Hi all,

Possibly a stupid question, but here goes anyway....

I'm a new FP user, who's beginning to fall in love with using the ones that I have, so far:

Lamy Al-Star graphite
Lamy Vista

Both with EF nibs, but both writing quite differently...

Anyway,

I have converters for both, and and have bottles of Black, and Legal Lapis. The black gives me a cleaner, finer line in both of my pens, but I still love the color of the Lapis on my Moleskine journals.

I want to try other inks in my pens, without buying whole bottles of ink. I was originally disappointed with the Lapis, until I realized it was probably my pen, and not the ink. I'm trying to contact Lamy to see if they will trade the EF nib (a 'chrome" one) for a new one. Another story....

Anyway,

I'm looking to obtain enough ink for maybe one or two converter fills, to try out a few different inks. Blacks or dark blues, but preferably black. Waterproof/permanent a must. I'm open to suggestions. Really, I'm just starting to figure this all out.

I have cartridges of Lamy ink, in black and turquoise that I can trade. I like them both, but they aren't waterproof, which I want/desire.

I would be willing even to trade some of my Noodlers inks, although someone would have to help me figure out the best way to package and ship said inks. I'm willing to work with anyone who is willing to give me a hand. This sounds like a great community of fellow pen users who share the same passion. I've already discovered much more than when I started. Its become a bit of a passion for me as well.

This may seem like an unusual request, but maybe someone else has been curious about the same thing. I'd like to stick with the Noodlers ink for now, but am open to any suggestions...

Anyone care to tackle this one?? The more, the better!!

Thanks in advance for all your help!!!

David

Check the two sticky post messages at the top of this forum dealing with ink exchange. Sounds a lot like what you're looking for.

http://shop.peartreepens.com/product.sc?ca...mp;productId=77

As for the nib, you can buy some online for around 12$ US. They are supposed to be easy to change (I've got one Italic on order, will try the switching shortly).

I can also vouch for PearTreePens samplers. Like them a lot.

But, you better be warned about sample, the more you get, the more colors you will find you like. So you may end up buying more ink

I like the look of the samples from PearTreePens - but I'm in the UK - do you know if they ship abroad?

I'm actually interested in your experience with Legal Lapis. What do you like about it, aside from its bulletproof-ness? Were you needing a less fine nib for it to work well? How does it handle the Moleskine papers, and have you tried it on more fountain pen friendly papers?

I tried the Polar Blue yesterday and wasn't terribly excited about it on ANY paper I used, with any nib. But it was my first bulletproof ink, so maybe my expectations for a more vibrant color were out of whack. Is Legal Lapis similar to the Polar Blue? I've read that there are some green tones to the Legal Lapis. I'm a big fan of Mont Blanc's British Green ink and would probably drink the stuff in pint glasses if it was permanent on paper!

They ship to Canada, that I know of, but I don't know for abroad. Write to James P (contact on the pear tree web site) to know.

nick

I've never shipped a broad anywhere. Come to think of it, I haven't shipped any guys, either. That may be illegal.

If you ever DO ship guys, please let me know. I'd like to place an order.

Me too, but can I combine shipping with an order of ink?

Hi,

I love the color of the Lapis on my Moleskines. I have used both inks in the same pen, and found that the Lapis appears to be "thicker" than the Black bulletproof. Same tip, and same lousy handwriting. I didn't mind the Lapis look, but I more prefered the thinness, appearance wise, with the black. Drying time was nearly the same, as far as I can tell. Fast enough for me. I'm new to fountain pens, so I have alot to learn. I imagine I can find a pen/nib combination that will give me to look I desire. I like the fineness of the EF nib, especially in the thin lined Moleskines. The search continues.

I have yet to try the refillable eyedropper pen I got with the Legal Lapis.

The thickness of the line seems to be the same, regardless of what paper I use, when I use the Al- Star. I know alot has been said about the inconsistency of the Moleskine papers, but I have yet to experience that, in relation to different inks and paper, etc. The paper is thin, so it appears to bleed through sometimes, but I know this isnt the case. As you know, one can see the printed dates, etc. through the paper, so one might take care with ink choice. No trouble with either, even the Lapis using a thicker nib pen. Only when Im extremely heavy handed, will the ink show through.

May be "greenish", but I'm writing on non white paper with Moleskine. Not judging too critically yet.

More to come... hope this helps!!

David

IS thin,

One thing I'll mention is that the Platinum eyedropper you got with the Legal Lapis works very well with that ink. The painted black nib is outstanding at killing the nib creep you'll see with Legal Lapis.

I'll suggest to you that Baystate Blue is a great waterproof Noodler's ink, but it doesn't seem to like the plastic Lamy uses. Keep that in mind if you sample it.

A problem I think you'll run into with the Noodler's inks you are looking at is that many are exclusives. On top of that, you have some rather pedestrian inks to trade. I'd suggest a good strategy would be to use Pear Tree's program to sample the non-exclusive inks you're interested in. After that, go buy one of the less common inks like Ellis Island Blue-Black or one of the Pendemonium import exclusives. You'll find that Legal Lapis and Bulletproof Black are well represented on the trading lists of many in the KCat thread but there are many less common permanent/waterproof inks that it seems nobody has. Don't buy a bottle just for the sake of trading, but try to pick one you think you'd like among the less common ones.

Jimmy,

Thanks for the tips...

A few questions... Do you know much about the freebie pen? I'm mostly curious about it. What is the nib like, in terms of writing and width. I havent filled it yet. Not sure why I'm hesitating, just unsure as a new user, I guess. Any leak issues with it? Who makes it, etc... How full do I have to fill it, for it to work properly? Any history would be appreciated. I know it may have been spoken of here, but I don't know where to look..

I realized I had not much to trade per se, I should have read the sticky at the head of this category before I started I was looking for samples, and may have found a good source. Do you know if it's easy to fill my pens with those tiny sample bottles? I have the converters for both my pens, so I'm curious. Will a pen fit into the bottles, and is there enough ink to be drawn into the pens?

Tell me about this "plastic" issue. The nib is metal, but I'm not sure about the rest of the pen, and what that means as far as ink is concerned. I see the nib creep, but it doesnt bother me too much. Should it, or is it more a cosmetic issue.?

Now I need to improve my handwriting....

Thanks again!

David

Platinum is the company that makes most of the "parts"... The Eyedropper conversion is by Nathan of Noodler's himself.

The pens work great and are nice "fine" tips with a large ink capacity. I like mine so much I'm thinking of buying more inks that they come with... Specifically Nikita, and maybe another bottle of HoD since I like it so much.

Has anyone compared the Pendemonium eyedropper pens they recently added to the ones Nathan is including with some of the 4.5 ounce bottles? I'd like to know how they stack up...

I use it with an Aurora Ipsilon medium, and I like it a lot. Granted, teal is my favorite color, so the dark teal of Legal Lapis works very well for my tastes. It's the ink I put in my Stipula Netto for those fast refills.

Hi,

So, if I order the sample pack, Im curious as to how to fill my Lamy pens. I have two of them, with converters. Are to mouths of the small vials large enough to dip my pens in to fill?? Is the ink level high enough to draw the ink into my pens, or will I have to place the ink into another container? Approx. how much ink is contained in the vials? One or 2 converter's full?

Thanks,

David

You can get them in an eyedropper version. The ones I got had at least 2 converters full (Sailor converters) but the ink level wasn't enough to dip the nib. I happened to have some pipettes that I used to fill the converter. I wanted to use one in a Pelikan piston fill so I just unscrewed the nib and filled it from there.

It's a really really great way to try out new inks.

I used a syringe with a blunt needle to fill a cartridge (and I've also tried them with glass dip pens).

I suspect they are the same, but maybe Sam could enlighten us when she gets back from LA.

I bought two from Sam and Frank in LA, and they look like they are also Platinum eye dropper pens
like the ones that come with the ink.

My question is intended to be more specific than that, but it would have helped if I made that clear.

Do the Pendemonium ones appear to have a normal nipple that would later accomodate a Platinum cartridge or converter? Does it seem they're using the same O-ring? Do the Pendemonium ones really come in assorted colors versus what appears to be just black on the Noodler's ones? Do they have the Platinum Preppy text imprinted on the side of the barrel?

The pen that comes with Noodler's Nikita is red. The one with the Year of the Golden Pig is yellow. The latter has "Platinum Preppy" printed on the side--at least the one I got. The other "free" Noodler pens I received with ink (3 black and one red) do not have anything printed on the side of the barrel.

If you want more details from Pendemonium why don't you send them an email? They are quite responsive.