Seeking Recommendations For "firehose" Pens With Stub Nib Options...

[Intensity]

I'm looking for a pen or two that's going to give me very high ink flow in a broad stub / cursive italic line for the purpose of using it with modern and very dry IG inks. Thus it probably shouldn't be a piston pen, but if it's cheap enough, a piston pen could be okay. The higher flow, the better.

 

Are there some known "firehose" pens like that? I've seen Pelikan pens referred to as being really juicy, but they are on the expensive side and generally piston fillers.

[JonB55198]

In my experience, if you don't mind modifying a pen yourself, you can really adjust the ink flow on pretty much any pen. You can take a razor blade or razor knife to the feed and widen the feed channel. But be careful, there is a hair's breath between a wet writer, and a pen that just dumps ink all over the place without control. So, make small changes to the feed, then test, then repeat if needed.

 

If you are going to use IG inks, try to find something with a converter that is entirely plastic, or an eye dropper. This way, there won't be any steel parts to corrode. I would then try to find a gold nib so that it won't corrode from the IG ink. Let me know how it works out for you.

[JonB55198]

By the way, I'm in massachusetts too. PM me. We might be close to each other.

[Intensity]

In my experience, if you don't mind modifying a pen yourself, you can really adjust the ink flow on pretty much any pen. You can take a razor blade or razor knife to the feed and widen the feed channel. But be careful, there is a hair's breath between a wet writer, and a pen that just dumps ink all over the place without control. So, make small changes to the feed, then test, then repeat if needed.

 

If you are going to use IG inks, try to find something with a converter that is entirely plastic, or an eye dropper. This way, there won't be any steel parts to corrode. I would then try to find a gold nib so that it won't corrode from the IG ink. Let me know how it works out for you.

 

I have tried to modify 2 Jinhao X750 pen feeds, and while ink flow did increase noticeably, it's just not at all enough for what I'm looking for. It could be enough for normal inks, but not for very dry and paler modern IG inks, where more ink in a line = darker and deeper color and more dramatic shading. The pens didn't magically become "firehose" writers like a lot of vintage fountain pens can be. I'm not sure if it's the combination of simpler vintage feeds with the way the ink supply was designed, but those pens can put down really concentrated lines, rivaled only by dip pens.

 

I'm wondering if there's a modern eyedropper pen with ebonite feed--like one of the Ranga Indian pens + a stub nib--can do the trick. Or some modification to large capacity pens like TWSBI.

 

P.S.: The inks I would use would be totally safe for modern steel nibs: R&K Scabiosa, Platinum Classic IG inks and such. Plenty of user reports to show how safe those inks are to modern steel nibbed pens.

Edited March 11, 2019 by Intensity

[Ted A]

Try a Noodlers Ahab. Instructions are available here and on you tube on adjusting the flow. You can easily pop in a Jowo nib. And the flex nib it comes with puts out a lot of ink

[pepsiplease69]

Try a Noodlers Ahab. Instructions are available here and on you tube on adjusting the flow. You can easily pop in a Jowo nib. And the flex nib it comes with puts out a lot of ink

I second that.

 

Get an Ahab, fit it with a Monteverde 1.1 stub nib. You might want to separate the tines a bit by grabbing the nib from the shoulders and bending it against its curvature.

 

Lastly, get a noodlers refillable cartridge for the ahab as well.

 

Youll have so much flow that basically the only paper it will be usable on would be Tomoe River. All other paper would exhibit bleeding and feathering.

[Honeybadgers]

I mean, if you're in the money category, a visconti homo sapiens 1.3 stub will get the job done. The vac filler rod is titanium and therefore immune to the IG.

[Intensity]

Yeah, definitely not in the money category at the moment

 

I think I'll try one of the FPR pens with "ebonite flex feed", described as "Caution: This is a very wet feed!" If it works well, I'll dedicate it to Platinum Citrus Black ink.

Edited March 11, 2019 by Intensity

[Houston]

FPR and Ahab are very good options. I was also thinking of the Nemosine Singularity. Both of mine are wet, and they're cheap and easy to mod.

[Honeybadgers]

FWIW I don't think citrus black looks great in a stub nib. You also don't want a firehose. You want the dramatic difference in shading it can throw down, and a medium/modestly wet nib does that ink best. Best pen I've used it in is my old lamy 2000 F, which was wet but not gushing.

 

It looks best in medium and finer.

Edited March 11, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[ENewton]

I have not used citrus black but suspect you don't want the wettest possible pen for Scabiosa either. When I use Scabiosa with my dip nibs, I get little to no shading because the line is so consistently dark. For shading, I use a nib that isn't quite as wet.

 

I've tried Scabiosa in both a Monteverde 1.1 stub and a Jinhao x750. The Monteverde stub is much too dry; the Jinhao starts out well, but the flow dries up as I move down the page, and I have to keep working the converter to prime the nib with ink. My best success overall has been with a Platinum Balance/Cool M. I don't have a Lamy 2000 but am now intrigued.

[Intensity]

I have a large Tomoe River journal, and I have written a few pages with Citrus Black in it a few months back. Used a Lamy Al-Star with 1.1mm nib and had to continuously push more ink into the feed by twisting the converter. It looked great with a high density of ink—dark and a shade of brownish olive green I enjoy seeing. Likewise, Khaki Black was not dark enough for my liking. Thus my plan of getting a super juicy writer for those two inks. Scabiosa looks okay as is.

[senzen]

In my experience, if you don't mind modifying a pen yourself, you can really adjust the ink flow on pretty much any pen. You can take a razor blade or razor knife to the feed and widen the feed channel. But be careful, there is a hair's breath between a wet writer, and a pen that just dumps ink all over the place without control. So, make small changes to the feed, then test, then repeat if needed.

 

If you are going to use IG inks, try to find something with a converter that is entirely plastic, or an eye dropper. This way, there won't be any steel parts to corrode. I would then try to find a gold nib so that it won't corrode from the IG ink. Let me know how it works out for you.

 

I can second this, made the channels in a Lamy Vista feed slightly wider, worked wonders with Rouge Hématite; not an IG ink, but very problematic, produces copious amounts of gunk.

[Intensity]

 

I can second this, made the channels in a Lamy Vista feed slightly wider, worked wonders with Rouge Hématite; not an IG ink, but very problematic, produces copious amounts of gunk.

 

Did you try just removing the top insert cover on the Lamy feed before the irreversible channel modification? That also increases the ink flow:

https://www.ateliernovotny.com/2017/03/29/tutorial-lamy-feed-mod-for-vista-safari-al-star-more-great-for-drawing/

 

I've done this with a couple of Lamy Al-Star pens, and it did help. Wondering if I should modify the feed channels in addition.

[Honeybadgers]

also, TWSBI clear pens are off the table for IG inks - demonstrators will fail, the inks will darken from the light. You need an opaque pen for iron gall.

[Intensity]

also, TWSBI clear pens are off the table for IG inks - demonstrators will fail, the inks will darken from the light. You need an opaque pen for iron gall.

 

Very good point, completely forgot about that! I'm about to order an FPR Himalaya with flex ebonite feed / ultra flex steel nib combo. Can't decide if I should get brown ebonite or one of the acrylic models.