Hello!

I am looking forward to learning a lot here.

I got my first fountain pen as a gift last Christmas and have been fascinated ever since. I had never held one before and didn't know anyone who used one, except for my Dad.

The pen was a Waterman Phileas, which was hesitant at first but seems to have broken in and is now very smooth (or have I adjusted to the pen?).

My father, seeing my enthusiasm, gave me two of his old fountain pens that he was not using, a Sheaffer Admiral Snorkel and a Sheaffer Imperial, both of which I love. The Admiral has a somewhat flexible nib and I think it really improves the look and character of my handwriting.

So now, a few short months after handling a fountain pen for the first time, I am hooked. This weekend my wife and I are going to New York for a mini-holiday and I am planning on stopping by Joon and adding another fountain pen to my collection. I will be scouring this forum for advice and recommendations of pens to try. I also think another vintage pen will be added in the future.

I am looking forward to being a part of this community.

Robert
Windsor, Ontario, Canada

Hi Robert and welcome to FPN

Nice to have another fellow Canadian on board! I live in Vancouver, B.C.
Good to hear that you are enjoying your pens. The Phileas is a very good "first" pen, and Sheaffers are my favourites

If you are in New York City, be sure to stop by Fountain Pen Hospital (near Wall St.) and Berliner Pen (just "107 steps" away from the wonderful Flatiron Building, as they say on their website) as well as Joon. Oh, the Art Brown store in midtown Manhattan also has some vintage pens, as well as moderns. This page here (link) has a list of pen stores in the U.S.A along with their addresses and website addresses.

I am so envious of you and your wife; my husband and I were in NYC about 1 and 1/2 years ago and we had a fabulous time.

Hi Robert,

Welcome to the madness of fountain pen using and collecting !
Ah yes, you adjusted wonderfully to the pen, it seems .

When you're not used to fountain pens, you tend to write with one as if it were a ballpoint pen. Fountain pens function better when held at a much lower angle, like 45-60 degrees, rather than the 80-90 you're used to with bps. Also, they need a little rinse and flush before using them, most of them anyway, with a mild soapy solution (1 drop of liquid dishwashing soap in a glass of water), in order to get rid of oils used in the machining process. These oils and any remaining gunk tend to inhibit ink flow a bit. Watermans normally are tested at the factory, so that shouldn't really be a problem in your case.

Another tip: try to write with your whole arm rather than just from the elbow. It'll make the writing experience just that little extra relaxed. The added benefit is that once you start with italics and the like (which will happen, eventually ), you'll find it a lot easier to adjust to those too.

Maja gave you some great info on fountain pen stores, and I wholeheartedly agree on FPH and Art Brown's, having visited them myself.

Kind regards, Wim

Hello and welcome Robert. Even though you are another Canadian.



IMO, because tipping is very hard and designed to withstand many years of use, the likelihood is that you adjusted to the pen vs. it adjusting to you. I think Wim makes a good point about switching from BP to FP. But I've experienced similar adjustments within types of FPs (as wim also mentions - boy, he's good isn't he!)

So cool that your Dad got you interested. Most of us here try to infect... uh encourage use of fountain pens in our family members and friends as much as possible.

best,
kcat

Hey KCat,
:doh: :bunny1: :bunny1: :bunny1:
Warm regards, Wim

I think my experience adjusting with the Phileas was partly the pen and partly me. It wasn't starting properly in the beginning, and this was mostly sovled by flushing the pen with water and cleaning the nib. The scratchy feeling I was getting at the start was probably due to my holding the pen at an incorrect angle. It feels very smooth now.

I also have started to pay attention to the paper I write on, which isn't something I worried about before the fountain pen.

The three pens I have now are all great, but they were all gifts and aren't exactly the pens I would have choosen. I really like the look of the inlaid nib of the Imperial, but prefer to write with the Admiral because of the flex. I find the Phileas the most comfortable to hold, but would prefer a different colour than basic black and prefer silver or stainless trim to gold.

I am not a collector so all my pens will be users. I will probably accumulate some more, in addition to the one I will surely buy this weekend, but doubt I will ever have more than ten (will these words come back to haunt me?).

I would like to get my wife interested in fountain pens as well. She has shown some interest, but worries about leaking and ink stains. I don't have enough experience to reassure her. Can a pen be stored in a purse, subject to being bumped around, or do they need to be kept upright? I have already noticed she prefers slim pens with a very fine point, and she loves the brightly marbled pen bodies (bowling ball style, she calls it). I think I can get her on board, especially when she starts to pick out her own ink colours.

I am really looking forward to my trip to New York, and my future participation on this board. Thanks for the advice and your warm welcome.

Robert

Hi Robert,
Yes, these words will come back to haunt you . You'll only start realizing that when you have about 20 pens, which you all use...

Certainly no more than a ball point pen, and those are worse. And most fountain pen ink is washable...

That is the preferable thing to do, but most modern purse pens can handle being thrown around, like the Waterman Ici et la, or some of the MonteVerde pens. They are cute, small, and come in a variety of colours. The only hassle they are cartridge only pens, single small international cartridge that is. But with a fine nib, you get a lot of mileage out of it. My wife carries some small pens around, no problem. Oh, I have a man purse, and I carry normally at least 3 pens in there, big size; no problem either (and I am not careful with it).

That should be easy. There are many lovely smaller pens, brightly coloured too. As I mentioned, Monteverde, than there is Delta, Waterman, Aurora, Pelikan, just too many to mention .

HTH, kind regards, Wim

I think the Bexley Tuck-Away is a lovely pen and sounds like it might be right up her alley (bad bowling ball reference )

http://www.richardspens.com/newp_bex.htm

I've carried a number of pens around in my purse or bag and never had problems with leaking or the like. With some significant force you could get ink in the cap but you'd have to be pretty tough with it. Most of us might dump our purse on a chair or desk, but not swing it in arcs over our heads. I'm speaking more of modern pen for the most part. Though my Esties don't seem to mind travel.

There may be cheaper sources for the Tuck-Away. I just think it's a lovely little pen even though I haven't bought one myself. Richard is very selective about modern pens and wouldn't feature problematic pens.

there are other purse pens and smallish pens that are cheaper and probably equally good. A Pelikan M150 might also suit her though the colors aren't as impressive.

(scroll down the page)
http://www.richardspens.com/newp_pel.htm

Finally - there's the Forever. This is pretty small but a beautiful pen and cheaper than the Bexley. Again - there may be other sources but this was the easiest for
me to get to.

(scroll down the page)
http://www.richardspens.com/newp_fil.htm

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Oh, and duh! Welcome, Icevic!

I am here to recommend that before you buy any other pen, you try out a Sailor. It's a Japanese company. I have one discontinued Sailor pen that, if I could, I would clone a hundred times over and give one to everyone. Sailor is a Japanese company founded in 1911 by a Japanese engineer Kyugoro Sakata after a friend of his, an English sailor gave him a Waterman pen. Sakata was so enamored of the pen that he vowed to form a company that would make the finest pens in the world.

This is similar in every respect to the fantastic pen I have except the color. This was the last generation of (*cough*) affordable nibs hand-made by Nagahara-san, the 79-year-od nib-master who hand-makes all of his nibs. They call him "Pen God". This is only available at Swisher Pens, now. (I am not affiliated with Sailor or Swisher, by the way.)



Try a Sailor nib and all other pens will become like unto the chaff blown from the wheat at threshing-time. A Sailor nib, whether it's the Extra Fine (best in the world by some accounts), a Bold, or their very special Music Nib or Zoom nib, will sail across the page like it's got wings, straight out of the box.

The pen pictured above is the best Sailor you can get for under $200. You should jump on it. If you hate it, I'll buy it back from you, or trade you a pen of equivalent value.

Also you should bear in mind that Japanese nibs run a little smaller than US and European nibs of similar denominations. I have a Bold on my Magellan, but it writes like a Waterman Medium. It has NEVER skipped. NEVER leaked. NEVER balked at any paper, no matter how coarse.

Here are the nibs:



Any questions? Back-channel email me.

Welcome to FPN!! Lots of really good people here.

Hi Rex,

I agree with you on the quality of Sailor pens. Just one problem: the 1911 and Magellan or just too small and uncomfortable to me. The next one up in size, the King Profit (or whatever it is called), is more expensive than my Edson Saphire or LE, and if you haven't tried those, your're missing out too, IMO. Every bit as good, if not better, IMNSHO .

I wouldn't mind owning a Moonlit Forest or so, with a nice Nagahara nib, but I can buy several Edsons and have change too for that kinda money. I may get there, some day...but not right now, or in the very near future .

Warm regards, Wim

I just realized that the Fountain Pen Hospital pen shop in New York isn't exactly "near" Wall Street...it's more like half a mile away (800m, if you're Canadian...which you are ). I should also say that Berliner Pen is not a typical pen store, as it is in a small office-type room, but I bought a lovely Sheaffer Marine Green Balance from Bernie there...and if you've never seen the Flatiron Bldg. it's worth a trip anyway, as the store is oh-so-close to the Flatiron....

I too was a bit paranoid about pen caps coming off in my purse, etc. so I carry my fountain pens in a 2-pen leather pouch that I got from my local pen store. It protects the pens from getting scratched too...

Hi Maja,

So what is near in your dictionary? That is only a 7-minute walk at a very leisurely pace. 5 minutes or less when you let me loose on the streets... I walk further for a take-away sandwich for lunch ...

Warm regards, Wim

Thanks for your suggestions. All the pens mentioned look wonderful. However, at this point I haven't handled enough fountain pens to know exactly what I like and don't like. I need to get a feel for what my preferences are in shape and size, before I even get to the main thing, which is how they write. Once all that is determined, then I will be able to order from internet sources, based on your reviews and knowledge of my own preferences.
I know that large heavy pens won't be my thing, nor slender light ones. Probably medium size and weight will be ideal. I always post my pens so the pen needs to be balanced when posted.
Fountain Pen Hospital has the Sailors but not Joon, so it looks like I will be stopping there as well.
The Edson seems ideal but the price is, well, prohibitive at this stage.

I think I want to keep my purchases under $200 (preferably much less) until I am sure of exactly what is perfect for me. At that point, I'll know exactly what I want, and if it is too expensive, I'll save up for it and relish the anticipation.

Robert,

Welcome to FPN... I see you are already making friends here.

It's always to see more Canucks here and I expect to see more and more as time goes by... the Ottawa Fountain Pen Society even has their own sub- forum here.

I am really hoping that we will all be able to meet and say hello at the Canadian show and I am crossing my fingers that I'll be able to make it this year...

Cheers !

Keith

P.S. If your wife is a fan of slender pens then I would also look at the pens offered by Columbus (Italy) as they are a company that makes an excellent product and offers a wide range of slimmer models in some beautiful finishes.

Canada's a big country, Wim, so I drive almost everywhere



Almost forgot to ask...
Robert/icevic, hope you don't mind me asking but what does your avatar represent? Your family's coat of arms....or something else?

It is the coat of arms of Windsor, Ontario, Canada, the city I live in. Just something to take up the space, that's all.





What, where, and when is the Canadian Show?

Robert

Thanks for the answer, Robert; I thought it might be a provincial coat of arms, but it wasn't Ontario's, so I was left wondering...

If you check Susan Wirth's handy U.S. and Canada 2005 Pen Show Calendar you will see that on Sunday July 31st, there is a one-day Toronto Pen Show at the International Centre in Mississauga this year. Looks like there might be a Detroit Show in Dec. 2005 (it shows as "still pending" on that calendar), which would be a lot closer for you, I guess, since you live over the bridge in Windsor.

The nearest show to me is still the Portland Pen Show, which will be held this July. I am hoping to attend, but it depends the work situation (I'm still looking), etc. My cousin is getting married in northern California this August, so we'll have to see...