What pen(s) are you using today, in 2023?

[Waverly]

I am currently using a Sailor 1911L ground to a .5mm cursive Italic.  It is filled with Iroshizuku Yama Guri.  I have been using Iroshizuku inks quite a bit lately.

[USG]

1 hour ago, PAKMAN said:

Asvine V169

 

Resisting, Resisting, Resisting..................😁

Which ink are you using?

[Penguincollector]

2 hours ago, USG said:

 

Resisting, Resisting, Resisting..................😁

Which ink are you using?

I stopped resisting when I saw the color and metal trim I wanted on AliExpress for under $25. It’s a stocking stuffer (or will be, I’ve been wrapping up packages as they show up without opening them). 
 

Today’s pen is a Five below blue demonstrator 1.1 stub with a Waterman Serenity Blue long cartridge. Good little pen that adds some flair to my daily task list. 

[A Smug Dill]

 

I could have probably achieved more or less the same writing outcomes using a Sailor 14K gold M nib, without all the fuss and frustration.

[essayfaire]

7 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

I could have probably achieved more or less the same writing outcomes using a Sailor 14K gold M nib, without all the fuss and frustration.

Thanks for the thorough (as always) demo.  What's an NMF? 

[PAKMAN]

22 hours ago, USG said:

 

Resisting, Resisting, Resisting..................😁

Which ink are you using?

Resistance if futile...

Ink in use :  Iroshizuku kon-peki blue

 

[jandrew]

FC 20 (mainly)

[CrosshatchDave]

My one and only Pilot Metropolitan with Lexington Grey ink.

So far.

[essayfaire]

40 minutes ago, CrosshatchDave said:

My one and only Pilot Metropolitan with Lexington Grey ink.

So far.

Which color Metro?

As good as they are, spend $20 on a tune and they become fabulous.

[inkstainedruth]

I have two Metropolitans, one with a medium nib and one with a stub nib, and they both work great -- no tuning needed. 

Today, for me, it's been the Green Shadow Wave Parker Vacumatic, F nib, with Waterman Havana Brown, and the Pink Parker Vector, F nib, with Van Dieman Moonflower (a very nice, well behaved medium blue).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[A Smug Dill]

12 hours ago, essayfaire said:

What's an NMF? 

 

NMF has how Sailor marks its Naginata Togi Medium Fine nibs. Kaigelu has adopted that designation for the type of nib it now produces that it likens to the Naginata Togi (sometimes errorneously referred to as ‘long knife’ by Chinese sellers and subsequently online shoppers), although I think the curvature of the tipping on the Kaigelu NMF nibs is closer to the Sailor Zoom nib.

 

Edited December 10, 2022 by A Smug Dill
grammar

[Just J]

4 hours ago, jandrew said:

FC 20 (mainly)

 

Andrew, 

With your talents, have you ever thought about making your own Maki-e? 

[essayfaire]

1 hour ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

NMF has how Sailor marks its Naginata Togi Medium Fine nibs. Kaigelu has adopted that designation for the type of nib it now produces that it likens to the Naginata Togi (sometimes errorneously referred to as ‘long knife’ by Chinese sellers and subsequently online shoppers), although I think the curvature of the tipping on the Kaigelu NMF nibs are closer to the Sailor Zoom nib.

 

Thank you; I actually have a Sailor with Zoom on the Christmas wish list. 

 

@inkstainedruthIt didn't need tuning, but once it was tuned it went from good workhorse to a pleasure to use!

[jandrew]

1 hour ago, Just J said:

 

Andrew, 

With your talents, have you ever thought about making your own Maki-e? 

Oh, thank you. But I wouldn't know where to even begin with Maki-e.

[OldTravelingShoe]

On 12/3/2022 at 12:46 AM, mizgeorge said:

Great example. Enough to make me want one a dem nibs.

I second @mizgeorge, @A Smug Dill. I should really install one of the NMFs, get going with it. (Waiting for the peak load of the work-season to pass.) 

[OldTravelingShoe]

9 hours ago, jandrew said:

I wouldn't know where to even begin with Maki-e.

Trivial advice to a rhetorical question: Maybe with Lambrou's Fountain Pens of Japan (about 30 pages on the topic), then makers vids on YouTube 😄

 

In all seriousness, it would be great to have more people trying to make such pens. People who have talent for such work, who will later acquire the skills and help others get started.

 

I believe @MichalK  from Tamenuri Studio started this way. There is now one talented maker in the Netherlands, Anıl Gökçe, etc. 

[OldTravelingShoe]

TL;DR: A 1960s Pilot Super, likely 200 or 250, with 14k gold nib with posting finish abd tipping, inked with Pilot Iroshizuku Take Sumi. 

 

This pen likes to draw!  Lovely nib, EF tracing and excellent feedback. To my surprise, reverse writing also works, and produces a thicker line, perhaps an FM even. 

 

Figure 1. Nib thinking about drawing. 

 

Figure 2. The pen rests. 

 

Enjoy your weekend! 

[essayfaire]

5 hours ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

TL;DR: A 1960s Pilot Super, likely 200 or 250, with 14k gold nib with posting finish abd tipping, inked with Pilot Iroshizuku Take Sumi. 

 

This pen likes to draw!  Lovely nib, EF tracing and excellent feedback. To my surprise, reverse writing also works, and produces a thicker line, perhaps an FM even. 

 

Figure 1. Nib thinking about drawing. 

 

Figure 2. The pen rests. 

 

Enjoy your weekend! 

Perhaps they put the nib on backwards? Reverse writing is thicker?  

[OldTravelingShoe]

1 hour ago, essayfaire said:

Perhaps they put the nib on backwards? Reverse writing is thicker?  

Hehe, I suspect it's because they shape the nib like a beak, turned slightly downward to create reinforcement to a needlepoint-like tip that does not wiggle. 

 

Conversely, the upper part of the beak, which one uses to write with the reverse of the nib, is the upper part of the beak, thus with a bit longer part in contact with the paper. It's a bit like the Sailor Naginata Concord, or the amazing, Kirk Speer-made, beak-like nib @jandrew likes to draw with.

[essayfaire]

32 minutes ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

Conversely, the upper part of the beak, which one uses to write with the reverse of the nib, is the upper part of the beak, thus with a bit longer part in contact with the paper.

Ah, like changing the writing angle on a fude.