right now a lot of my document editing is using Pelikan red and a Sheaffer triumph snorkel with a smooth EF nib - works like a charm.

What I don't use is my Prelude with a broad cursive italic!

When I see all those students out there who do not know the beauty of writing with a fountain pen...my heart feels heavy because they look like lost sheep obliviously wearing out their hands with ballpoints...

Even the people who use nothing but rollerballs and those high-tech gel pens...they forget that the concept of a wet writing pen using a ball originated from a fountain pen :ph34r:

Goodness gracious, I used a ballpoint pen today to do some mathematics, and my hands feel ruined already. When I wrote with my fountain pens again (after getting sick of bp), I found it strange and felt like I was using a fountain pen for the first time again. I was applying too much pressure, because my hands started getting used to a bp.

Ballpens are treacherous :ph34r:

I also sense that my students who do write with FPs seem to produce more thoughtful work- as though the extra care actually plays an important role in moving thought to words to paper-
And no one is his/her right mind would carve runes into marblestone with a screwdriver- the would have used iron and wood- the small number of actual surviving runic script is on stone, and probably much like a ballpoint- one wood example is on a railing at Hagia Sophia in Istanbul- from a Dane who had a bit of wanderlust- translates similar to "Aethel was here"- a sentiment more aptly conveyed by a FP

Tony

It's been a while since I was in college but I used fine point steel nip inlaid Sheaffers almost exclusively for 6 years. I had a Lamy with a broad point but it didn't do well with the 'blue book' folders that we tended to use for written testing. I certainly never wore out a point on any of my fountain pens despite thousands of written pages--I still have them!

Other than writing on grocery sacks or sandpaper I can't imagine wearing out a point. I write on legal pads daily now, a lot, and have never seen any effect on any of my nibs. My MB Meister has a superfine point that will tend to pick up paper hairs on cheap paper, but I assume that's because it's a very fine and scratchy nib.

One of my favorite nibs now is the #9461 renew nib on my Esties, and I've never seen any sign of wear with them, either.

I cant be trusted writing with expensive pens at Uni so I usually use a cheap gel-pen (I know, its so shamefull). However, at home I exclusively use my fancy Parker 51

All my school work was done either in fountain pen or pencil after 4th but mostly 5th grade. We fountain pen were allowed full time at school. In the 4th grade, I would bring my brown stypen and try to use it as much as possible and use it for all my homework.

From 5th grade to University to trade school, in france, I used cheap school pens with generous flowing medium steel nibs on hole punched nice white paper bought in bulk. I bought the equivalent of a 5000 sheets box of paper every 6 months. At this rate, I could not afford to use Clairefontaine.

I have a big handwriting, I had tons of homework, I handwrote most of my notes.

I did not notice any feathering with the paper I was using, I may also have used two kind of paper, the one in bulk for the notes and nicer one for homework and especially essays.

One of the perk of using erasable blue, in my case Florida Blue, was that I could erase misspellings or grammatical errors with my trusted ink erasors.
Try to do this neatlly while using a ballpoint without having to redo a whole page.

I also had scratch paper "cahiers", 20 to 30 pages notebooks that were used for draft with pencils both graphite and colored one.


In the U.S, I have used school fountain pen on scratch paper and that was not a good idea since they stopped working.

I think I have the same problems as many people here far as ballpoint or rollerballs are concerned they need a very strong grip and do not glide on paper.

With the onset of arthritis and the desire to keep my U.S bought pen working, I discovered the fountain pen ink-rollers.
There is a tremendous difference between a regular roller with gummy ink and a roller that takes fountain pen ink, the ink makes the point glide on the paper, even scratch paper.

A long time ago I combined a Parker 61 with coffee, cigarettes, yellow legal pads, and an overstuffed armchair from the 1930s to produce a doctoral dissertation. The cigs and armchair are long gone, my stomach demands tea now, but I still follow the rest of the protocol for long writing projects. I still use the 61 along with quite a few additional pens...
Gerry

I used a fountain pen when I was at university, for taking notes and writing in my chem lab book. I forget what varieties of black and blue-black ink I was using, but for colors I used Dr. P. H. Martin's Brilliant Watercolors. And honestly, I don't remember what sorts of feathering and bleeding issues I had. I cleaned my cheap pens regularly then, and had little trouble with them.

Now I am down to 5 inks, writing mostly on used xerographic paper and ultra-cheap Norcom notebooks. The Skrip black in my Lamy Safari medium point feathers just a little on both. The mixture of Cobalt Blue and Skrip Blue doesn't feather noticeably in my M250. The Waterman Florida Blue feathered just a little in my Safari as well, but not as much as the Skrip black. I haven't used the Raven black or Rotring black in some time. I still clean my pens pretty often, and have little trouble.

I went from a Lamy vista fine to an al-star extra fine, and I'm never going back! Even though I use good paper, it just looks way better, cause I write small in cursive.

Here we use mainly lined foolscap in school, which is either 60 or 70 gsm paper. No problems with bleedthrough or feathering using Quink or Pelikan ink in a fine or medium pen. My Singapore Noodler's doesn't feather, but there is bleedthrough at the spots where ink pools(end of letters etc.).

I have to agree that studying becomes a great excuse to write with a fountain pen; after I switched I definately became more 'hardworking'. I don't bring any of the more expensive pens I own, just a Vector or Jotter, with Heros in a bunch of different colours that cost less than the average gel pen.

I always used to write with Hero 240s during exams in school days but now in college I use Parker Vectors & Pelikano (both with medium tipped nibs) in class exercises & exams.

I use a MB fine nib, and it works fine on everything I've come across, be it copy paper or standard lined paper. I use my FP for almost everything. No problems yet! I have written several tests with my FP, so I won't hesitate to bring it into an exam.

For me, using Fps was actually mandatory for many occasions in late elementary and he equivalent of Jr. high. But it was pretty common to use decent to good quality paper (Clairefontaine/Rhodia). Some of the cheapest paper I see now is barely a notch above newspaper quality

Pvdiamon,

I've also spent some time trying to solve the feathering/bleeding problem. The ink makes as much difference as the nib, if not more. I've found that good ol' Quink resists feathering pretty well, while Sheaffer (old formula) will bleed through almost anything. So I would try some different inks to see what works for you.

The ink is crucial because of its surface tension properties. Someone else has suggested that thickness or water content is important. Actually, all inks are 99% water (give or take); it's the surfactant chemistry that makes the difference. The ink needs some surfactant to flow through the feed channels, but too much will cause it to feather down every fiber in your paper. So it's a tricky balance. (I haven't read chemistry in years, so any experts should feel free to correct me!)



P.S. for Hesnot: That's a nice photo. Do you still visit that place?

I currently use a Waterman Phileas, Parker 51, and 2 Parker Reflex's at school, and I don't have many problems with feathering. I use Mead 5 star paper in my binder and notebooks, which Swisher pens says is good for fountain pens, and I don't have any problems with this. My Lab notebooks (Cheap Staples kind), do feather a little bit and bleedthrough some, but it doesn't seem that bad to me. As for copy paper, I really haven't had any problems on tests. They do give us the cheapest paper for calligraphy in Art though, it just sucks up the ink. I end up ripping a sheet of Mead out of a notebook for this job. I use Waterman Black and Green, Noodler's Blue and Blue/Black, and PR Tanzanite and Fiesta Red.

I do feel bad for the other students who are killing themselves by using ballpoints and pencil. Yesterday in my art class a kid told me that my P51 was the weirdest looking pen he had ever seen. I'm not sure he even realized that it was a fountain pen b/c of the hooded nib. When I told him that it was the pen to have in the 50's he was dumbfounded. I think my work has improved since I started using a fountain pen. Notes and Homework are less of a chore and I think more when I'm writing an essay. The only other person I know who uses fountain pens is my Literature and English teacher. He is the person who made me intersted in them.

This brings me to a question: Do you think that this will be the last generation of fountain pen users, because of the rise of technology? I am very interested in the responses I will get to this.

I use three or four different pens at school, for everything, a couple heroes and a couple picassos, occasionally something else. I switch between using waterman purple, PR velvet black, PR black magic blue, and PR sherwood green. I don't notice any problems with any of the papers, but then again except for the one picasso, everything is a fine nib with a couple almost closer to a extra fine, so I don't usually have problems with feathering or bleeding too bad. I'm also the genius who brings a fountain pen to work, at a hardware store. I've yet to notice any problems with feathering, and all I use any of my fountain pens with is cheap paper, because most of it is provided for me.

Just my two cents.

I really don't. There will always be people interested in old-style anything. I mean, the SCA exists. I've seen people write with quills (real cut feathers, not a feather stuck on a metal nib, even). Fountain pens will be esoteric in some areas, but... they already are.

BROAD nib user-student here!! Noodler's holds up well on my cheap paper (or other people's cheap paper) and I'm not too picky about feathering which helps. Ironically I think the broad nib helps me to not care about the feathering because the letters are so thick that any feathering is insignificant around it.

I use my FP on any paper in school.

Last exam (friday) I wrote on super cheap paper that absorbed the ink way too slow (for a lefty this means a blotch of ink every where). I use fine nibs. Sometime a dryer pen is better, but I just don't care. If they give cheap paper for exam, they will reap their benefit with dirty booklet stamped with my wrist everywhere MUHAHAHAHAHA! Too bad for them, they can't get any point off for cleanliness.

I use several Parker "51"s. Two are fine nib with Noodler's black and one has Waterman's green ink for points of interest and graphing. I also have a Pilot Parallel pen, with green ink a Hero 237-1, with Navajo Turquoise and another Hero '51' clone, in purple. Noodlers' black is a low feathering ink.

Sometimes, tests are given with paper supplied. Most of the time I carry a supply of heavy paper, 28 or 32 pound stock. I figured the cost of good paper as less than $20 a year. I will afford 'less than the cost of a good meal' for a years worth of not fighting paper. I have my own 'notebooks' made of 32 pound HP paper. The school printing office punches and binds them for little money.

Ron

i use my Lamy Safari every day-although it has made me switch from using legal pads to a file folder of copy paper, which it seems to work great on. i also use in in my planner, which is a franklin covey. I have yet to have had trouble with feathering, although it is making me adjust my handwriting-without lines, it went downhill until i slowed down and began to lend some of my focus to writing-i also have a RB in my briefcase if a problem should arise, but i have found that the M width (my safari is a F) tends to bleed and write worse on bad paper-i have even used my safari to write on the Wall St Journal from time to time

My first years in school were accompanied by Geha and Pelikano.
Then I moved on to some Parker 45s which I still have.

During university I wrote with a Pelikan 250 and was very sad when I lost it. The 250 was replaced by a 200 (did not have the money for the gold nib at this time) but I never liked the 200 as I loved the 250.

Later the 200 had been accompanied by some vintage Montblancs. I like them but none of them became a daily writer.
And after university I got a M 400 as a present from my mother.
This was the first of several 400s and they are my daily writers since then.