I've got a bottle of Firefly (among others) winging its way to me, and as I wait patiently for it to arrive, I'm rummaging through my desk wondering what will make the best highlighter.

What do you like to use? What did you try that didn't work so well?

Ryan.

Morning!

I have mine in a Pelikan GO (medium nib).
Works the best the wider the nib.

Have fun!
Claes in Lund, Sweden

http://www.algonet.se/~claesg

I have mine in a Sailor 1911, Zoom nib

I just got my first Sailor 1911 (black - silver trim - F nib) this week. Love the pen! At this point it's the highwater mark pricewise in my collection - not sure I can see myself using 'the good one' as just a highlighter!

Ryan.

Yellow Sheaffer NoNonsense w/ B-Italic nib

Makes an excellent highlighter!

Can you take some pictures of it?

I have ordered a Sailor 1911 Black with Silver Trim EF nib, but it won't be available until at least the 21st. Sailor doesn't have any EF of F nibs until then. I've been waiting forever for this pen already.

Rotring 1.9mm art pen. Would also work well in a Pilot Parallel pen but they pretty much gush ink so you'd probably go through a bottle pretty quick.

Red Sheaffer NN with Bold Italic.

Sheaffer NN italic and make it an ED filler with lots of firefly trapped in the clear barrel = )

Sailor 1911 demo with Music nib would be a nice firefly candidate -- at least I thought about it myself.

Betty, are you really sure you need an EF nib by Sailor? Their 21k F-nib makes such a flawless thin line and has allready some tooth (at least on a Professional Gear).

I've no idea anymore. Gives me an excuse to buy another sailor with a fine point? I feel really bad about going back to a brick and mortor store again to test out the pens when I'm not going to buy from them.

Last time I tried the EF, it was still very writeable for me.

Hey Betty - I'll try and take some pictures this weekend, but I'm not much of a photographer. Maybe I'll have to broswe through the photo thread to get some tips.

Where did you order a 1911 with silver trim and an EF nib? It was my impression the silver (or whatever they're plated with - rhodium probably?) only went down to a F, otherwise I may have got the EF.

Regardless, it's a great pen! The F point itself _looks_ finer than any other nib I've got, and it writes the same or perhaps a touch finer than my Pilot/Namiki VP F. Yes, it has some tooth because it is pretty needle-like, but strangely, it is still one of the smoothest nibs I've got. I'm a printer/scrinter, and I find myself trying to break into cursive for the first time in twenty years just to feel the flow! And I might be crazy, but aside from some joins I've forgotten how to do, I think my cursive looks better now than when I gave it up!

Ryan.

How do you make an eyedropper? Is it hard?

Ryan.

check out this thread from a loooong time ago. I had to go look for it manually because I was looking for eyedropper - vs. eye dropper.

http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...p?showtopic=882

I ordered it from a dealer in Japan I found on ebay. He said the factory won't have EF nibs until January 21st. He also said that the F nibs were in hot demand and another batch would also be released by the factory on the "F". There was a point when I got inpatient of waiting and asked to change to a "F" so that it would ship faster, but then I found out Sailor didn't have F nibs either.

I'm kinda worried that the EF might be too needle-like, even for my taste. I'm tempted to go to the store again to try out both, but I feel bad inking up people's pens without buying from them.

Thanks KCat!

I've got some No Nonsense pens coming, and I'm going to try the eyedropper conversion. I'll post back with my results.

In the meantime, I also found a Reform piston filler with a 1.9mm italic nib from Speerbob in Thailand on eBay (he had a 1.5 and a 2.3 also). Waiting patiently for that one, too.

Ryan.

Hi Ryan,

I am using it in a Kaweco Sport Nathan Tardiff Super Nib ED Special!!! Talking about a wide nib... Wow!

it is just pure fun using one of those fountain pens specially made for Firefly!

Warm regards, Wim

edit: about 6 mm wide!

I am using it exclusively in a no name German Pen that vivek (einv over at Pentrace and a well known fountain pen user / repairer / nib grinder ) made for me. He made a huge left oblique cut on the pen and created about a 3.0 mm "side" stub. Works better than a commercial highlighter as it creates a wide crisp line, and doesnt ever dry out.

I use it in a Green mottled celluloid Wearever De Luxe 100 from the mid 40's. When the pen came in it had both tines snapped off so I took it to ye olde nib station & reground it to a buttery smooth & monster huge 4B CI with a 5:1 line ratio. Heres a pic of the nib before I switched to the Firefly. Pardon the black ink on the nib, I was just lazy that day & didn't feel like emptying the pen first...lol.



Dennis

Wow. that really would be as good as a highlighter!

Hmmmm. Maybe that is what I should do with my zoom nib. I got some Tahitian Pearl and I will say, it is smooth as butter with that, but I have to write with it at a 90 degree angle to the paper to get a line that isn't extremely broad. That could be an idea!

It really is. Not only is it a great highlighter but it's also excellent for place markers at parties and things like that. I was using a Sheaffer NN with a B italic but it just wasn't wide enough for me so I got to thinking & this is the result. IMHO the vintage celluloid looks and feels a lot better than a "plain jane" plasitc NN.

If your interested in one let me know I have several floating around here in various pens. I've sort of developed a taste for large CI nibs of late.

Dennis