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Pens Meant For Serious Daily Writing


mlj.1.137

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My workhorse pen is the Pilot Custom Heritage 92 with medium 14 K size 5 nib; it's a piston filler with an ink capacity of 1.3 mL which is about 2.5 x a normal cartridge/converter capacity of ~0.5 mL. It writes smooth, no hard starts, no skipping and I can leave uncapped for up to 15 minutes with no difficulties on restart. I purchased mine via ebay for ~$140 CDN including shipping from Japan. I write my pages of clinic notes on it daily and I've never felt fatigued from using it. I'd highly recommend you consider it.

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"The only true wisdom is knowing that you know nothing"-Socrates

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I find it interesting that no one has brought up Esterbrooks. I'm sure that someone will now, but it wasn't on the top of posters' minds when asked for a pen they use for daily writing. I know that some people recommend Esterbrooks for a first vintage pen. Does this mean that Esterbrooks generally aren't as comfortable for long periods as some of the other pens mentioned? Or are they being excluded more on the grounds of how much ink one will hold?

I think they aren't mentioned because they are too commonplace or maybe don't have enough bling. I have 13 Esterbrook J series pens and two desk pens. All of the ones that came to me with 2xxx series nibs had the points worn flat. A few had the points worn completely through the rollover and were writing on the solder. These pens had many, many miles on them - serious writing, indeed.

 

The capacity of the Esterbrook J is 0.85 ml for a normal fill. If you burp the air out of the sac, it will hold 1.3 ml. These capacities were measured with a genuine Esterbrook sac. All of the Esterbrook J pens use the same No. 16 sac.

Can a calculator understand a cash register?

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I think they aren't mentioned because they are too commonplace or maybe don't have enough bling. I have 13 Esterbrook J series pens and two desk pens. All of the ones that came to me with 2xxx series nibs had the points worn flat. A few had the points worn completely through the rollover and were writing on the solder. These pens had many, many miles on them - serious writing, indeed.

 

The capacity of the Esterbrook J is 0.85 ml for a normal fill. If you burp the air out of the sac, it will hold 1.3 ml. These capacities were measured with a genuine Esterbrook sac. All of the Esterbrook J pens use the same No. 16 sac.

Interesting. Thanks for the info.

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"Serious" probably wasn't the best choice of word in this instance. I simply meant that I am looking for a pen that will comfortable for long writing sessions during which I may write many, many words, numbers, and symbols. In other words, a pen that will not cause pain or discomfort if you choose to write more that the occasional note, post card, or letter.

 

As of the moment, I've included on my "definitely have to at least try" list the following:

 

Parker: 51, 21, 75, Frontier

Lamy: 2000

Montblanc: 146 (more likely) and 149 (might be too big for my hands)

Pelikan: Souveran series (likely the M400 through M800). I think that the M1000 might be in the same boat as the 149. I won't know until I try.

Desk Pens: not familiar with them but certainly an option since my writing in this case isn't mobile

 

I think that it is going to take me quite a while to make my way through this list but I am sure that I will find something that will suit my needs well.

 

If anyone has any other suggestions, please chime in.

 

Thanks,

 

Michael

 

The Parker 51, the Parker 75 , the Pelikan M400 and the Lamy 2000 are among my favorite pens and always good choices. But note that they are thinner than you've said you prefer. Candidly, I would skip the Parker 21, since budget is not your concern, and just stick with the 51.

 

Finally, I'd recommend you consider the Pilot Custom 823. It's very similar in size to the MB 146, and everything you've said about what you want in a pen makes me think Pilot Custom 823.

 

Have fun trying all these pens.

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After high school, I acquired a Sheaffer Targa, which lasted until college, where it and a couple of it's brothers hit the deck, literally. I can say that the Sheaffer Targa holds up to the test, three years of verbatim transcription of lectures on A&P; Physics; Chemistry and Radiographic Physics and Techniques.

 

When Sheaffer's Targa became un-available here I switched to the Parker 45 and later, the Parker 95. Both stand the test.

 

About a year ago, I was rooting around E-bay and ran across an offering of an Esterbrook J. I remembered my favourite uncle used an Esterbrook daily. They too hold up, Uncle Harry was an auditor for the New York City office of the Internal Revenue Service; so I bought one, a black J, just like Harry had. Then I discovered the multiplicity of nibs available.

 

Retro me, Satanas. In nomine Patrii, Filii et Spiritu Sanctu, Amen. Oremus ...

 

I digress.

 

Dad had a 1948 Parker 51, he used it daily from 1948 to his retirement in 1967 or 68. I remember him filling it every morning as part of his daily routine. About every six weeks or so, he'd bring home a fresh bottle of Quink from Fahrney's Pens (back when they were on New York Ave. near 15th).

 

I've recently acquired a Pelikan M200 and a (don't laugh too hard) Reform 1745. Both are excellent, the Reform exceeded my expectations as it's essentially a school-kid pen. I'd have sold my immortal soul for a pen of that quality in 1958, if for nothing else, not having to deal with ink cartridges in the hands of an elementary school boy.

 

Recent forays into Chinese-made pens (Jinhao; a no-name marked with 730 and a Bactrian camel; and an HRE-9010) have pleasantly surprised me, all have decent nibs, although the converters lack capacity in my opinion. No complaints about how they work or are constructed so far.

 

When it comes down to the line, I pick up one of my Esties, Parkers, the Pelikan or the Reform for daily carry, one of the Chinese for amusement and backup.

Edited by LWJ2
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Michael- question for you. Where are you located at? I ask because, I would suggest that you check the Club/Meetings Sub-Forum of FPN, and then go to one of the meetings if there is one in your area. This is a fun and enlightening activity- you get to try out all sorts of pen and paper. And nothing is as good as handling a pen, you get the real feeling of a pen, find out if it is something you would be comfortable with.

Say for example, we here in Michigan are having a Pen Posse meeting in Ann Arbor this sunday.

Hope you can make it to a Pen Posse meeting in your area soon.

Edited by Wolverine1
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My Lamy Studio with broad nib and my Lamy 2000 with medium nib are my current pens used for serious daily writing!

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A lot of good suggestions here. I think it will come down to several factors. Comfort is the first. That is something you are going to have to decide what feels good for you and how you hold a pen. For me, I use the Lamy for that reason. As it is a draft, that may raise another question as to the paper you use and the ink and nib size. Drying time and how well the pen feels on the paper as well as any bleeding of the ink may play in.

 

I wrote my first check today in years. I needed petty cash and no one was in so I wrote it myself. I could not believe the ink bled through the check from my pen. My point being, what kind of paper and ink you use will need to be considered.

 

Only from my own experience. I am writing complex equations all day and using a keyboard at the same time. My go to pen for final results is the Lamy on Rhodia paper with a three hole punch. My pens for calculations and scribbling notes is 10 or so Preppys with a fine nib that I have converted to eye droppers to hold a lot of ink. Most are different colors. I use HP special quality laser paper that i have made a template to print lines and graphs on. I don't remember the exact name but you can do a search on the forum. The nice thing here is that with these pens for some reason, one will be scratchy all of a sudden. I just break out the 12000 grit nail file and after a few passes it is as good as new. I have screwed some up at first but at that price, I toss it and go on.

God created man, Sam Colt made them equal!

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  • 2 years later...

Pelikan M800 is not too big. Always works. Never leaked. Nib could be a bit more flexible, still very smooth. Fits in my hand nicely. Never had issues on airplane trips.

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I was on page 4 before I realized what degree of thread necromancy was going on here. Every post up to #88 was made in August 2013.

Part of all-day writing is ink capacity. Part of it is nib smoothness. It has been my experience that a gold nib doesn't matter anywhere near as much as proper alignment and smooth tipping material. With the services of a nibmeister, nearly any pen can have this. And part of it is using the pen properly.

A good fountain pen will lay ink down on paper without effort. To write all day, you should hold the pen in a nearly slack grip, and write using muscles above your elbow. This reduces but does not eliminate the importance of weight and girth, and allows you to use muscles that have enough endurance for all-day writing.

There are a lot of excellent suggestions in the thread already. I'll echo:

used MB 146 (don't have one, but they oughta be affordable and write well)
Pelikan M800. This pen has a brass piston mechanism, giving it heft that smaller Pelikans do not have.
Lamy 2000. Pick one up and run its nib over some paper before you buy. This saved me spending around $200 on one. There's a little spring with a couple of prongs that are just barely not quite flush with the section, that provides a snap when capping. They also are sharp enough to really bother my right thumb.
Italix Parson's Essential? These are really heavy pens, 40g or so. My personal limit is about 26g, so YMMV. Try a Jinhao X450 first, to see if that's too heavy for you.

Desk pens, presuming that you actually do write at a specific desk where you can keep the base. The taper will provide plenty of length for control.

Recommendations I do NOT agree with:
Parker "51". You want a bit of spring? You will not get it from any pen with a hooded, inlaid, or Triumph (conical) nib, which includes Parker's "51", 45, and 21, and Sheaffer's Targa and Imperial. The Parker 45 is also on the slim side. If you can live without spring, then a "51" is one of the best devices ever made for writing, and can reasonably be considered the absolute pinnacle of fountain pen engineering and design, and I've seen plenty of praise heaped on Targas and 45s for being absolute workhorses.
I suspect the Pelikan M600 is probably a bit light for you, and the M400 too small. The M200 has form factor nearly identical to the M400.
Esterbrooks are very nice, but they are easily as small and light as an M200, if not more so.

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while handwriting (at least the first and second drafts) of papers on which I am working and my thesis may seem like an antiquated and perhaps ridiculous idea

 

It is not a stupid idea. The point of the 1st draft is not necessarily to aim for perfection, but to get the ideas onto paper and reorganised them into a better format in later drafts. A lot of people struggle to do this on the computer because they end up editing as they go, and lose the overview. Certainly, I draft on paper first - and the typing stage acts as another thinking stage.

 

I could list hundreds of pens, but brands I find really great (from the cheaper end of their ranges) are Faber-Castell, Platinum and Visconti. I also find the Parker Sonnet (cheaper end) really nice. Certainly you needn't spend more that £50.

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For this very purpose I use a CH 92 in FM and a Lamy 2000 in F.

 

For home and fun I'll be using a m1000 when I receive it this week or the next one.

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while handwriting (at least the first and second drafts) of papers on which I am working and my thesis may seem like an antiquated and perhaps ridiculous idea

 

It is not a stupid idea. The point of the 1st draft is not necessarily to aim for perfection, but to get the ideas onto paper and reorganised them into a better format in later drafts. A lot of people struggle to do this on the computer because they end up editing as they go, and lose the overview. Certainly, I draft on paper first - and the typing stage acts as another thinking stage.

It's not stupid at all. My husband is a software engineer and always does his first draft of design work (and possibly even coding) on paper with a pen (although in his case it's a ballpoint or rollerball -- yes, I know; don't roll your eyes, I'm working on converting him over to FPs :rolleyes:). And I find that I just can't compose fiction on a computer, whereas with a paper and pen it just, well, flows (no pun intended).

It's been interesting reading through this thread, even though it's mostly a couple of years old at this point. It was interesting that people considered various factors -- size, weight, nib width, ergonomics, and even the amount of ink a pen would hold. And that is going to vary based on personal preferences. For instance, a number of people suggested a MB 146 -- but I've tried one and wasn't enthused (and it was also a bit large -- I have girly hands). For me, smaller, lighter weight pens are better. Right now I would say my go-to pens for long writing sessions would be (in no particular order):

Parker 51 Aerometric, M (the Plum Demi);

Parker Vacumatic Major, F (the Silver Pearl holds a *huge* amount of ink);

Parker Vacumatic Junior (the red Shadow Wave), F (I think) -- slightly bigger girth than the Vac Major but nice balance even when posted;

Parker 61, M [yes, this is one of the capillary fill models and it seems to hold a ton of ink].

Noodler's ebonite Konrad, flex nib (slightly longer than the resin-body ones, and I like piston fillers)

I have other pens that I like but they just don't work as well for long haul writing sessions: either they're a bit too slim (the Snorkels and the Parker 45s) or don't have as good capacity (sadly, this includes the Cedar Blue 51 Vacumatic). I suspect that once I get the Esterbrooks re-sacced, some of the J pens will also work well.

At the beginning of a fill, eyedroppers (such as the Noodler's Charlie pens) work okay -- but you have to keep them topped off or they burp ink. And the Charlie pens also have the problem of being a bit on the slim size to hold for long writing sessions.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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