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Here is one of my hand carved wooden dip pens. This one is painted and has been given several coats of clear lacquer.

Finally, through no pre planning, I have wonderfully just finished cleaning 5 of my 8 writing beauties. Getting them ready for the next fill. Next step is to decide which ink will fill each pen. JOY! Two others were already waiting for the rest and have already been cleaned. There is only my Lamy still inked. Literally, standing at my kitchen sink, transfer pipette between finger tips, sink stopper in place so nothing crucial from any pen drops down to the abyss. While blissfully I cleaned out remnant of residual ink from each pen, thought, "wonder what others consider their most wonderful aspect of enjoying pens, paper, ink, etc.?" Having several, this one is one for me right now. The pleasure of the first alphabet letter written, once I have filled a favorite fountain pen with new ink; flow of the ink onto perfect paper; sound, feel when I open a new off white, unlined, quasi glossy, fountain pen friendly journal; sheer giddiness, when I open a brand new ink bottle. Well, as you can read, these are ones off the edges of my hat brim. What is your moment? What a way to begin, continue a new week, huh? Enjoy it and sharing your perfect blissful moment.

Hello all, I've been into fountain pens for a little more than a year now (still a novice compared to many of you), and I love them, but I've recently found myself wanting to stretch into dip pens. Maybe it's the idea of versatility when it comes to nibs and line variation, or maybe it's simply the fact that Tolkien was an avid dip pen user, but I can't shake the urge to try them out for myself. That being said, I've found it extremely more difficult to begin my journey into dip pens than I did when starting out in fountain pens. There are numerous things I don't understand, and I can't seem to find answers for. I know there are many dip pen users on here, and I was wondering if you could help me (and anyone else who may find the same things confusing) with the questions I can't seem to answer. First, are there still dip pen nib manufacturers, and if so why do people seem to only recommend vintage nibs like Esterbrook? Are all dip pen nibs the same size (as in will they fit on all dip pen holders), or do you need a holder from a specific company to use their nibs? Why are some nibs so cheap? Do they not last long? I've noticed holders range dramatically in price, are the lower priced ones as effective as the higher priced ones? And lastly, what is a good starting holder/nib combination, and where is a good place to purchase nibs and holders? Perhaps I'm alone on this and simply not thinking this through enough, or maybe I'm just horrible at finding information, but I just seem lost on this topic! Thank you very much in advance for the help!

One of my co-workers gave me a pen holder and an unopened pack of Speedball Artist's nibs. Another excuse to collect stuff. I used to use these things in art school but never since. But we can always give it another try.

So you don't even have to bother with the business of cleaning nibs, swapping cartridges and all that fountain pen nonsense.... http://sploid.gizmodo.com/robot-imitates-your-handwriting-using-a-fountain-pen-1679656771 So what do people think?

I find that flexible dip nibs are very scratchy and railroad a lot. I have the following nibs: Brause L'ecoliere NibBrause 66EFBrause Rose NibVintage Gillott 404Gillott 404 NibLeonardt Copying Nib DP33Hunt 108 dipped in Noodler's inks, and Parker Quink inkon Nature's Wheat-based Paper Can anyone shed light on this and suggest solutions to get smoother, uninterrupted writing with line width variation? The first thing is I don't expect this, because these are supposed to be a useable selection of implements.

Hello everyone, This is my first review on here. I wanted to talk about a dip pen that was made for me by Ranga Pen Company. There have been quite a few posts on their pens and I found out about them on here. This is a review in part about the pen and in part on the company and the people there. It has been said many times in this forum and I would like to re-state it. Mr. Kandan of Ranga Pens is a true pleasure to deal with. I have never had to wait more than a couple of hours for a reply to my mails, ever. He is always ready to try out any kind of customisation. I sent him a dip pen nib. (Nikko G nib) and asked if he could make me an ebonite pen holder with a feed to take this nib. It took him 2 hours to give a positive reply and another 8 days in which to make it and send it to me. I have included some pictures of the pen and a writing sample too. Please excuse the writing quality as I have started self-learning calligraphy about 3 weeks ago. The Holder is Ebonite and hand turned. The colour is a Rippled Olive. It comes with an ebonite feed and it easily accommodates a G nib. I have used a Tachikawa, Nikko and Zebra G nib on it. The holder is about 16cm long and the grip section is 10mm in Dia. http://i.imgur.com/1Fsv37J.jpg The full pen http://i.imgur.com/RHDDPsq.jpg Fit with a Nikko G nib http://i.imgur.com/7kihQ5q.jpg The ebonite feed http://i.imgur.com/Gtdzu7E.jpg http://i.imgur.com/mboi8eT.jpg Just looking at the Holder makes me want to write more and hopefully that will improve my writing. Sadly, I have not had any time to try out his normal fountain pens yet. But there are enough reviews about that on here already. I would highly recommend Ranga pens (no affiliation at all, just an extremely happy and satisfied customer) and interacting with Mr. Kandan is truly a real pleasure.

I found the following site called Vicker And Scrivener, while searching the internet for dip pens. Although they make glass handle dip pen holders, i.e. a dip pen, they, also, produce ink wells and inks. I noticed that they are located in Galveston, Texas (Gulf Of Mexico) and wondered about the properties of their inks and how they might compare to other permanent and waterproof inks? Best Writings To You, coffeetoofull

Greetings to all, from the Land of Enchantment, New Mexico, USA. Today was a beautiful day in New Mexico, where it is common to see the clouds dip below the horizon due to the curvature of the earth. I'm very happy to be a part of a group of people who won't think me to be a bit "off" to own 10+ fountain pens 15+ calligraphy pens, 20+ bottles of ink and a huge stack of beautiful writing paper and more nibs than I care to count! I've been in love with paper, pen and ink since my days in Junior High School (way before color television, if you must know!). It all started with an unknown brand of fountain pen that my mother gave to me and a bit of experimentation with my trusty Gilbert Chemistry Set. Of course, it didn't take me long to clog up that pen, but by then I was smitten. I am retired now and these days, I write mostly with a fountain pen or dip pen depending on my mood and which ink color that feel like using. I am new to calligraphy and I do try and practice my calligraphy when I get a chance. I am also a new member of Escribiente, the calligraphy society in Albuquerque, NM. Mostly I enjoy pointed pen work and broad pen calligraphy. I really love Spencerian and English Roundhand. My pointed pen mentor is Bill Kemp, who is a past president of IAMPETH. Woodworking is another great love of mine and I had been making and giving away dip pens to my friends. Many of my IAMPETH friends and calligraphy guild friends started asking for my pens and encouraged me to start selling my pens. With Bill Kemp's encouragement, I reluctantly did so and started an Etsy Shop called RodgersPenBox. My pens were recently reviewed by Lindsey Bugbee of 'The Postman's Knock' here: http://thepostmansknock.com/artisan-made-calligraphy-pen-holders/ and by Gentian Osman here: http://www.gentianosman.com/2014/04/beautiful-handmade-wood-holder-from.html I'm very excited to learn more about fountain pens, dip pens, ink and paper from all of you on this network and look forwards to joining in on forum discussions. Rodger

I watched a PBS show from the BBC about the history of Scotland Yard a couple of months ago. I was surprised to see the documentary reenacting some famous cases using a very anachronistic pen! They talked about some detective of the 1840s, going after the crooks scientifically. He's shown writing things down, making a catalog of the MOs of crimes and the criminals who use them. And in the 1840s, they have the actor doing this using what looks like a 1990s, fountain pen with black barrel, section and cap with chromed trim and clip. Of course in the 1840s, the detective would have used a dip pen. Here he took a pen out of his pocket and just unscrewed the cap and began writing. I forget if he posted the cap. They then went on to some reenactments of later Scotland Yard detectives' work to the mid-19th Century, and they used the same fountain pen every time! Yes, there was never an ink pot to be seen at any time in these scenes. I was rather amazed that the BBC made a mess of these details. Someone was not paying adequate attention during the production of this historical documentary. This blown detail certainly distracted me from the message of the documentary.

Not sure if this is the best place for this. Just a quick nod in this direction http://www.iampeth.com/videos.php The video in question is the Adjusting The Flange on Oblique Pen Holder. I'm actually yet to try this as i don't have a holder with a brass flange, but i'm convinced this is the cure to the scratchiness i've been experiencing. The theory is to lower the angle of the nib to the paper so it's less vertical and more horizontal. As these holders are apparently unavailable in the Uk, i'm going to try turning my own and making a flange out of sheet brass. See you over in the making and turning section. Ys Charlie Swaffer