I am now in the process of buying #2,3, 4 and possibly 5 and 6 now. I am between Baltimore, Md and DC, fortunately about 15 mins from Bertram's Inkwell. I am in the process of being converted from Sensa ballpoints and rollerballs to Sensa meridians to Lamy Safari's, probably the vista, the blue one and one or 2 of the al stars and then I will proceed to buying real FP's.
I am suprised by how much I like FPs , I had a whole set of the plastic calligraphy speedball
pens as a kid.. thought I was going to learn calligraphy but I never really got the hang of it... didn't practice enough.
My wife did learn to write with a fountain pen as a kid, her mother and a aunt, both teachers, are good at calligraphy and taught it to their students. She likes my current pen, the gold colored meridian with a medium nib, and one or 2 of them Safari's will probably end up in her hands. She has small hands and likes fat pens though.
I am using private reserve plum ink now,(from Bertram's) thought it would come out purple... which is one wife's favorite/sorority colors, but it is reddish and i will be back for a more purple, purple private reserve, this week. I also have the blue black which i may load when I run this plum out if my next pen dosen't show up first.

I anyone knows where I aquire the gunmetal sensa ballpoint at a reasonable price, I want one somewhat desperately as this is the one one of the metals collection that I dont have.

I don't think I will be going for the more exspensive pens for awhile. I am looking for a cross between the Safari's and the Sensas. Fat like a sensa with an interesting grip section, probably made out of metal, not ornately decorated, clean simple look, with a converter, I dont think i will be a cartridge person. Maybe a porsche design, but I dont really wont to spend that much on a pen. Might loose it .

Questions

Does/will a fountain pen really work as a high lighter? I have seen some inks that seem to be made for that purpose.

When using a FP do you cap it inbetween writing notes? If i put mine down and then pick it up a few seconds or minutes later it seems to skip on the first stroke, after that it flows fine. If I just stick it in it's cap w/o screwing it in it dosen't skip on that first stroke.

Lastly, I have some private reserve ink, I think I am going to get some Hebrins (sp?) scented purple for the wife and I am curious about noodlers, just the name has me curious. Would I be doing myself a dis-service by primarily using private reserve ink?

2 more questions. I have heard that the nibs in meridians are user replacable, does anyone have any idea where I can get the replacement nibs from and whether I can get a square nib to fit it. I sorta like gothic and script lettering.

Cases. I have the 2 pen sleeve that came with a couple of my sensa's and I am using that for now. I want a 4 or 6 pen case. One sensa pencil, a sensa pen loaded with a stylus for my pda, a rollerball sensa, a meridian and I am not sure about the other 2. Anyway I want it to be small enough to be easily pocketable.

Finally, anybody have both a meridian and a Safari? Any impressions on writing with one compared to the other?

Anybody had a capped pen leak in their pocket?

I am not opposed to making it,

Not really. You need a very wide nib and for the other person to have written in permanent ink, unless you just underline the text of course.



Depends on the pen and the ink. Some dry quickly and others can be left for many minutes before drying. A lot of people will recommend a Pilot Vanishing Point (VP) as the nib is retractable.

Welcome to the board by the way.

Hi and welcome to FPN! I know you didn't ask but if you want a really cool pen, check out the Namiki/Pilot Vanishing Points!

duplicate

I would say that there is definitely a vanishing point in either my wife's or my sister in-laws future. Maybe both. My wife tends to loose pens, my sister in law keeps them.
I am trying to amass pens 2-4 at least for less than the cost of one vanishing point. Pen #2 is obtained, 3 and 4 are being negotiated.

Welcome from southern Louisiana.

There are several inexpensive pens that are excellent writers. You might want to consider adding a Waterman Phileas to your collection. And although I don't have one, I understand that the Pilot Knight is an excellent pen.

Private Reserve has some nice colors and I've never had any problems with my pens when using PR ink. Just be aware that some colors - like Sherwood Green - and very slow drying and tend to smear on some paper. I think PR ink is pretty heavily pigmented.

I've found J. Herbin ink to be trouble-free. It works well in all my pens and I haven't had any smearing problems. But some of the J. Herbin colors are very pale. If you don't like the washed-out look, you might want to try the darker colors.

I'm a big fan of Sheaffer ink. I just wish they had a bigger variety of colors.

Judybug

Welcome to FPN.