Pelikan - Best For Signature?

[The Good Captain]

 

The brass components give the M800 more heft making it a more substantial pen in both size and weight compared to the M600.

And of course, with the right spanner, the 800 insides can be taken out for maintenance by the owner.

[vinper]

Pelikan 800 with an italic nib in broad is my choice for a signature pen--there are some excellent deals on them right now. I only paid $357 for mine, new and in the gorgeous Pelikan green. With a little practice time, there are many websites devoted to this topic, a memorable signature can be developed and the pen itself will never fail to impress. Good luck in your search. vinper

[NJguy]

Yes, that's right. I see one on sale for $357 as well.

 

Would stores like Fountain Pen Hospital and online stores offer a price matching program?

[NJguy]

Hello everyone,

 

Yes, I'm back. Did not forget to update everyone on my quest for my first fountain pen. So, I finally had a chance to visit the Fountain Pen Hospital and here are my comments. I tried the Pelikan M800 and the Pelikan M600. I went in wanting to fall in love with the M800, but just couldn't do it. Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful pen! I just think it may be a little bit too unwieldy for my hands and for the purpose I will be using it for - signatures. The M600 flowed better and I felt I can control and react with it more precisely. Like a surfer who can make "quick cutbacks" this is how the M600 felt vs. the M800 for me. I will sleep on it with this kind of investment, but it looks like the M600 will be it for me.

 

As far as the nib type goes, I'm leaning towards a Broad. I think I would like to have a custom grind so it's more of a stub than a round (I think I'm saying that right). I just want to have a little more line variation in my signature so it can be easily differentiated from that of a gel pen.

 

As far as the ink, I purchased Diamine Blue Black. I think I'll be very happy with this one.

 

Will keep in touch and feel free to share any additional comments, advice, or suggestions you may have! Thanks to everyone!

 

NJguy

[inkstainedruth]

Congratulations on your purchase. I have three older (probably all pre-1997) Pelikans -- a 400 and a 100 (?) that I got on Ebay, and what I think is a 200 that a friend found on Freecycle (!) and gave me last month. The 400 has an F nib, but is a little springy and is 14k. The 200 has an M, and the 100 has what appears to be marked as "1 O" (or possibly 1.0 -- it seems to be an italic stub).
I have smallish "girly" hands, so I don't know if even a 600 would be too large for me (I tried someone's 800 a couple of years ago and it was a tad large). But the 400 and 200 are a perfect size; the 100 is a little smaller, but still a decent sized pen for me.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[daenghafez]

Congrats on your purchase!

[NJguy]

I just found out the pen I wanted - Pelikan M605 is out of production.

Is there any downside for buying a pen that is out of production, but still available for purchase online?

[inkstainedruth]

I just found out the pen I wanted - Pelikan M605 is out of production.

Is there any downside for buying a pen that is out of production, but still available for purchase online?

There was a thread recently in which someone had trouble with getting their older model pen service through Chartpak because they didn't have proof of purchase. I only skimmed the thread because *all* of my Pelikans are older (2 bought used in Ebay auctions, and the third was a gift that the original owner put on Freecycle). I suppose if anything goes wrong with the piston system on one of them I will have to get it serviced somehow -- but for the time being I'm not all that concerned; it isn't clear that the freebie one *ever* saw a molecule of ink until I ended up with it -- it appeared to be in pristine condition (even the box looked "minty").

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[DrCodfish]

I just found out the pen I wanted - Pelikan M605 is out of production.

Is there any downside for buying a pen that is out of production, but still available for purchase online?

 

What color M605? I have the solid blue and it is a very nice looking pen to my eye. For me the M600 line is ideal for size and weight. Each person has their preference and though I have several M800's I find I usually come back to the M600s for most of my writing

 

As for the downsides of a pen out of production consider this: I'm guessing that most of the Pelikans which are in use today are 'out of production', that's true for about half of the Pelikans I own. Many are 20, 30, 40 or more years old and still writing just like new. No doubt many pens will eventually need to be repaired or refurbished, but Pelikans are a very simple design and built to last. If you are talking about a new, unused M605 I would say there is no downside at all. Odds are it will be many years before you will need to have any work done on this pen.

[NJguy]

The M605 is blue striped with silver tone.

 

By the way, are there any necessary accessories I should consider purchasing for my new fountain pen?

Edited June 29, 2014 by NJguy

[NJguy]

Hello everyone,

 

OK, so I finally received my pen and got a chance to test it out. Here are my thoughts and observations:

 

1. Pelikan M605 Broad Stub - I'm glad I got the Broad. I actually wouldn't have minded even getting a XB if it was available.

2. Gorgeous pen. Great presentation box. Leave it to the Germans to showcase their fine craftsmanship. I don't think I will get any other pen in the future besides Pelikan.

3. Still trying to find that "sweet spot" when writing so I'm still experimenting a little bit here. Perhaps there is a "how-to" guide on writing with fountain pens.

4. I went with Diamine inks and will stick with them. I like their color selection. Very vibrant.

5. As soon as I picked up the pen, I immediately abandoned what a previous commentor labeled me as a "ballpoint barbarian". This pen is too beautiful AND expensive to be hammering away like $0.37 Bik pen. Not going to happen.

 

Question - Other than flushing out my pen, what other maintenance steps can anybody recommend? I noticed on gouletpens.com website a product called silicone grease for greasing piston seal pens. Is this something I should be concerned about?

Edited July 17, 2014 by NJguy

[Notgatherox]

Hello everyone,

 

OK, so I finally received my pen and got a chance to test it out. Here are my thoughts and observations:

 

1. Pelikan M605 Broad Stub - I'm glad I got the Broad. I actually wouldn't have minded even getting a XB if it was available.

2. Gorgeous pen. Great presentation box. Leave it to the Germans to showcase their fine craftsmanship. I don't think I will get any other pen in the future besides Pelikan.

3. Still trying to find that "sweet spot" when writing so I'm still experimenting a little bit here. Perhaps there is a "how-to" guide on writing with fountain pens.

4. I went with Diamine inks and will stick with them. I like their color selection. Very vibrant.

5. As soon as I picked up the pen, I immediately abandoned what a previous commentor labeled me as a "ballpoint barbarian". This pen is too beautiful AND expensive to be hammering away like $0.37 Bik pen. Not going to happen.

 

Question - Other than flushing out my pen, what other maintenance steps can anybody recommend? I noticed on gouletpens.com website a product called silicone grease for greasing piston seal pens. Is this something I should be concerned about?

 

Silicone grease is for you to put on the seal so as to make it turn more smoothly. Sometimes it gets tough to turn, so that's when silicone grease comes in.

 

Because the 605 cannot be disassembled (or at least, it's not meant to be disassembled), to grease it you'll have to remove the nib and clean the pen out first. Then put some grease on a Q-tip and swab the barrel. After that, you can turn the piston up and down so as to grease the piston itself.

 

If I'm not making sense to you, here's a video link where Brian Goulet demonstrates what I just typed above.

 

Diamine inks are sadly not water-resistant. May want to take note of that, especially since you're using it to sign documents. Won't want to lose your signature after an accident where someone spill water on the documents. IMHO, Noodler's Black, a bulletproof and fraudproof ink, would be a better choice. That ink's not going anywhere unless the paper's destroyed. Since you're using Blue Black, you can consider Noodler's 54th Massachusetts. It's also a Blue Black, and it's bulletproof and fraudproof too.

 

 

 

~Epic

[NJguy]

Epic,

 

Thanks for the note on Diamine not being water-resistamt. For what I'm using it for it's really not an issue. But at some point I will need a fraudproof and "bulletproof" ink for legal contracts. Good to know and thanks for the recommendation! I always here Noodler's being mentioned around.

 

Hmmm,... now that I'm thinking about it I wonder if people make up their own custom color concoctions at home to make their signature even more fraudproof?

[ac12]

 

 

 

 

Hmmm,... now that I'm thinking about it I wonder if people make up their own custom color concoctions at home to make their signature even more fraudproof?

 

No but some of us mix up our own brew to get a different color than what a manufacturer has, which would make it more unique.