Jump to content

New Pen Stories/ Advice?


rumbleroar

Recommended Posts

Hey guys! So after much consideration and saving up, I finally bit the bullet yesterday and got my first expensive pen- the Pilot Vanishing Point with an xf nib. I picked it up from my local B&M store, and they were great, really helpful. I love it, and I was just wondering if anyone has any stories or tidbits of advice for a first "nice" pen (my other pen, really my first, is a Lamy safari xf). So, tips? Stories? Horror stories, perhaps?

 

Thanks!

-Rumbleroar

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 5
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • heymatthew

    2

  • Runnin_Ute

    1

  • rumbleroar

    1

  • AV8R210

    1

Top Posters In This Topic

Patience is a virtue.

 

There's a story somewhere around here about how I ruined a TWSBI Vac 700. While not terribly expensive, it wasn't one of my finest moments. Essentially, I had some red ink staining and rather than being patient and cleaning it thoroughly, I tried to rush it by soaking it in a bleach solution. I left it overnight and when I went back the next morning, all of the rubber was ruined and the pen was rendered useless. I did salvage the nib and barrel (which I passed on to someone who needed one), but that was it.

 

So... My advice to you is to exercise a bit of patience. If you get some ink staining, go slow and steady to remove the stain. If you get a rough spot on your nib and decide to smooth it yourself, go slow and check your progress often.

 

Fountain pens are such amazing writing instruments. They'll last a lifetime if taken care of. I'm not old enough to have had a fountain pen very long (I've only been using them a couple of years), but having ruined an $80 pen, I learned my lesson in rushing things.

No, that's not blood. That's Noodler's Antietam.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ah, that first plunge into an expensive pen. Here's my story. My career duties required travel to England and Europe a few times every year. As a 30-something in the late 80's, I carried Cross or Parker ball points. I learned to write in cursive with an Esterbrook, but my generation eagerly adopted the new technology of ball points after Bic introduced the stick pen in the early 60's. But I digress. During a business trip to a trade show in what was then West Berlin I saw lots of advertising for Pelikans and Montblancs. I had also seen ads for Montblancs in U.S. magazines and thought often of getting a proper fountain pen. Somewhere on the K-strasse, the main shopping street, I happened upon a pen store. I walked out with a Montblanc Meisterstuck and a bottle of Montblanc blue-black ink, spending way more than I should have, due to the poor USD exchange rate against the Deutschmark. In a matter of hours it had become a favorite possession. I still own it, and it is still a favorite. My advice is, if you like the pen, hang on to it.

"It is the pen gives immortality to men." Maistre Wace, Canon of Bayeux, 1110-1174

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My advice is, if you like the pen, hang on to it.

This advice is so true. My first two pens were (in order) a Lamy Al Star and a Waterman Phileas that I bought roughly in the late 1990's. I didn't pay a lot for either one and to this day both have served me well.

 

When the threads on the section of the Al Star broke a few years ago, I found a source for the part - Lamy USA and bought a section and nib for $25. (to my knowledge the only source for this particular part, but nibs alone are available elsewhere though) Some might say why didn't you just buy a new pen? To be honest it didn't occur to me. I paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $50, but right now I could pay $37 or so for the identical pen from Goulet Pens. I didn't find FPN until December 2012.

Brad

"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind" - Rudyard Kipling
"None of us can have as many virtues as the fountain-pen, or half its cussedness; but we can try." - Mark Twain

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My advice here is very simple: enjoy your pen as much as possible. Try different inks, see how it works with different papers...

 

There are so many nice pens out there that it is easy to have both eyes on everything that you don't have (yet!), instead of enjoying what you have in your hands.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My advice here is very simple: enjoy your pen as much as possible. Try different inks, see how it works with different papers...

 

There are so many nice pens out there that it is easy to have both eyes on everything that you don't have (yet!), instead of enjoying what you have in your hands.

 

Really wonderful advice here. I'm guilty of getting caught up in this. Step back and enjoy the pens you have and see where they take you. Get to know them. Figure out their nuances, subtle though they may be. It's a good thing. I need to do the same.

 

I'm on a buying freeze. You guys leave me alone! Quit posting your beautiful pens in the Classifieds.

No, that's not blood. That's Noodler's Antietam.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33494
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26624
    5. jar
      jar
      26101
  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      I have the Sailor Naginata and some fancy blade nibs coming after 2022 by a number of new workshop from China.  With all my respect, IMHO, they are all (bleep) in doing chinese characters.  Go use a bush, or at least a bush pen. 
    • A Smug Dill
      It is the reason why I'm so keen on the idea of a personal library — of pens, nibs, inks, paper products, etc. — and spent so much money, as well as time and effort, to “build” it for myself (because I can't simply remember everything, especially as I'm getting older fast) and my wife, so that we can “know”; and, instead of just disposing of what displeased us, or even just not good enough to be “given the time of day” against competition from >500 other pens and >500 other inks for our at
    • adamselene
      Agreed.  And I think it’s good to be aware of this early on and think about at the point of buying rather than rationalizing a purchase..
    • A Smug Dill
      Alas, one cannot know “good” without some idea of “bad” against which to contrast; and, as one of my former bosses (back when I was in my twenties) used to say, “on the scale of good to bad…”, it's a spectrum, not a dichotomy. Whereas subjectively acceptable (or tolerable) and unacceptable may well be a dichotomy to someone, and finding whether the threshold or cusp between them lies takes experiencing many degrees of less-than-ideal, especially if the decision is somehow influenced by factors o
    • adamselene
      I got my first real fountain pen on my 60th birthday and many hundreds of pens later I’ve often thought of what I should’ve known in the beginning. I have many pens, the majority of which have some objectionable feature. If they are too delicate, or can’t be posted, or they are too precious to face losing , still they are users, but only in very limited environments..  I have a big disliking for pens that have the cap jump into the air and fly off. I object to Pens that dry out, or leave blobs o
  • Chatbox

    You don't have permission to chat.
    Load More
  • Files






×
×
  • Create New...