How Have Your Tastes Changed Over The Years?

[dennis_f]

My tastes are becoming more expensive... ...

 

 

Seriously though, like a lot of people, my nib width preferences have changed (getting broader)... but more curious to me is that my preference in weight, size, and posting has changed. I used to post all the time, but now I find that it throws the pen off balance. That has meant a shift in pen sizes. And whereas I used to need my (unposted) pen to be almost always 130mm, now I'm happy with even smaller pens (I've begun to find the Sailor ProGear Slim line very very comfortable)... and the Pelikan 400 (posted, in this case) far more comfortable than my 800s. I have no explanation for this shift in taste, and I think I'm still in the midst of it.

 

D

[pajaro]

I now use the better quality pens I have and not the less expensive pens. Always fine, because it's not fun bathing my left hand in wet ink. Have been using fine italics.

[PAKMAN]

Nibs, from medium to fine or extra fine, have always liked smoothness in my nibs

Size, from thin to medium to larger pens

Cost, from cheaper pens to more expensive

Color, always loved colorful pens

Ink, never liked black, started out with all blue shades, now have a little bit of everything

[senzen]

My first fountain pens were good models but I had zero patience and didn't appreciate them until much later, when I developed some patience and had tried cheaper models like Lamy Vistas, Mujis, Platinum Cools... Unfortunately these older models are black with gold accents and in the meantime I developed a healthy dislike of gold: Waterman Le Man 100, Pelikan m600, two Parker Sonnets.

 

I love the design of Pelikan m205 in clear blue, Faber Castell Ambition in pearwood, and Lamy Studios, but I have also clarified what matters to me, which is reliability, pens that make inks look good, beyond smooth nibs or nib width. I love that one of my seven Vistas makes Équinoxe 6 look exactly like I thought it could, when more expensive pens could not. I may yet try japanese soft nibs, not sure about italics.

 

I've also had to accept the reality that even if a pen works fine it may not get along with all inks, which to me is a bit like stepping back into the age of sorcery but there you go, you have to accept what is instead of banging your head for what should be. Example: my otherwise quite perfect Metropolitan doesn't seem to get on with Hisoku.

Edited January 14, 2019 by pseudo88

[Shannon]

I used to purchase everything because it was pretty. I didn't pay much attention to the brands, reputations, or quality -- if it was under $75, then all the better.

 

Now my collection is predominantly Cross, Waterman, and Montblanc, with a few Pilots to round it out. I prefer understated pens with gold finishes. And I prefer gold nibs over steel. Now I'd rather buy one nice pen than 15 slightly OK ones.

[mitto]

No change of taste.

 

Pens:

 

Parker 51s

Sheaffer PFM

Pelikan 400NN

 

Nibs.

 

B, BB, BBB, Stub and oblique.

 

Though I also like certain other brand/model pens.

Edited January 14, 2019 by mitto

[Driften]

I used to like F/MF/FM nibs now its between M and B. In general I like around a 0.6-0.7mm line width. The only problem is for some brands 0.6 is a medium and others that width is a B and I never know which to buy.

 

For a while I really liked stubs and italics. I still like them but found they slow me down too much for my everyday writing so I just cleaned the last one out and will only ink them for special needs.

 

I have gone from C/C to Piston fill, and now a mix of both. I have also moved away from eye dropping pens. They just hold too much ink. When I have 19 of my 46 pens inked its better to just have a converters worth of ink in pens in the rotation. I have also gone from saturated inks to inks that are better shading.

[A Smug Dill]

Nibs: I still always prefer fine nibs (that's 'European Extra Fine' or thereabouts), although I'm now more tolerant of nibs that typically lay down wider lines asymmetrically as long as they're 'special purpose' nibs and can lay down fine lines in at least one orientation (held with the slit facing down, and/or with the tip at a particular angle from the vertical).

 

Barrels: I moved on from mainly lacquer-over-brass and brushed/polished metal barrels to other materials such as briar, maple, celluloid, brightly-coloured fancy acrylics, and finishes decorated with kanazawa-haku, maki-e, koshu-inden, raden, etc. Still think demonstrators look and feel cheap, irrespective of brand and price of the actual pens.

 

Brands: I now strongly prefer Japanese pens (although I've only really bought the Big Three brands of Platinum, Sailor and Pilot), whereas I started off primarily with French and German pens (Waterman and Rotring). I still think Parker is garbage, and wouldn't touch Montblanc with a three-metre barge pole.

 

Inks: I started off favouring Parker Penman inks, then onto Noodler's for all its bulletproof/forgery-proof/freeze-proof qualities (not that I had a functional requirement for any of that other than waterproof-ness), and then went through a spell of almost using Pilot Iroshizuku inks exclusively (and buying all the colours), whereas now I'm more receptive to other European inks such as Diamine, Rohrer & Klingner and KWZ Ink. Noodler's is now a brand I'm actively avoiding.

[catbert]

Nibs then: EF and F

Nibs now: more stubs, obliques and italics (all widths)

 

For the rest, not much change: black pens, blue-black inks.

[SpecTP]

I went big.. (MB146/WE) bigger.. (MB149, Conid Kingsize) now I'm going back to smaller (MB14/VP)

[TheDutchGuy]

How Have Your Tastes Changed Over The Years?

Not sure if it's taste that's changed. Probably I've become more knowledgeable and observant and have thereby discovered what my taste actually *is*. It's like wine, or whiskey... at first I could only categorize these in two buckets: "like" or "don't like". Then, you learn to discern flavours, subtleties, etc. It's similar with pens. I still love my first gateway pen dearly but several pens that came later have since been sold off. These include some great pens such as a Diplomat Aero (awesome, but I could not handle the slippery section), a Pilot Custom 823 (imported one from Japan, disliked its nib and never warmed to it) and a Cross Townsend (just not my kind of pen).

 

Along the way I discovered Sailor and for some time I considered that to be the holy grail, their boring design nothwithstanding. But recently three Italian pens became my best-ever modern pens... If you'd predicted *that* a year ago, I would have declared you insane. I avoided Italian pens like the plague. Now look what happened...

 

Along the way I discovered vintage pens, and what a joy that turned out to be. Also some hit-or-miss there, but that's part of the journey.

 

Along the way I discovered inks. Whereas I used to insist having a different ink in every pen, I now have the same ink in the pens that do most of the heavy lifting.

 

Along the way, I discovered that smoothness is overrated.

 

Along the way, I discovered that I cannot predict which nib will work for me and which won't. Some nibs allow me to write neatly, some don't. Some give me pleasure, some don't. Hand me five identical pens with identical nibs, and some will work for me and some will not. Smoothness has nothing to do with it... Can't predict it or analyse it, it either ticks my boxes or it doesn't. My all-time fav nib was an old, battered, moody M nib in a '59 Sheaffer PFM-III. Now it's a cheap steel F nib from Leonardo. And a precious Sailor-made 18k nib that I first managed to mess up (out of inexperience) and then managed to bring back to 95% (out of experience) was elevated to 120% in the more than capable hands of FPN head honcho Wim and is now a spectacularly good nib. Still very much a great Sailor nib, but with some extra Wim-style magic.

 

This is a neat little hobby.

[Noihvo]

 

[Heldin]

I hadn't really thought about ink tastes changing. When I first started out i didn't really know anything about ink properties and used whatever. Now I have a preference for wet and sheeny inks

 

Edited January 15, 2019 by Heldin

[inkstainedruth]

My first "modern" pens had medium nibs. When they got replaced with the Parker Vector, I learned to like fine nibs. Since then I've expanded into broads snd stubs, and a sprinkling of EFs.

Like Dennis_f, I'm now the owner of way more expensive pens than I thought I'd ever imagine buying (I also have way more pens than I thought I'd ever imagine).

My first pens (even the Vector) were c/c pens, but I used cartridges for the longest time. Now, if I get a c/c pen, almost the first thing I do is get a converter for it -- bottled inks have a better selection of colors and are more economical. And I vastly prefer other fill systems.

While I don't like (and probably never will like) super heavy pens, my tolerance for larger and (somewhat) heavier pens has expanded. I also would not have expected how much I got into vintage pens. I'm now MUCH more likely to go "Ooh -- that's a cool fill system...."

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Pentode]

I dont think my tastes have changed considerably. I still like what Ive always liked but I think my horizons have broadened. There are things I like now that I didnt in the past like fine nibs and brown ink and Im warming up to skinnier pens a bit but, for the most part, Im still fairly consistent in my preferences.

[OCArt]

I used to be happy as a clam with one pen and one bottle of ink!

[ParkerDuofold]

I used to be happy as a clam with one pen and one bottle of ink!

You poor kid... stories like this always break my heart.

 

Try to be well... and buck up.

 

 

- Anthony

[miwishi63]

I started out really liking heavy pens with metal bodies (mostly Chinese) but soon found to be impractical for long writing sessions. My tastes still tend toward F and EF nibs. I started out using modern pens exclusively, but now use a combination of modern and vintage depending on my mood - also a couple of desk pens, one modern and one vintage. I still own a couple of metal pens but they are rarely in rotation.

[JotterAddict62]

I will just stick to what I know [ PARKERS ]. I have been collecting for 11 years now. Started with the Parker Jotter then move thru the ranks of the

fountain pens. P21, P45, P51, Vac & Duofolds. I will take a chance on non Parkers when I see then out in the wild or at a local auction.

I will collect anything Parker related from the past.

 

I am always on the hunt for 1950's - 1970's advertising Jotters. I have spent more for an advertising Jotter than on any old Vac.

[vicpen123]

Not much. My taste has always been for pens that write well, are easy in the hand and on the eye and have something unique to tell me about themselves.

 

I am always open to a new pen's story.