Hello . I'm Victoria, from Sydney. I recently re-decided to use a fountain pen because I wanted to enjoy writing again. I used to use a Sheaffer NoNonsense back in primary/junior school in England and just bought a Parker Frontier, stainless with chrome trim. Quite the handsome bugger. Its turned out quite alright, but theres a few things I'd like to ask you guys:

How can I make it write smoother? Its not what I'd consider scratchy, but it does take a reasonable amount of effort to track it across the page- more than the rollerballs I used to use. Does this just require more time to break it in, or is there any way I can accelerate the process?

How much are converters retail in Australia? They look cheap online, but I was wondering if a bricks-and-mortar was going to make me pay an arm and a leg. Furthermore, what inks are available in Australia? I was a big fan of the old/pre-Slovenia Sheaffer black and black-blue; do the new ones compare in terms of texture and colour payoff? I'm not a fan of Parker black; its too green and wishy washy.

Thanks in advance,
Victoria

Hi Victoria,

Welcome! Converters shouldn't be too badly priced - expect around ~$8 or so, depending on brand. There's a couple of pen shops in QVB, they carry inexpensive and expensive stuff alike - try for a converter and some ink there, though the ink selection will be very bland - but they should have all the basics from Parker, Waterman and Sheaffer, but you'll also find MontBlanc, Visconti and Lamy too - sometimes a different ink can change the nib performance as well, so can soaking the nib in water with a few drops of detergent.

Australian prices are expensive compared to what you can pay online, so down the track if you're looking at another pen, there's lot of trustworthy places around that many AU folk buy from.

Good luck!

Welcome from Texas!

Victoria is a popular name here, and I used to live in Victoria, Texas--a very historic town over here.

As Laura has said, a change of ink might help your pen. It shouldn't require but minimal effort to write with--I have several of the same nibs.

Let us know about your progress, and again, nice to have you here--

And welcome to my fellow Sydneysider.

In addition to Laura's great suggestion to check out QVB's third floor, there's always Dymocks stationery that has an OK range of fountain pens. I am myself thinking of buying a converter, since I'm running dangerously low on cartridges.

If I do get one fairly soon, I'll let you know where and how much they go for.

And this, now, should be the right time espouse the widely enviable qualities of the city we live in: its fantastic harbour, wonderful weather, friendly people , and so on and so forth.

I went to the QVB pen store today, surprisingly they didnt have one that actually fit my pen. They tried the ones they had in stock (the type of which I was unaware of) and neither of them seemed to fit in the 'dock' of the nib unit majigger. The scary lady behind the counter (hey, I'm a uni student wearing sandals and a schoolbag, shes pretty intimidating ) recommended Pelikan ink; I'm gonna trawl the ink review section to see what people say. I saw the price for ink like Mont Blanc- $30 for a bottle!?!? My eyes nearly rolled out of my head when I saw that. Actually, I was thinking of splashing for the Lamy ink; is there much of a quality gain compared to the Pelikan?

As for the nib, I think before I was being a bit too gentle with it. After a few firm but gentle scrapes on some slightly rough paper I seem to have made a nice sweet spot. Maybe all it needed was for the tines to adjust to my hands. So its pretty sweet now.

And I think I will look at Dymocks or the shops on O'Connell street. And as for a converter, I think if you don't like the brand ink then it might be worth doing- thats my reason and I think its a good one .

And being mean about our lovely city, tisk tisk. Admittedly, the weather is currently awful and the people often prickly (especially on our lovely public transport), but the harbour's nice. Theres not very much it can do anyway .

Hello!

I find Pelikan 4001 black to be quite a nice ink. Not too expensive and a nice black, not bluey or purply black on the page. I've used it with dip pens as well, and it gives a nice black line whatever the nib size. Price is around $10-$12 a bottle.

I also like Shaeffer Skrip inks. I find they flow reasonably well, and produce a nice color. I've used Black and Sepia from bottles and green and red from cartridges, all quite nice. At around $8 a bottle, it won't break the bank either.

Waterman Florida Blue is a classic blue color. Flows well too. $13 a bottle.

I'm not a fan of Quink black either, it's not black enough!

You should be able to find any of these inks at a pen shop. I don't know about bookshops. Here in Brisbane, I have to go a dedicated pen shop called... get this, The Pen Shoppe Officeworks and most stationers just stock Quick or cartridges only. In Brisbane anyway.

As for converters, try online Sadly I'm finding it cheaper to order pens from France than to buy from The Pen Shoppe, and we're talking about 50% cheaper *after* S&H. I'm a student! I need to scrimp and save!

Welcome to FPN. You should get plenty of helpful advice with our pen and ink questions.

Welcome to the forum Victoria. As you have probably already discovered, there is a wealth of information available here - all you have to do is ask!

I visited Sydney and Perth in 1993 - the best trip I've ever taken! I envy you Aussie's your beautiful cities.

Hi Vicky,
Greetings from New York City. I have a twin living in Sydney!