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Right pen for long writing session


The-Thinker

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If I were to write that much, two pens come to mind:  One, my Sailor Realo, if I want nice fine lines and two, my Aurora 88 (Fine nib).  Both are piston fillers and are relatively light and very responsive.  With either one, I can write more precisely - the Sailor because of the precision of the nib and the Aurora because it gives me just the right amount of feedback.

 

Erick

Using right now:

Visconti Voyager 30 "M" nib running Birmingham Streetcar

Jinhao 9019 "EF" nib running Birmingham Railroad Spike

Stipula Adagio "F" nib running Birmingham Violet Sea Snail

Sailor Profit "B" nib running Van Dieman's Night - Shooting Star

 

 

 

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when its about long writing session, its about the ergonomics and continuous fuss free writing more than anything else ; I would go off to say anything else take second to them. Ergonomics is very much a personal thing , my Asian size S hand obviously would benefit from a slimmer lighter ( but not floaty ) pen, but I would wager someone with an US size L hand would probably want a fatter and longer pen than I do.

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15 hours ago, pearlfox said:

HA!  HA!  Take that, you boardroom phonies with your puny MB149s!

 

Wowza!  Proper sized pens.  Love them!!

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Aurora Afrika, a less-than-large pen that writes perfectly after 20?? years, just right for my large hand for long sessions of writing. M nib. Cap posts perfectly for balance and weight.

 

Looks a bit squeezed in this picture frame  :D

 

 

Aurora Afrika Limited Edition | Nibs

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I have a similar Zoom Tombow828 fp , I was really impressed by the price I saw one being offered on English Ebay; so decided it wasn't the joke I thought it was when it was the most minor part of a live auction lot.

By far the fattest pen I've ever seen; and 4 1/4 closed 5 1/4th posted.and makes a 149 look like a thin Shaffer Targia.

Nice Vintage ZOOM TOMBOW Egg "Fat Boy" Fountain Pen 828fp Black Gold Trim  Japan | eBay

How ever for normal long writing sessions, Go to....

Help! How Do You Hold Your Fountain Pen?

 

That is the forefinger up method of gripping a fountain pen, instead of the Classic Tripod. The tripod has many problems most folks take months to learn to have a light grip....Forefinger up is three minutes.

The over pressing at 10&2 is too natural in the Tripod.

With Forefinger up, the thumb rests at 08:00 and  forefinger at 12-12:30 or so, so there is no pressure.

In reference to P. T. Barnum; to advise for free is foolish, ........busybodies are ill liked by both factions.

 

 

The cheapest lessons are from those who learned expensive lessons. Ignorance is best for learning expensive lessons.

 

 

 

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As already stated: Difficult to answer as hand size, grip and other factors all have to be taken into account. Personally I prefer a pen not too small with an ergonomic grip (Safari, Vista, AL-star) or a thick, rubberized grip like a Parker Frontier. For my medium sized male hands (gloves size 9, European) a slim pen or a slippery grip won't work for longer sessions.

People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them - Dave Berry

 

Min danske webshop med notesbøger, fyldepenne og blæk

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In the Before Times, i used to go to cafés and write.  I’d use Lamy Al-Stars or 2000s because i like their nibs and because they’re replaceable should something happen.

 

 At home, i switch pens every so often.  It keeps my hand fresh.  When writing, ergonomics, consistent flow and reliability are paramount; i want to think about the writing, not fuss with my pens.  I want to forget about the pen.  Anything too big, or too heavy or off-balance will be a distraction.  To that end, i prefer the medium to medium-large sized pens — and that’s even with my enormous hands.

 

I also have to be able to read what i’ve written when i’m done.  To make my writing easier to read, i use broads and double broads .  This is probably peculiar to me, but edged nibs really help with legibility.  Best of all are edged nibs with some flex.  

 

At any rate, here are my at home favorites for extended writing:

 

MB 146G OB

MB 144G B

MB 24 BB

Pelikan 400NN BB

Parker 51 factory stub

Parker 51 factory broad stub

 

All vintage, all with ebonite feeds.

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As long as one is not using a pen that can't be posted; ie the Snorkel the link I gave, will do wonders for long writing sessions; in it is an automatic light grip.

Standard sized P-75 /400 or medium large 600/P-51 do post to great balance....and posted are long enough.

If you wish to use  a Large pen 800/Safari or many others, then the Forefinger up is not good, in posted they are too long and heavy and non-posted too short.

 

Width of a pen is no matter using the 20:30 - 12:30  Forefinger Up method of grasping a pen.....grasping.................instead of the have to grip...ie automatic  hard pressing of the 10-2 Classic Tripod.

As advice on the com often states in only 6 months one can develop a light grip with Classic Tripod.

Takes three minutes to automatically grasp a pen using Forefinger Up.

And you are not limited to big pens, nor thick ones. One can use classic sized standard or medium-large pens...............which in the '50-70 era was outside the 149....standard or medium-large.

The Large 146 came in @ 1970, before that it was a great balanced medium-large. Better nib too.

In reference to P. T. Barnum; to advise for free is foolish, ........busybodies are ill liked by both factions.

 

 

The cheapest lessons are from those who learned expensive lessons. Ignorance is best for learning expensive lessons.

 

 

 

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In my case personally, long session many factors matter, hand size and holding/gripping method being major ones imo. A dry pen is a big no-no, flow issue will kill the writing for long sessions. A weird issue I personally face is convertor running out in middle (long sessions for me easily exceeds 30 pages) so thats also a consideration. I keep 2 pens for such case or use eyedropper or cartridge (when available)

 

I have what I feel medium hands.

 

Now my collection has zero golds and 100 dollar pens so no high or mid or even low in many cases here.

 

List includes.

Wality 69EB (its an eyedropper pen so keeps up with my sessions)

Kanwrite desire.

Ranga slim bamboo.

Platinum preppy... surprisingly light and easy to hold.

ASA maya (large pen but feels nice for long writing as does not weight much and grip despite being large is easy fo hold, for me at least).

 

Now the question is very wide as it all depens on what you find comfortable to hold and how long is a long session in first place. I find back heavy pens not to my liking, same for posting the pen but many find it more easy that way...so juat like this example explore your own to see what you feel and give them a try.

 

As long as flow is good and nib is nice, rest will become personal preference.

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I must admit, long writing sessions are not done much, in sooner or later it has to get it onto the computer. The sooner the better. I scribble on books.

 

I do care for the great balance of a Snorkel, P-75 along with my Geha 725 are perfectly balanced pens; the 400nn came in 4th in that balance test of my then 20 pens. First was a surprise, my MB 234 1/2 with it's slightly thicker for a standard pen and brass back weighting guts of it's piston. All of my top 4 pens were different, yet perfectly balanced.

The vintage pens before 1970 had to have perfect balance, in that was still in the era of One Man, One Pen....and the next pen was  a decade in the future. Balance was the difference between top of the line and lesser. One wrote 7-8 hours a day.

 

 I have 20 pens in my top 7 best balanced pens now.

 

A light and nimble Esterbrook DJ is well worth having. It is well balanced, not quite perfect but is light and nimble.

In reference to P. T. Barnum; to advise for free is foolish, ........busybodies are ill liked by both factions.

 

 

The cheapest lessons are from those who learned expensive lessons. Ignorance is best for learning expensive lessons.

 

 

 

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Another choice of mine for long writing sessions is often an eyedropper pen, as long as I can stay home ( an eyedropper is usually not the best choice for moving around).

In such case, the large ink reservoir, the ebonite feed and the typically generous flow of an eyedropper, possibly combined with a lightweight material like ebonite and a slightly larger size pen to avoid straining the hand clutching a small section, is ideal.

Some of my Ranga, Gama, Deccan pens are good at that.

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I'm finding my Nakaya and Platinum Izumo to be nice long distance writers. The ebonite is very light - which means the pen peels more like a cushion in the hand whilst the pen gets on with writing. 

 

 

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I write a lot, and one of my recent tasks was to write four separate pieces and then tie them all together in longer reflection.  I decided to use your query as an experiment. I used a Pilot Vanishing Point F, Sailor MF, Pelikan EF and Diplomat Aero F and vintage Parker F. As this was long-form writing, I was writing on lined sugarcane paper.

 

The Sailor MF won by a mile.  It was the right combination of flow, feedback, and drying speed.  The Pelikan is smoother, and sometime preferable when I write letters on heavy stationery, but is too wet if I'm writing at a good clip and flipping pages over on an attached legal pad.  The Aero is a great pen, but misses the "je ne sais quoi" for writing long pieces that I crave.  The Parker is a little scratchy on modern paper, and requires me to pay more attention to the angle at which I write. I consider the Pilot F to be the perfect pen for many daily writing tasks, but for turning out reams of pages my vote is with the Sailor.  

 

My handwriting is a cursive/print hybrid. 

Festina lente

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence

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4 hours ago, essayfaire said:

I write a lot, and one of my recent tasks was to write four separate pieces and then tie them all together in longer reflection.  I decided to use your query as an experiment. I used a Pilot Vanishing Point F, Sailor MF, Pelikan EF and Diplomat Aero F and vintage Parker F. As this was long-form writing, I was writing on lined sugarcane paper.

 

The Sailor MF won by a mile.  It was the right combination of flow, feedback, and drying speed.  The Pelikan is smoother, and sometime preferable when I write letters on heavy stationery, but is too wet if I'm writing at a good clip and flipping pages over on an attached legal pad.  The Aero is a great pen, but misses the "je ne sais quoi" for writing long pieces that I crave.  The Parker is a little scratchy on modern paper, and requires me to pay more attention to the angle at which I write. I consider the Pilot F to be the perfect pen for many daily writing tasks, but for turning out reams of pages my vote is with the Sailor.  

 

My handwriting is a cursive/print hybrid. 

 

Which sailor pen with the mf nib is your favourite? 

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On 3/29/2021 at 1:36 PM, MuddyWaters said:

My favourite for long writing sessions is opus 88 for sure.

 

On 3/30/2021 at 6:52 AM, sansenri said:

( an eyedropper is usually not the best choice for moving around).

 

What is the hazard or risk to which you alluded? My Opus 88 (Picnic and Koloro) pens never gave me any trouble, even when I carried them around in backpacks while on the move; and they are designed to be only eyedropper-filled from the start, not cartridge/converter-filled pens (with correspondingly designed feeds and/or connectors) that will also tolerate or accommodate having the cavity of their barrels used directly as ink reservoirs (cf. Platinum Preppy, Sailor Profit Jr., and any number of Fine Writing International pen models).

 

4 hours ago, essayfaire said:

The Pelikan is smoother, and sometime preferable when I write letters on heavy stationery, but is too wet if I'm writing at a good clip and flipping pages over on an attached legal pad.

 

Have you tried using something like Platinum Classic Ink Khaki Black or Diamine Registrars Ink in it, to see whether the supposed ‘dryness’ of iron-gall inks tames the flow to something usable and quick-drying?

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

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I think sanseri is referring to indian eye dropper pens as opposed to modern eye dropper pens that use plastic feeds for jowo nibs. My Indian eyedropper pens can't even be trusted to not burp at a desk, so I definitely would not move around with them. Opus 88 is a different story. 

 

All this makes me wonder whether the reason piston fillers usually don't burp compared to (Indian) eye-droppers only comes down to differences in feed (piston fillers in general having modern plastic feeds with more fins). 

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2 hours ago, MuddyWaters said:

I think sanseri is referring to indian eye dropper pens as opposed to modern eye dropper pens that use plastic feeds for jowo nibs. My Indian eyedropper pens can't even be trusted to not burp at a desk, so I definitely would not move around with them. Opus 88 is a different story. 

 

All this makes me wonder whether the reason piston fillers usually don't burp compared to (Indian) eye-droppers only comes down to differences in feed (piston fillers in general having modern plastic feeds with more fins). 

Every eyedropper I have used has burped at some point.  The other filling systems appear to be more sophisticated and are designed to not burp.  Eyedropper is probably less expensive generally and you can sometimes drop your cartridge or converter to make your pen an eyedropper, an advantage to keep you writing.

 

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

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Lamy 2000 with b nib Opus 88 with b nib from a Stipula pen in celluloid that broke and lately I am trying the new Parker 51 to do the Job. I write some days 5 pages of A4 paper.

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