Favourite C/c Fountain Pen

[3nding]

Maybe I have been blessed to not experience a "bad" converter, but I enjoy them as much as any of my pens with a piston filler. I especially appreciate them when I clean a pen to use a different colored ink.

 

 

C/C is a chance feature. As discussed elsewhere, I the only time I have leant toward one filling system rather than another has been my tendency to prefer plunge rather than lever within the Onoto brand. For all other brands, filler is pretty irrelevant. Therefore, my answer is like jar's with a lot fewer brands involved. I have Waterman (mainly Man 100), S T Dupont, Lamy and Graf von Faber Castell C/C pens and happily I really like all of my pens. I have some favourites but not to denigrate others.

 

I want to precise that the only reason I mention that I prefer my piston/lever/button filler is t he generally greater ink capacity. I really like c/c pens too, they are easy to clean and repair and very practical for travelling. I do agree that otherwise the type of filling mechanism is pretty irrelevant unless you find it unpractical (e.g. some people seem to stay away from unrestored vintage vacumatics because they say they are more difficult to repair, while they really enjoy Parker "51" Aerometric pens because of the opposite reason). I haven't had a single bad experience with converters so far in my limited general fountain pen experience.

[eharriett]

I have a Waterman from the 90's that was given to me as a college graduation gift. Not sure what it is, but it is my nightly journaling pen and is the impetus for me getting involved with this crazy hobby of ours. It is a c/c.

[Oranges and Apples]

<- The Pilot M90

 

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x232/JohnCruzNg/Pilot-M90_0003_zpsb4xzk1qh.jpg

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/121412-the-m90-pilots-gracious/

[ethernautrix]

Nakaya and Pilot. I prefer c/c generally.

[Oranges and Apples]

Nakaya and Pilot. I prefer c/c generally.

 

I do as well, I think that makes us the minority.

Edited March 20, 2017 by Oranges and Apples

[jar]

 

 

 

I want to precise that the only reason I mention that I prefer my piston/lever/button filler is t he generally greater ink capacity. I really like c/c pens too, they are easy to clean and repair and very practical for travelling. I do agree that otherwise the type of filling mechanism is pretty irrelevant unless you find it unpractical (e.g. some people seem to stay away from unrestored vintage vacumatics because they say they are more difficult to repair, while they really enjoy Parker "51" Aerometric pens because of the opposite reason). I haven't had a single bad experience with converters so far in my limited general fountain pen experience.

The reality though is that most piston fillers do not hold more ink than most cartridge pens.

[sandy101]

The advantage of cartridge convertors is that you have a bit more control over the amount of ink you put in them. So, if you want to use a little bit of red - or try a new shade of blue, then it's quite easy to put just enough inside. Piston fillers tend to drink until they are full, and you are kind of stuck with the ink until its used, or you flush it out which is a waste, and a chore at times.

 

My pistons tend to be one ink pens, and I keep red, green and browns well away from them as, in my experience they can clog feeds on occasion. (I'm not saying it happens al the time, but sometimes I seem to get gloops of ink coming out of the feed with these colours) and so I'm somewhat circumspect about putting that stuff into a piston.

[Arkanabar]

I have four that I rather like.

Baoer 388 stainless. The cap is getting soft, but they're cheap, so I may buy some more. It started out horrifically dry, but I used arm writing to really bear down on it for a quarter of a converter-fill, and it got to be much better.

Nemosine Singularity 0.6mm stub. The cap lip has cracked where I've dropped it on a linoleum floor a number of times, but not past the the cap band. I wish they'd made it so the cap screws onto the barrel instead of the section, but whatever.

Platinum Plaisir 0.5mm. These are sturdy, have nice ink capacity, very nicely lightweight, can be ignored for months and still write on the first stroke, and you can refill the decently-sized cartridge with a typical 3ml disposable bulb pipette. You can also buy an adapter for use with international c/c, or a Platinum converter. Platinum's converters require a bit of preventative maintenance, e.g. a smear of pure silicone grease (sold by certain pen retailers and dive shops) on the converter piston, or they tend to fail pretty quickly. Platinum nibs have a reputation for a bit of feedback.

Pilot Prera CM. I love the CM nib. The Prera has a bit more girth than the Metro (shorter, though), no annoying step between section and barrel, and I just love the soft yet secure click of the cap. And it comes with a piston converter, and Pilot carts can be refilled with just about any eyedropper once you take out the little plastic sealing disc.

 

The advantage of cartridge convertors is that you have a bit more control over the amount of ink you put in them. So, if you want to use a little bit of red - or try a new shade of blue, then it's quite easy to put just enough inside. Piston fillers tend to drink until they are full, and you are kind of stuck with the ink until its used, or you flush it out which is a waste, and a chore at times.

 

My pistons tend to be one ink pens, and I keep red, green and browns well away from them as, in my experience they can clog feeds on occasion. (I'm not saying it happens al the time, but sometimes I seem to get gloops of ink coming out of the feed with these colours) and so I'm somewhat circumspect about putting that stuff into a piston.

Huh? Putting short fills into a piston pen ought to be bog-easy. Once the pen is dry, drive the piston plunger all the way forward, dip nib in ink, turn knob back once or twice (or thrice), lift pen out of ink, retract plunger the rest of the way, and you don't even have to push out a few drops to get excess ink out of the feed.

 

Putting short fills into a sac pen, now, that's a different story. I guess you could work the lever/ button/ press bar and remove the pen from ink after only a second or two, instead of five or ten, but you aren't going to have as much control.

[Mercian]

The advantage of cartridge convertors is that you have a bit more control over the amount of ink you put in them. So, if you want to use a little bit of red - or try a new shade of blue, then it's quite easy to put just enough inside. Piston fillers tend to drink until they are full, and you are kind of stuck with the ink until its used, or you flush it out which is a waste, and a chore at times.

 

What on earth gives you this idea?

Piston fillers - like c/c pens fitted with a converter - will only drink until one stops turning the piston knob.

Or takes the nib out of the bottle. One is, surely, completely in control of the timing of each of those events.

 

The process of filling a piston-filler also wets the pen's feed; unlike, say, syringe-filling a cartridge or converter prior to fitting that to one's c/c pen.

If anything, one might make a case that one actually has a greater degree of control with a piston-filler, because one can suck up enough ink to wet the feed, and only that much.

 

To enable control of fill-quantity to that degree, one needs a pen in which one can tell whether there is any ink at all inside the fill-reservoir.

In piston-fillers, that criterion includes all the Pelikan pens that have an ink window just above their grip section, and all demonstrator pens.

In c/c pens one is restricted to demonstrators (e.g. LAMY Vista, or the discontinued transparent models of Pelikan Pelikano or Future).

 

My pistons tend to be one ink pens, and I keep red, green and browns well away from them as, in my experience they can clog feeds on occasion. (I'm not saying it happens al the time, but sometimes I seem to get gloops of ink coming out of the feed with these colours) and so I'm somewhat circumspect about putting that stuff into a piston.

I agree with you about the wish to avoid staining/clogging in pens that are difficult to clean - e.g. I keep browns, purples, and reds out of my Parker "51".

 

The only piston filler that I own is a Pelikan M205.

Its nib and feed are on a unit that simply unscrews from the grip section. That makes it the easiest pen to clean out of the pens that I own.

Then there are the TWSBI piston pens, which come with instructions and a tool to enable complete disassembly for cleaning/maintenance.

 

The only c/c pen that I own that offers the same easy access to its feed as the Pelikan piston filler does is the Parker Frontier, whose nib/feed unit also simply unscrews. I believe that the Parker Sonnet shares this - eminently useful - design, but I don't own one.

I have not yet raised the courage to try to pull out a c/c filler's feed (I am a cack-handed klutz), and I would certainly be wary of trying to do that with a c/c feed that had got gunked-up with dried-out ink.

 

What I find most interesting about this is that you and I have come to opposite conclusions about the difficulty of cleaning out our pens.

You have more experience with piston-fillers than I do, and obviously own some that can not be disassembled for cleaning as easily as a Pelikan M-series pen.

I daren't buy any of those, because I am forgetful enough that I might let an ink dry out in one of them, and too timid to try to take one apart to clean it.

 

Those two personal faults also mean that I shun expensive c/c pens, such as the Parker Duofold.

E.g. I am currently strongly Tempted by a Diplomat 'Excellence' - but then I remember my own failings, and think again.

I will only spend 'big money' on pens that I can safely take apart for cleaning - such as Pelikan piston fillers - and I may well have a TWSBI in my future.

I am reluctant to spend what I think of as 'Pelikan Souverän money' on any pen that 'only' has the same (inaccessible) feed system as one of my entry-level 'school' pens.

 

I am, I know, missing out on some really nice pens because of my daft prejudice about this, but whaddya gonna do? :-D

Temet nosce eh?

 

In answer to the original question:

Of my c/c pens, my favourites would be my Luxor-made Parker Frontiers - they do not feel as well-made as e.g. a Parker "51", but then they ARE cheap. Their appeal to me is that (like a "51") they are the 'right' size for my hand; and they have smooth, Fine nibs, which reliably lay down a nice wet line - they are perfect for my iron-gall inks :-)

 

I also really like my 2012 Parker Urban - even though it is a bit heavy; one cannot write comfortably with its cap posted, and it is not easy to get at its feed/nib (which is a 'nail').

So, why do I enjoy it so much? Because it is very reliable, I really like the colour scheme of the one that I bought, and because its curvy shape just speaks to me :-)

[ink-syringe]

Parker 45, Sheaffer Nononsense, for modern production pens I enjoy any Pilot pen that will take a Con70, which is easy to work, easy to clean (despite what you may have heard) and holds a good amount of ink. My travel rig is a P45, usually a Nononsense or Skripsert, and my Pilot C74 or CH 912, in my Pilot case. Box of Pilot Carts, Aurora Blue for the 45 and Skrip Blue for whatever Sheaffer I am rolling with. Last time I took a Sailor 1911L instead of the Pilot and that was nice b/c then I could use Sailor BlueBlack, which I dig. If I need a red pen for markup, a Lamy safari or a felt pen even.

[catbert]

Parker 75

[ac12]

Following are the cartridge/converter pens that I have in use:

• Baoer 388
• Lamy joy
• Ohto Tasche (cartridge only)
• Parker 45
• Parker Classic
• Parker Vector Calligraphy pen
• Pilot 200 desk pen
• Sheaffer School/Cartridge (cartridge only)

Note that as CC pens, I use converters in most of the pens.

Only the Sheaffer School pen and Ohto Tasche are used with a cartridge, cuz I do not have a converter that works with those pens.

Edited March 20, 2017 by ac12

[tonybelding]

Sheaffer Targa.

 

More specifically, my sterling silver Targa with the 14K gold F nib.

 

http://zobeid.zapto.org/image/pens/targa/sterling_silver_targa_02.jpg

[Flounder]

Far from my favourite, but I took my recently purchased Kaweco Sport guilloche on a weekend trip, and it was perfect for travelling, in that I didn't worry about it the way I would for 90% of my other pens and made my handwriting quite nice for the thank-you note.

[mitto]

Parker 45 and English Parker 61 C/C version.

[Margana]

Platinum #3776 Century with the Slip 'n Seal cap.

[tinta]

The Sailor 1911 Standard is probably my most "favourite" cartridge converter model. So much so, that I've acquired five of them in different colours or editions. All of these pens had a 1.15 mm. 14c MS nib that had been modified to be either a stub or a CI (0.6 mm. - 1.1mm).

The mid-size 1911 pens are the right size for my small hand. I use a converter & bottled ink most of the time.

My 0.6 mm round-nosed CI 1911 will occasionally be fitted with a Sailor Kiwa-Guro cart if I need to use a highly water resistant black ink.

[senzen]

All my pens use converters, save for a Pelikan M400, and I like them all. They do seem to dry faster than the Pelikan, but I've just learned to keep them in their pouch when not in use, which helps with not losing them. The Sailor pro gear does seem to dry less quickly than the others.

[pajaro]

Montblanc 144R.

[Bluey]

Sailor Pro Gear MF. It's my favourite pen. period.

Edited March 26, 2017 by Bluey