Favourite Fountain Pens?

[inkstainedruth]

@ mitto and Chrissy --

I keep looking, but haven't seen a lot of BBBs on eBay. And most of the Cordovan Browns have gone for more than I've wanted to/could afford to pay. Thought I spotted one at the Triangle Pen show this year, but the seller told me it was Burgundy (and I didn't have my Burgundy Aero with me to compare colors). So they're both on the "want" list, along with (possibly) Dove Gray (I just picked up an English made Aero in Navy Gray in the auction at that show -- the color is ugly IMO, but I bid on the pen because it had an OB nib). But given how long it took me to get an Emerald Pearl Vac....

Kinda blew the special "this year only" budget already (okay, the two Pelikan M405s I got from Rolf Thiel earlier this year was a big chunk of that special budget... ; but sooooo worth it..... )

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[inkstainedruth]

What a great deal!

I guess it's a preference whether one likes the 51 or not, but to me, 51 is so timeless and never fades.

I wouldn't mind getting another 51...Brown and BBB will be super nice to have

 

I almost got a Cordovan Brown on eBay a few years ago. Had a nice rapport going with the seller, who had listed it on behalf of the original owner. I'd ask a question and the seller would find out from the woman who wanted it sold, and come back a day later with the answer.... And then I got sniped with seconds to go....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[WireFox]

My Sheaffer Snorkel Sentinel has become favourite pen. It arrived in excellent condition but whilst the barrel was not scratched it was rather dull with the micro abrasions of sixty odd years. I cleaned those up with some proprietary acrylic/plastic polish and ground and smoothed the nib to a European extra-fine. The metalwork came up very nicely with a jewellers cloth :-)

 

Whilst by no means the most expensive pen in my pen drawer my second favourite has to be my black Pilot Metropolitan with a fine nib. It performed straight out of the box and never misses a beat. It feels solid and is perfectly balanced. The nib is smooth and consistent and I can find nothing at all to complain about in this pen. I just wish that they would do other colours without the jazzy beauty band on the barrel.

 

 

 

 

[mitto]

@ mitto and Chrissy --

I keep looking, but haven't seen a lot of BBBs on eBay. And most of the Cordovan Browns have gone for more than I've wanted to/could afford to pay. Thought I spotted one at the Triangle Pen show this year, but the seller told me it was Burgundy (and I didn't have my Burgundy Aero with me to compare colors). So they're both on the "want" list, along with (possibly) Dove Gray (I just picked up an English made Aero in Navy Gray in the auction at that show -- the color is ugly IMO, but I bid on the pen because it had an OB nib). But given how long it took me to get an Emerald Pearl Vac....

Kinda blew the special "this year only" budget already (okay, the two Pelikan M405s I got from Rolf Thiel earlier this year was a big chunk of that special budget... ; but sooooo worth it..... )

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

I got today my third BBB with a BB nib. The pen came with a less common English first year R Gold cap with the stylised "51" inscribed above the gold content line. This is my second such English R Gold cap. The cap is listed on Parker51.com's '51 Caps' page as a less common English cap.

 

Enjoying my recently acquired English R Siver capped 51 FP + BP set. The BP has a working blue refill installed in it. The FP has juicy broad stub nib.

 

Edited to add the word 'today' in the starting sentence.

Edited August 18, 2017 by mitto

[mrhr]

pilot CH 91 and 912, pelikan m600, platinum 3776

[pajaro]

My favorites:

 

 

Parker 51s, Plum fine, Midnight blue stub and fine,

Pelikan M605 solid blue fine, M400 EF, M300 ground to EF,

Lamy 2000 EF,

Waterman Carene Blue, EF,

MB 144s in medium, fine, stub and EF (the black one).

Edited August 19, 2017 by pajaro

[abstractsbybrian]

Pilot vanishing point

[hmj]

I prefer to write small and I'm loving the Pilot Custom Heritage 912 with a Posting nib. The extra-fine tipping paired with a hefty converter (CON70) gives me plenty of writing life per refill. Unfortunately, mine came with misaligned tines out-of-the-box, which was failrly difficult diagnose and fix due to the tiny tip. But after finally aligning, it's been an absolute joy to use. I typically pair it with Shin-Kai ink.

[hbdk]

Ok. I am probably a cheapskate, but here goes:

 

LAMY Vista

LAMY Safari

Esterbrook J

Parker Frontier

EDIT: Forgot Schneider Smart

Edited August 21, 2017 by hbdk

[cattar]

Any Sailor.

Any Sheaffer with a Triumph nib.

[MHBru]

So my first FP was an M800... 20+ years later my second pen was another M800. Looking for something else a little less pricey I tried a Fabre castle ambition.... didn't care for it so returned it... for an M205 demonstrator....it'll be here tomorrow but I suspect this nails down my favorites.

[j1020]

Parker 51

Lamy 2K

Conway Stewart 100

TWSBI 58

MB Boheme Doue

Any of my Nakayas.

[tgoto]

I almost got a Cordovan Brown on eBay a few years ago. Had a nice rapport going with the seller, who had listed it on behalf of the original owner. I'd ask a question and the seller would find out from the woman who wanted it sold, and come back a day later with the answer.... And then I got sniped with seconds to go....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Ouch! Those snipers...

I've tried to snipe a couple of times, but there is always a better sniper than me ;p

[MHBru]

An update to my post of 8/21. The 205 is not going to make the favorites list... at least until I get the nib under control. It's scratchy as hell and am waiting to get it serviced. The ambition actually was much smoother.

[kestrel]

In no particular order:

 

Pelikan M800 Souveran with .9 mm Binder Italifine

Sheaffer's Oversize Balance ca 1929

Vintage Conklin Crescent 40 BCHR

Shawn Newton Bespoke Turquoise Trustone with one of Shawn's CI nibs

Any Parker MkI Victory. Newhaven nibs are wonderful.

Vintage Parker Senior Duofold (several)

Visconti Kaleido Voyager, Red Marble, Masuyama adjusted nib

[max dog]

For me it would be the Montblanc 146 clad in sterling silver with EF nib. The Montblanc EF nib has a wonderful tactile sensation on paper, and is ever so precise with it's slight architect cut point, giving subtle line variation in an extra fine line.

Edited September 26, 2017 by max dog

[tgoto]

For me it would be the Montblanc 146 clad in sterling silver with EF nib. The Montblanc EF nib has a wonderful tactile sensation on paper, and is ever so precise with it's slight architect cut point, giving subtle line variation in an extra fine line.

 

Nice pen!!

 

I love the EF nib on my 144 as well.

The slight architect cut is a bonus and writes so well

[max dog]

Nice pen!!

 

I love the EF nib on my 144 as well.

The slight architect cut is a bonus and writes so well

Thanks.

 

I had two 145s both with EFs and were awesome too. Thats what led me to opt for an EF on this pen.

[mana]

When I started I went through a phase where I looked for more modern pens (Parker Sonnet with 18k nibs and first gen rOtring 600s...). Then I forayed into the world of vintage pens and never looked back. Currently, my favorites are (in order of preference):

1. Pelikan 100N/101N (post WWII)

2. Pelikan 140

3. Pelikan 400

4. Pelikan 400NN (pref. Tortoise models)

5. Parker 51 Aerometric

 

See a pattern there?

 

I also love vintage pens with flexible nibs. Nib wise... pretty much everything goes. Love my BBBs, love my stubs, love my italics, love my left foot obliques, love my Bs, Ms, Fs, EFs and EEFs as long as they impart a character of their own to my writing. The nib is the soul of then pen. It shall not be dead, deaf to my hand, swings of my moods or the burning fire in my heart and soul. In short, no stiff monoline nibs please.

[pajaro]

I am starting to think everything I have is junk.