Active Fountain Pen

[tr3buchet]

Hello everyone! This is my first FPN post. I started using fountain pens last year and thus far I only have a few. They are the only fountains pens I've ever written with. My favorite is the Namiki Falcon fine tip, but I write a lot more with my Lamy Safari fine tip with a converter since I'm not afraid to carry it around and lose or destroy it somehow (cheap). I also have a Cross Century II or somesuch, but I don't use it often as it inks like crazy. I guess I should also mention I use Noodlers Hunter Green and Bulletproof Black inks.

 

I have run into an issue. I like to keep a pen on hand at all times so I usually carry around my safari clipped to a pocket in my pants or shirt. I go about daily activities as most people do and on occasion when I write something I notice that the tip of the pen will be mostly covered with ink and not only that, when I write the pen is definitely putting out more ink than usual. I feel like the pen didn't behave this way during it's former desk life so it must be a consequence of being jostled about in my pocket. So now, even though it's a fine tip I find the lines it makes are just too big/messy for typical hand writing. Noting that I don't like the pens with a retractable tip, is there a good pen for carrying around, or is there possibly something I am just doing wrong? I do try to keep the pen in an upright position but if it's clipped to a pants pocket you can see how its orientation would change each time I sit or stand. My thought that maybe I need a finer tip. I plan on heading to Dromgoole's tomorrow to get a Lamy Safari Extra Fine and a converter before I head back to College Station unless any of you lovely people suggests a better idea.

 

A second question I have is about paper/pads. Though I haven't tried out too many I do like the Rhodia stuff, but I feel like it's too bright white. I would prefer a paper with an older more slightly yellowish look to it. Any ideas? Those moleskinish elastic straps are a bonus too...

Does anyone have comments on the RichardsPens memo books or pads?

 

Thanks!

[Ernst Bitterman]

The only real objection here is keeping the pen in your trousers. A Safari is about the best pen to take this kind of treatment (sturdy and with a huge multi-finned buffer in the section), but it is the jostle of life along a leg that will cause the issue. Apart from amending your ways, you could adopt the habit of giving the point a wipe with a hankie every time you got to use it, although I'll admit that this has the evils of wasting ink and looking extremely silly.

[davidjs]

Hello everyone! This is my first FPN post. I started using fountain pens last year and thus far I only have a few. They are the only fountains pens I've ever written with. My favorite is the Namiki Falcon fine tip, but I write a lot more with my Lamy Safari fine tip with a converter since I'm not afraid to carry it around and lose or destroy it somehow (cheap). I also have a Cross Century II or somesuch, but I don't use it often as it inks like crazy. I guess I should also mention I use Noodlers Hunter Green and Bulletproof Black inks.

 

I have run into an issue. I like to keep a pen on hand at all times so I usually carry around my safari clipped to a pocket in my pants or shirt. I go about daily activities as most people do and on occasion when I write something I notice that the tip of the pen will be mostly covered with ink and not only that, when I write the pen is definitely putting out more ink than usual. I feel like the pen didn't behave this way during it's former desk life so it must be a consequence of being jostled about in my pocket. So now, even though it's a fine tip I find the lines it makes are just too big/messy for typical hand writing. Noting that I don't like the pens with a retractable tip, is there a good pen for carrying around, or is there possibly something I am just doing wrong? I do try to keep the pen in an upright position but if it's clipped to a pants pocket you can see how its orientation would change each time I sit or stand. My thought that maybe I need a finer tip. I plan on heading to Dromgoole's tomorrow to get a Lamy Safari Extra Fine and a converter before I head back to College Station unless any of you lovely people suggests a better idea.

 

A second question I have is about paper/pads. Though I haven't tried out too many I do like the Rhodia stuff, but I feel like it's too bright white. I would prefer a paper with an older more slightly yellowish look to it. Any ideas? Those moleskinish elastic straps are a bonus too...

Does anyone have comments on the RichardsPens memo books or pads?

 

Thanks!

 

I know there's a lot of Lamy love on here, but I've had a Safari and a Studio and they both suffered from exactly what you describe. (The Studio even does it when stored nib-up on my desk).

 

I've tried a couple of different inks (Lamy cartridges, Lamy bottles, and a few Noodlers) and haven't been able to keep them from making a mess. Since I try to not have ink-stained hands ALL of the time, I've stopped using them...

[Paddler]

Some pens will react better to jostling and temperature changes if you keep them filled. A large air bubble in the reservoir can let more ink out under these conditions.

 

Paddler

[Lloyd]

My wife's first Safari cracked where the section and body meet. So, I wouldn't bock-carry one. I'd recommend getting a Parker '51' (user grade) for pocket carry. Their collectors can handle the heat and bumps that pocket carrying generates.

 

 

[Parkermaniac]

For pocket use, I would definitely recommend a Kaweco Sport. They are very durable and can be had for under $20 in the plastic version.

 

-Nate

[ljwahl]

+1 for the Kaweco Sport.

[tmenyc]

Absolutely for the Kawecos. I carry a pair in the little leatherette case (if you can find one) in my jeans on weekends, and they never leak. They are the only pens I've had that never leak.

 

Tim

[Sandy1]

Hi,

You might consider the Parker 25.

Brushed steel - very unlikely to break.

Bye,

S1

[impossiblebird]

Kaweco Sport; the Al Sport would be even more robust than the plastic, and they cost about EUR50. Take small international carts. A fine nib would be broader than the Pilot nib you're used to, but narrower than the Safari fine, I reckon.

 

Or one of the Pilot or Platinum pocket pens; some of these have metal caps, some are all plastic. Available with steel or gold nibs. The Pilot pens will take the con-20 ink converter; Platinum pens will take a small international cart, with the aid of a converter ring. These nibs should be available as fine as your Falcon.

 

I carried a Parker 45 flighter all through school: shoved into my back pocket, or tossed into rucksacks, it never leaked on me, and was always a reliable starter.

[rwilsonedn]

+1 on the Kaweco Sport. The pen appears to have been designed for exactly the service you describe. I have several, converted to EDs and carried in a pants pocket, and have never experienced a leak or blot.

ron

[Kaustic]

I carry a Lamy Safari all day long with an EF nib. The EF has such a precise line that even if it begins to write a thicker line than usual, it is still a F.

 

P.S.

 

Gig'em!

[amateriat]

I haven't had this problem carrying a FP in my pocket (a Lamy 2000 and, much more recently, a Pilot Custom 74), but I rarely carry them this way for precisely the reason Ernst points out. I'll sooner clip them to a shirt pocket or, failing that, along the "V" neck of a shirt or sweater, which is far less jarring than my pants pocket (even when cycling, which I do a lot).

 

However, since I rarely go anyplace without a small backpack on my person, my pens usually come along for the ride there.

 

Can't say too much about pads, except that I'm really liking the Maruman Mnemosyne Roots pocket-size pad I recently discovered. Definitely pricier than the Rhodia equivalent, but you do get what you pay for.

 

 

- Barrett

Edited February 10, 2010 by amateriat

[Parkermaniac]

The reason I suggest the sport is that it appears to be built for pocket use. When I carried pens in my pocket without a leather case, I carried the Safari, it uncapped, and it got ink on me.

 

-Nate.