Not Sure If Fountain Pens Are For Me – Can’T Find A Good Writer

[Danny Kaffee]

There is no law that says you must or should use fountain pens. Based on your experience you probably should use other types.

 

Some folk like and use smart phones, I have never found one that did not annoy the hell outta me,

 

We are all different thank god and so use what you like and ignore others telling you what you should like.

 

I agree. I'm trying to figure out if it's me or the pens. I really like the idea of using a FP though. Though It seems funny to me that I'm looking for a $100 (or more) fountain pen that writes (for me anyway) as well as the $3 Pilot V-ball rollerballs I've used for years.

 

But if I could find just one I'd be set...

Edited March 21, 2015 by Danny Kaffee

[FredRydr]

Try before you buy. Since you are in Wisconsin, USA, best would be to attend a pen show, such as the Chicago Pen Show, April 30-May 3. Otherwise, go to a pen shop with a wide variety of brands, such as Daly's Pen Shop in Milwaukee.

 

Fred

[cleosmama]

I agree with FredRydr. It sounds like you might want to take your pens to the Chicago Pen Show and sit with a nibmeister while he or she adjusts the nibs on the pens you do have. I know how you feel about the cheapie Pilots. I have a couple of Sailor Clear Candy pens and a Kakuno that are among my favorite writers.

 

I do like the looks and feel of the Parson's Italix, but I agree that you would want to not get the italic nib.

 

I wonder why you ruled out the TWSBI. It's a fairly conservative looking pen in some versions.

[Danny Kaffee]

Thanks for the suggestion on the pen show in Chicago. It's only 2 hours away. If my schedule allows I'm going to go.

 

I was thinking about maybe getting a Pelikan M200 or Pilot Falcon, but I think my better bet is to get a tune up kit from Goulet Pens and work on what I already have. For $25 I might find that I already have pens that can work with me.

 

My Parker IM is smooth, but it starts hard and sometimes skips. I suspect it has baby's bottom--but that can be fixed.

 

My Parker Sonnet is very close to being good go. Although there's just enough scratching to bother me it's not that bad. I suspect with a light polishing of the nib it can be a daily writer.

Edited March 21, 2015 by Danny Kaffee

[athenian]

Can't believe nobody has mentioned Lamy 2000. It's definitely the smoothest pen I own.

[Danny Kaffee]

Can't believe nobody has mentioned Lamy 2000. It's definitely the smoothest pen I own.

 

I'm looking for something traditional in appearance.

[StephanLahl]

Senator Regent.

They are no longer produced but easily available in FP communities and on EBay.

They were mass-produced in good quantities. Therefore it's a pretty cheap item today,

which means even catching a spoiled one or two won't hurt a lawyer's budget.

(I have two great writers in their complete factory packaging and payed less then 20 Euro each.)

They have a conservative design (black cigar, mountable quill, non-flexing iridium nib).

Those that I have, have M-sized nibs. They write very smooth. It feels like they are swimming or

"ink-surfing" the paper.

They come with a glass of Pelican 4001 Königsblau ink (royal blue) and work very well and smooth with

Pelikan Brillant Schwarz (brillant black), which is an ink that often makes problems in other Fountain Pens.

 

Here's a review with pictures by an english-speaking blogger:

https://calibanblog.wordpress.com/2010/04/23/senator-regent-fountain-pen-fleamarket-find/

Edited March 21, 2015 by StephanLahl

[max dog]

I'm thinking of getting a kaweco dia2. Seen some good reviews on it. Has the same nib found on the sport models which I have and I know to be smooth responsive writers. With the dia2 you can use a proper size converter that is not avail on the kawco sport.

[jar]

Thanks for the suggestion on the pen show in Chicago. It's only 2 hours away. If my schedule allows I'm going to go.

 

I was thinking about maybe getting a Pelikan M200 or Pilot Falcon, but I think my better bet is to get a tune up kit from Goulet Pens and work on what I already have. For $25 I might find that I already have pens that can work with me.

 

My Parker IM is smooth, but it starts hard and sometimes skips. I suspect it has baby's bottom--but that can be fixed.

 

My Parker Sonnet is very close to being good go. Although there's just enough scratching to bother me it's not that bad. I suspect with a light polishing of the nib it can be a daily writer.

 

 

Stop for a moment.

 

You already own many of the finest pens ever made. Before even thinking about buying some lesser pen why not get at least one that you already own tuned to suit your needs.

[Danny Kaffee]

 

 

Stop for a moment.

 

You already own many of the finest pens ever made. Before even thinking about buying some lesser pen why not get at least one that you already own tuned to suit your needs.

 

That's a very fair point and why I've held off on buying another pen. Perhaps my best choice is to send my Sonnet out to get tuned by a professional. I love the look and feel of the pen and if it wrote smoothly for me I would have no issues with making it my daily writer.

[prf5]

My Parker Sonnet is very close to being good go. Although there's just enough scratching to bother me it's not that bad. I suspect with a light polishing of the nib it can be a daily writer.

 

 

I think you'll benefit from getting expert help. I have a Platinum Cool, which is identical to your Platinum except in finish, and a Parker Sonnet Cisele. The Sonnet has a springy though not flexible 18k nib and writes smoothly on both poor- and high-quality paper. The Sonnet also comes in 14k and while others may disagree, I think the extra gold contributes to smooth writing on cheap paper. So, if you have a 14k nib, one of your options is to upgrade it.

 

The Cisele is both stylish and classical. However, its ergonomics are completely different from the Platinum's. For instance, the Cisele weighs 33 grams versus the Platinum's 17. That's a huge difference, though subjectively the Sonnet feels lighter than a 25 gram pen that isn't well-balanced. For that weight, you also get Sterling silver, which means, among other things, that you can drop the pen without damaging it. Try that with a plastic pen, err better yet, don't.

 

In any case, good luck.

[haruka337]

Platinum Standard.

 

It is the model used for the Platinum Maki-E, but the Standard has a 14k nib instead of the Maki-E's 18k nib, so you'll have a pretty smooth writing experience with a firmer nib. If you want a thinner line go for F or EF.

 

I think the list price for it is around $80, but you can find it for between $22 to $30 with a little effort.

 

Someone mentioned the Maki-E running for $120.00 on eBay, but I bought one 2 weeks ago on there for $80 with free shipping from Japan--smoothest pen I've ever written with.

Edited March 21, 2015 by haruka337

[ac12]

Try switching to Waterman ink. That is a known good flowing ink. I test my new pens with that, and if it does not flow, then the pen needs work. I used Waterman in my Parker IM and the pen wrote very well, no startup problems at all.

 

I recommend you get a pen with an open nib, which fits into your 'traditional' look. The reason is the nib is very visible. With a pen like the Parker 51, the nib is hidden in the hood. What happens is your eye has very little visual reference of the nib, so it becomes easy to rotate the pen off the "sweet spot" of the nib, and the pen starts to write scratchy and the ink flow gets interrupted. An open nib is easy to see the nib, so you can much more easily keep the nib level on the paper.

 

When you pause for more than a minute, cap or soft cap the pen, to prevent the nib from drying out.

 

Since so many of your pens feel scratchy, try to look for what is common across all your pens. To me, it is the paper you write on, and you the writer.

 

paper

• paper that is less than SMOOTH will give a scratchy feel when you write. I have used paper that I refuse to write on with a F nib, because it feels so scratchy.

• I know you said you want to use your firms legal pads, but in my experience some paper are just not friendly to fountain pens, and for me, paper has a lot to do with a scratchy feel. See if you can't get them to order the sugar cane pads from Office Depot, good stuff. There are other good brands, I just can't remember the names.

you the writer

• how light are you writing?
  • The finer the nib the more sensitive it is to writing pressure.
  • The lighter you write, the less the pen will be affected by less than smooth paper.
• Is the nib level?
  • You need to write so that both tines are evenly on the paper. Rotating the pen will cause the pen to write on a less smooth part of the tip, slow down/interrupt ink flow.
  • As you hold the pen, look down the pen, is the nib level on the paper?
  • This is more a problem with hooded and semi-hooded nibs, where your eye has less visual reference of the nib, so you do not have the visual feedback that you are holding the pen level.
• What angle do you hold the pen, how many degrees above horizontal.
  • FP work well at about 45 degrees +/-, but less than 60 degrees.
  • FPs do not work well at 80 or 90 degrees (straight vertical). Generally, the tip of the nib is not designed to be written on. The more vertical you hold the pen, the worse the feel of the pen on the paper.

Other

• Ink flow.
  • low ink flow and a dry pen will feel scratchy, because there is more friction between the nib and the paper.
  • higher ink flow puts more ink/lubricant under the nib, so the pen write smoother.
• nib
  • The finer the nib, the scratchier it will write, compared to a M or B nib. This is because the finer nib will follow the contours of the paper surface better than a wider M or B nib that will ride on the the peaks of the contour.
  • In general, the Japanese pens have a finer nib than the western pens. So a Japanese M will be similar to a western F. But this is a gross simplification, as there is no industry standard nib size chart, each company makes up their own chart.
  • Some of the old Parker nibs did not have a smooth tip on the nib. Smoothness relied on writing on SMOOTH HARD paper and a light touch.

[guild]

Perhaps someone has already mentioned this.... Buy a loupe and learn to do basic adjustments. I have yet to buy a pen from the factory that didn't need some adjustment. They just don't spend the time with them that is required. I bought two Prera's recently that were WAY off. Every Lamy too. I bought a Vacumatic from a reputable Ebay dealer and was appalled.

 

Go to Binders site and read. Tweeking a nib is quite simple and will make your experience much better from now and into the future.

[georgeb]

Flush flush flush, Waterman ink, align nibs

[Danny Kaffee]

Perhaps someone has already mentioned this.... Buy a loupe and learn to do basic adjustments. I have yet to buy a pen from the factory that didn't need some adjustment. They just don't spend the time with them that is required. I bought two Prera's recently that were WAY off. Every Lamy too. I bought a Vacumatic from a reputable Ebay dealer and was appalled.

 

Go to Binders site and read. Tweeking a nib is quite simple and will make your experience much better from now and into the future.

 

I bought the Goulet Pens tune up kit today so I'll give that a shot. I'd rather give the DIY route a chance before buying any more pens or sending what I have to a professional.

Edited March 21, 2015 by Danny Kaffee

[ac12]

 

 

I bought the Goulet Pens tune up kit today so I'll give that a shot. I'd rather give the DIY route a chance before buying any more pens or sending what I have to a professional.

 

Be VERY careful on the Parker 51. Because the nib is hooded, you cannot do to it what you can to other pens. Removing the hood is required, and that is no easy task.

[FredRydr]

That's a good idea to tune or custom grind the pens you already own. Take your pens to the pen show.

 

It's strange there is no online vendor list for the Chicago show. Contact Don Lavin at (847) 432-1948 or dlpens@comcast.net and ask which nibmeisters will be attending.

 

Buy some cheap or junk pens there to practice DIY nib work, too.

 

Fred

Edited March 22, 2015 by FredRydr

[Danny Kaffee]

Looking at possibly getting a new Pelikan M400 tuned by John Mottishaw. The blue, gold, and black looks soooo good.

 

Or the Parker Duofold International. In Lapis Blue. Wow.

 

(As an aside, I was born in Janesville, Wisconsin, birthplace of Parker Pens. My grandmother worked there for a time. So I've always been partial to Parker's. Even though they aren't made there anymore).

 

That would kinda be going in the opposite direction of "I'm not sure if fountain pens are for me."

 

Uh oh!

 

 

Edit - On second thought maybe I'll save myself $350 to $400 and just send my Sonnet to John Mottishaw to get tuned up. It's a little scratchy but really not that bad. With a medium nib and at 18k I'm sure he can get it running like a dream.

 

But I'll use the Goulet tune up kit to work on my Parker IM and Platinum Balance.

Edited March 22, 2015 by Danny Kaffee

[Water Ouzel]

 

I'm looking for something traditional in appearance [as opposed to a Lamy 2000].

The design's nearly 50 years old now. That should be kinda traditional-ish.

 

Nice writing pen, too.