What Pen To Gift Someone? First-Timer?

[NinthSphere]

It seems people here think a person should begin with a cheap pen. True, the investment is small, so, if interest is lacking, not much is spent. However, my experience with cheap pens would make me think that, had I started out with them, I would be using ballpoints exclusively today. I started with a Parker 51, followed years later by a Cross 10K, a MB 146 and a MB 144. Note that the first pen was so good that it was years before I wondered if there were something better. So, maybe the cheap starter is a false economy. Of course, if you don't care about the person, buy them something inexpensive.

 

It's the "gift" aspect, perhaps as much as the beginner aspect, that influences my suggestions. I mean, my official first fp back in elementary was a Sheaffer school pen, so it was cheap, as were the couple that followed. After I found fpn & did some research, the pen that got me back into it was a significant jump in price, a Sheaffer inlaid section on a Ranga ebonite body for something like $75 ala PSP. It was a conscious decision on my part to jump in at that point though & it was obviously something that I had an interest in rather than being gifted without prior experience. I didn't come to use a Jinhao, Hero, or the like until after I had made use of higher cost pens &, while quality varies based on the model, I haven't been in possession of one that I wouldn't make use of myself.

 

edit: But also, it's difficult to make more tailored suggestions when the only information we have is that the pen is going to be "gifted", without any clarification as to what that means, to someone who knows almost nothing about fountain pens.

 

And really, the price of the pen should have nothing to do with how much you care about someone, so I'm not sure where that's coming from.

Edited March 10, 2017 by NinthSphere

[ac12]

Cheap does not mean it does not write well.

 

Unfortunately the word "cheap" has 2 interpretations;

1 - badly made, poor quality, JUNK

2 - low cost to buy

 

And if a pen is #2, that does not mean it is also #1. Some of the LOW cost Chinese pens are darn good writers. And to show the point, I use some of these pens myself as daily writers.

 

For a gift/give-away pen, the pen has to be #2, NOT #1.

 

One of my criteria of a gift pen is that is HAS TO write WELL.

If not, it will just frustrate the recipient and turn him off to using a fountain pen. And this is NOT what we want to do.

To that end, I test and if necessary adjust EACH pen that I give, to make sure that it writes WELL.

I am also the "service/warranty department" for the pens that I gift/give-away, if the user has any trouble with them. Again, so that they are not frustrated and stop using a fountain pen.

[NinthSphere]

Cheap does not mean it does not write well.

 

Unfortunately the word "cheap" has 2 interpretations;

1 - badly made, poor quality, JUNK

2 - low cost to buy

 

And if a pen is #2, that does not mean it is also #1. Some of the LOW cost Chinese pens are darn good writers. And to show the point, I use some of these pens myself as daily writers.

 

For a gift/give-away pen, the pen has to be #2, NOT #1.

 

One of my criteria of a gift pen is that is HAS TO write WELL.

If not, it will just frustrate the recipient and turn him off to using a fountain pen. And this is NOT what we want to do.

To that end, I test and if necessary adjust EACH pen that I give, to make sure that it writes WELL.

I am also the "service/warranty department" for the pens that I gift/give-away, if the user has any trouble with them. Again, so that they are not frustrated and stop using a fountain pen.

 

All of this.

[Arkanabar]

When a new member comes along asking "What fountain pen should I get?" my first response is always going to be "What pens and pencils do you already like, and why?" This question, as well as the follow-ups below, are to be answered from your gift recipient's point of view, obviously.

 

For example, do you usually prefer fine, medium, or broad points? Fine points are better if you write small and/or use bad paper, but there tends to be more feedback. Broad points are great if you really want to show off your ink, and you'll be using good paper.

Take your current favorite pen or pencil. How much does it weigh? How thick is it at the grip? Does it have an ergonomic grip shape? Does it have a soft grip? And what would you change about it, if you could?

A fountain pen may not even be the thing for you. Consider, a properly functioning fountain pen has the following advantages:

Ease of writing. A fountain pen in good working order is a controlled leak, and needs no pressure to lay down a line -- just contact. In fact, if the paper rises to meet the pen as you lift it, the line will continue. With a pencil, you have to press hard enough to make the lead rub off on the paper. With a ballpoint, the ink in the reservoir has to be melted by pressure on the ball (PaperMate's InkJoy pens have remedied this quite a bit) so that it will flow by capillary action onto the paper, and most are subject to blobbing. With rollerballs, which use inks very similar to fountain pen inks, I got too much feedback, and in some cases unreliable flow. Gel rollers require less pressure than most ballpoints, but more than a roller ball or fountain pen, and many of them will blob too. Some people still write with fiber-tip or porous point pens, but the point often breaks down with use, especially if you press hard, and they have more feedback than most fountain pens.

Ergonomics. All of these require you to hold the instrument at 60 degrees from the paper or more; fountain pens work best when you hold them closer to 45 degrees up, which promotes a more relaxed grip. Basically, you should hold the tips of your thumb, index finger, and long finger together, and the pen should go right through the middle, and the end rest on the web between index finger and thumb, against the index finger's metacarpal bone. Your grip should use little to no pressure, and ideally, you'll write without moving any muscles below the elbow. This way, you can write for hours on end without getting writer's cramp.

Reuseability. I have a Pelikan M200 that I've been using for over 20 years. I also have a Parker "51" that my Dad used for over 25 years, and it probably has at least that many more years of use ahead. There are members using pens a hundred years old or more.

Ink variety. There are at least a thousand different varieties of ink on the market today, with varying characteristics including color, saturation, shading, sheening, flow rate/ wetness, resistance to fading, resistance to water (fairly uncommon), resistance to other chemical assault, fluorescence under black light, and ease of cleanup. Among other things, this means that sometimes, when your fountain pen is giving you trouble, your best solution is to find a different ink.

Fountain pens also have the following disadvantages:

Performance depends on paper. When you're using a pencil or a ballpoint, almost any paper will do. When you use a fountain pen, you can get feathering (also called wooly line), ghosting (aka show-through), bleeding (aka strike-through, which might just be to the back of the sheet you're writing on, or onto the next page), and in some cases, the nib will pick up fibers from the paper.

Loss. If you lose a Bic Round Stic or a Zebra F-402 or a Uniball Signo or even a Pilot Dr. Grip or Parker Jotter, you may pout or whine for a little while. If you lose or damage an $80 Platinum 3776 or Pilot Custom 74, or a $120 Lamy 2000 or Pelikan M200, that's going to hurt quite a bit more.

Fragility. None of the common pens mentioned in Loss would be damaged if you dropped them on the floor. Nearly any fountain pen, from the schoolkid-tough Lamy ABC to soft fine Namiki Falcons, will require nib work at the very least. The same might happen if you lend one and the borrower applies too much pressure when writing. I ruined a Rotring Surf I was fond of by capping it badly.

Fussiness. Fountain pens have a top and a bottom. Most only write well if the bottom is the side touching the paper. All mass-market writing instruments will write no matter which way you turn them.

As an aside, you might prefer to buy your friend's pen from HisNibs.com , as the proprietor takes the time to inspect nibs under magnification and, should he find misalignment, baby bottom, or other nib issues, he corrects these before shipping. This adds about $10-15 to the price of most of the pens he sells, which I think is reasonable. He doesn't use the same names for the Chinese pens he sells as the manufacturers and other retailers, and this may be to prevent people from price-shopping themselves into an uninspected and unadjusted pen.

The top three recommendations are the Lamy Safari, the Pilot Metropolitan, and the Platinum Plaisir. The number four recommendation is the TWSBI ECO.

The Safari is tough, lightweight (17g), reliable, and available in a rainbow of finishes, especially if you consider the Vista (clear demonstrator) and Al-Star (anodized aluminum barrel and cap). It's about 8.8mm across at the grip section, though the facets make it feel narrower. The facets on the section, designed to ensure proper grip, may annoy you. It uses only Lamy cartridges and converters. Lamy nibs are easy to remove and replace. Replacements can be had for under $15, and come in XF, F, M, B, 1.1 mm stub, 1.5mm stub, and 1.9mm stub. If you can't find one to try before you buy, get a Jinhao 599 (make sure it's the plastic one, not the metal one). It has the same section, and can be had individually for around $5, and in packs of eight for around $10.

The Metro is slim (8.4mm girth), moderate-to-heavy in weight (26g), and very reliable. It uses only Pilot's proprietary cartridges and converters (and is actually sold with a converter, unlike the others). If you take the sealing disc out of the empty cartridge, it can be easily refilled with any eyedropper. I don't like the slim section or the sharp step between the section and the barrel. Pilot has started offering the Metro with the 1.0mm CM stub nib. This nib is also available in the Pilot Plumix (clipless screw cap, triangular section about 10.4mm across, weighs 10g) and Prera (about $55 from Pilot's US retailers, but about $25 from Pilot via Amazon; 9.4mm section, 15g weight, includes a piston converter, and noticeably shorter than the others).

The Pilot Kakuno has the same nib (only etched with a smiley) and feed as the Metro, but a hexagonal section 10.4mm across. It uses the same cartridges and converters as the Metro. It has a plastic body and cap (it's an airweight at 11g), but does not have a clip. Pilot also sells the MR in Europe, which is a Metro that uses standard short international cartridges.

The Platinum Plaisir is my favorite. It has much more girth than the other two (9.6mm or so at the section), is lightweight (19g), and the cap and barrel are made of anodized aluminum. It only uses Platinum's proprietary cartridges (refillable with a disposable 3ml polypropylene bulb pipette) and converters (which need treatment with pure silicone grease to extend their life to something reasonable). Platinum also sells an adapter to let you use standard short international cartridges. Their nibs have a little more feedback than the other two. For Western writers, I'd recommend the 0.5mm M nib over the 0.3mm Fine.

The TWSBI ECO is a piston filler. It can only be filled from a bottle. TWSBI has made a lot of friends among FP enthusiasts by building fountain pens that are designed for the user to service and disassemble, with their broad range of nibs (Western XF, F, M, B, 1.1mm stub) and with their excellent customer service. A vocal group of members have complained about TWSBIs cracking. However, reviews of the ECO at The Goulet Pen Co. and Amazon are consistently over 4 stars. There is an extremely informative post here http://blog.gouletpens.com/2015/07/answering-your-twsbi-eco-questions.html

There are also people who rave about Chinese pens with bargain-basement prices. Regular mention is given to Jinhao's 159 (50g), X450 (42g), and X750 (36g), brass pens with standard #6 nibs that are friction-fit; Goulet, Nemosine, Bock, and Jowo all sell these nibs in a variety of widths. Mentioned less are pens like the Jinhao 599 or 250, Baoer 388, and these days, the Hero 616.

I own a Nemosine Singularity, and IMO, it has a design flaw: the cap screws onto the section, not the barrel. If you cap it tightly, it's possible that when trying to uncap, you'll unscrew the section from the pen instead. Even so, if I had not damaged the cap lip by dropping the cap onto a linoleum floor, I'd probably take it to work with me.

In my opinion, I'd rank typical QC thusly: Japanese > European (including TWSBI) > Pricey Indian/ Tested by ASA > Chinese > cheap Indian & Pakistani (including Noodler's).

[ReadyFireAim]

I was thinking about the Nemosine Singularity which comes w/ a converter and 6 cartridges, or even the Fission or Neutrino since those have metal bodies.

 

 

I like light pens like the Singularity & extra points for anything that is a demonstrator.

 

Most, I think would prefer the Fission because it is heavy and appears well made.

That thing appears indestructible.

 

The cartridges made my Fission VERY wet, to a point it would pool around the feed.

I've not run into a problem with any bottled ink.

It might be something that would put off a 1st time FP user so I'd probably include a small bottle of something.

Also, I'm guessing either a F or XF point.

 

The only fission issue I had was that the barrel is chrome steel and very slippery.

I had to wrap it with something to keep it from spinning clockwise.

Maybe it is my technique...Not sure.

 

I really like the Fission, it writes about as well as my MB 146 for 1/20 the price.

Edited March 10, 2017 by ReadyFireAim

[pajaro]

 

It's the "gift" aspect, perhaps as much as the beginner aspect, that influences my suggestions. I mean, my official first fp back in elementary was a Sheaffer school pen, so it was cheap, as were the couple that followed. After I found fpn & did some research, the pen that got me back into it was a significant jump in price, a Sheaffer inlaid section on a Ranga ebonite body for something like $75 ala PSP. It was a conscious decision on my part to jump in at that point though & it was obviously something that I had an interest in rather than being gifted without prior experience. I didn't come to use a Jinhao, Hero, or the like until after I had made use of higher cost pens &, while quality varies based on the model, I haven't been in possession of one that I wouldn't make use of myself.

 

edit: But also, it's difficult to make more tailored suggestions when the only information we have is that the pen is going to be "gifted", without any clarification as to what that means, to someone who knows almost nothing about fountain pens.

 

And really, the price of the pen should have nothing to do with how much you care about someone, so I'm not sure where that's coming from.

 

Not the price. The quality of the pen in that it will not fall short.

[NinthSphere]

 

Not the price. The quality of the pen in that it will not fall short.

 

But again, low cost doesn't equate junk. Neither does a higher price guarantee a pen not falling short. How many queries or complaints do we have daily about costly pens with misaligned tines or flow problems or what have you?

[penrivers]

Whatever you choose do not forget the company of a bottle of ink or cartridges, cause I am sure if you give a fountain pen alone he or she simply will throw it away.

[Jamesbeat]

How about a nice pen AND a cheap pen?

 

The nice pen could be the actual gift, and the cheap pen could be the 'training wheels', so they can get a feel for fountain pens before they use the nice pen.

 

ETA: A Pilot Varsity would make an excellent training pen.

Edited March 12, 2017 by Jamesbeat