Great. A new obsession.

[Dusted]

I have been trying to avoid getting involved with fountain pens for a number of years, since I know I end up spending way too much on any new hobby. It started a month ago by purchasing a $25 Chinese pen and a couple of bottles of ink. It turns out that is still one of my favorite pens so far. Next was another cheap pen (slightly more expensive) that was horrid. Then a Scrivi, which writes fairly nicely. Next came the Lamy 2000. All of these were supposed to be fine nib pens but the variation in line size was significant. 
 

I had been writing in a laboratory note book, since that is what I used with ballpoint for 35 years, but found the paper sucked for use with a fountain pen. Ended up buying an 8.5x11 hardcover notebook with non acid, ivory, 50# paper. Much better but the EF Lamy 2000 still seemed to produce thicker lines than other fine nib cheaper pens. 
 

Thank you internet. It turns out what I really wanted were Japanese fountain pens, that have finer nib ratings than German or American. Trying to find what I was looking for was tricky until I found a fountain pen website out of Japan (I’m not sure I can mention names here, since I’m new, so I won’t). 
 

I now have a 14 crt EUF nib Platinum pen and a Pilot 14 crt UF nib pen on the way. That should give me a feel for the nib size I like the most. Something called an Omniflex nib caught my eye as well, so I bought a cheap pen to see if I like it.

 

Nine bottles of ink so far. Different blues and blacks mostly. I did buy a couple of blue blacks but they are pretty blah. I also ordered a couple of reds, but the have to come out of Japan. Not much demand for red in North America it seems.

 

My friends, and people on other forums have no interest in fountain pens, but I know you guys do so I thought I would say Hi.

[northstar]

Hello and welcome to FPN.

[mizgeorge]

Hello and welcome to the very edge of the rabbit hole...

[PAKMAN]

Hello and Welcome to FPN!! So glad to have you as a member!!

[tmurfet]

Greetings from sunny Vancouver BC and 

[OCArt]

[Nurmister]

Hello and welcome to FPN.

 

I've been in fountain pens for about a decade, and am only now settling on what I consider my "exit pen": a Namiki YR in black. It'll take a while, enjoy the journey (and don't drown in ink -- it's easier to sell surplus pens than ink).

[Ethelios]

One of us! One of us! Oh, seriously, you should look into buying ink samples before commiting to an entire bottle. I liked blue ink and now I could have enough bottles for the next decade.

 

Play it safe, trade or sell what you don't need. Put your purchases at least a month away and check again if you still want something. Learn for our mistakes, and welcome to the forum

[Dusted]

1 hour ago, Ethelios said:

One of us! One of us! Oh, seriously, you should look into buying ink samples before commiting to an entire bottle. I liked blue ink and now I could have enough bottles for the next decade.

 

Play it safe, trade or sell what you don't need. Put your purchases at least a month away and check again if you still want something. Learn for our mistakes, and welcome to the forum

I didn’t realize you could buy sample sizes of ink. Oh well, with a mix of German, Japanese and American pens I’m finding I like certain inks in certain pens already. I will slow down on the pen purchases until I find the nib I prefer though. 
 

Thanks for the welcome from everyone.

[Ethelios]

1 hour ago, Dusted said:

I didn’t realize you could buy sample sizes of ink.

And sometimes people trade them with other users, like a Secret Santa. We got this covered, not every vial works the same and people had them tested for leaks and proper sealing. The rabbit hole goes deep Some shops have joined in the past like the Ink Drop monthly packages, dunno if they're still a thing.

[A Smug Dill]

Welcome to FPN!

 

18 hours ago, Dusted said:

I now have a 14 crt EUF nib Platinum pen and a Pilot 14 crt UF nib pen on the way. That should give me a feel for the nib size I like the most.

 

Good call. Minor correction: I think you meant UEF (Ultra Extra Fine) and EF (Extra Fine), to which the old-fashioned ‘Western’ nib width grades of XXF (eXtra eXtra Fine) and XF (eXtra Fine) would loosely map semantically, even though I'm more inclined to wager that objectively, by line width measurement, an XXF nib would write akin to a ‘Japanese EF’ and an XF would more like a ‘Japanese Fine’.

 

4 hours ago, Dusted said:

I will slow down on the pen purchases until I find the nib I prefer though.

 

There are so many other aspects and attributes with which to concern oneself about nib choice, once you get deeper into the rabbit hole. 

 

You may find these threads interesting:

• https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/342554-which-extra-fine-nib-is-really-extra-fine/
• https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/343508-q-i-use-western-fine-nibs-what-is-the-japanese-equivalent/
• https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/348475-japanese-pen-nib-widths-comparison-reference-table/

and I've posted a few comparisons here:

 

[Dusted]

50 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

Welcome to FPN!

 

 

Good call. Minor correction: I think you meant UEF (Ultra Extra Fine) and EF (Extra Fine), to which the old-fashioned ‘Western’ nib width grades of XXF (eXtra eXtra Fine) and XF (eXtra Fine) would loosely map semantically, even though I'm more inclined to wager that objectively, by line width measurement, an XXF nib would write akin to a ‘Japanese EF’ and an XF would more like a ‘Japanese Fine’.

 

 

There are so many other aspects and attributes with which to concern oneself about nib choice, once you get deeper into the rabbit hole. 

 

You may find these threads interesting:

• https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/342554-which-extra-fine-nib-is-really-extra-fine/
• https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/343508-q-i-use-western-fine-nibs-what-is-the-japanese-equivalent/
• https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/348475-japanese-pen-nib-widths-comparison-reference-table/

and I've posted a few comparisons here:

 

Thank you for that. I’m sure you are correct about my terminology on Japanese nibs. It’s still all new to me. One country calls it UF the next it is EF, and then the line size changes as well depending on country. I will get it figured out by reading stuff like you referenced.

[Wahl]

[Dusted]

I’m finally starting to like blue ink. The writing paper I had been using contained whitening agents and wasn’t acid neutral. This caused the blue to look bad to my eye. So, today I emptied and flushed the Lamy 2000. This time I put German ink (Pelican 4001 royal blue) in the German pen. The flow is drier than with the Japanese ink I had in before. Writes better I think. 

[Bisquitlips]

from Missouri!

 

Glad you are with us!

[Dusted]

I received the two new pens from Japan today.

 

The Platinum President with the UEF 18 carat nib is my first screw cap fountain pen. I was concerned the threads would bug me, but of course it is well designed and feels nice in the hand. Like all of my pens so far I use this one unposted. It just feels better to me without the back weighting. It is a noisy pen when writing with the UEF nib and feels a touch scratchy, but the overall experience is positive. I am a bit surprised by the line width produced though. It is thicker than the next pen I will semi-review that has an EF nib. I suspect the difference is the 18 carat nib is a bit softer than the 14 carat ones and the tines spread a bit easier.

 

The Pilot Elite has a 14 carat semi-shrouded EF nib. It is quite a striking looking pen when posted, which is how I prefer to use it. The pen body is quite short resulting in a capped pen that is smaller than my others. Unposted it doesn’t feel right. Once posted it is lovely. A minor annoyance is making sure the clip is aligned up, but that is compensated for by not having a cap sitting next to your paper. Writing with it is a dream. The line width is thinner than the UEF nib and writes very smoothly. Not scratchy at all.

 

In all fairness I should have used the same black ink in both pens for a proper comparison, but didn’t think of that until later. It’s still a bit strange filling the converters for the different pens. The Lamy and Pilot have shrouded nibs and the whole nib goes into the ink bottle to fill. The exposed nib pens have the converter removed to fill with ink.

 

I have been looking at Sailor pens, just to try all the major Japanese brands, but I’m resisting so far. The next would be another black body with gold trim, screw cap, and 14 carat EF nib. I have those characteristics in the pens I already own. 

[A Smug Dill]

1 minute ago, Dusted said:

In all fairness I should have used the same black ink in both pens for a proper comparison, but didn’t think of that until later.

 

Ah. I was just on the verge of asking you about that.

 

2 minutes ago, Dusted said:

The Pilot Elite has a 14 carat semi-shrouded EF nib.

 

The line width coming out of a Pilot Elite 95S's EF nib can be vastly different dependent on the ink. I tried two different inks on the one I recently purchased (and that's the second one I own), and was quite surprised by how much finer the lines drawn with the second ink are. (Actually, it's more like I was unpleasantly surprised by how wide the lines drawn with the first ink were, and so I had to change inks, given I'm pretty sure the EF nib could do better than that.) Alas, I've already thrown out the early writing samples, and can't remember which one was the first ink I put in it (but quite possibly Noodler's Bad Belted Kingfisher).

[Dusted]

I’m learning that about inks. That’s why I don’t feel bad after buying 10 bottles of ink to play with. 

[A Smug Dill]

27 minutes ago, Dusted said:

The exposed nib pens have the converter removed to fill with ink.

 

I have yet to come across pen care and/or filling instructions from a major fountain pen brand that directs, or recommends, the user remove the converter before filling it with ink.

[Dusted]

Considering the number of registered users on this site the traffic seems low. Other forums I am on (different subject matter) have way more yapping going on. I have looked through the various forum headings but don’t find blogs or grow journals or any place that people chat. Oh well. I can always use this space to babble.