What pen(s) are you using today?

[Penguincollector]

    I think I will write my lists with my blue M400 OM today. I have been rotating my nibs lately (this happens on and off), so it should work out well. 

[lamarax]

I've been badmouthing MB lately, so today I felt a little bit guilty  :

 

 

(paper is Graphilo)

[Misfit]

Today’s pen is the Conklin Duragraph Abalone Nights with 1.1mm stub nib filled with Colorverse Blue Dragon standard ink. 
 

After using this ink, I’d say it has a red or burgundy sheen. That seems fitting for the resin abalone pen. 

[USG]

8 hours ago, Mr. Pink said:

I went to work at the Luck, WI Golf Course today, so I brought along a purple Pilot Varsity.  It's always a great pen to have in your pocket if someone wants to borrow.  

 

(Mr. Pink half-way expects a question)

 

Simulators???

[USG]

Asvine V200<F>

Iroshizuku Kon-Peki

Cosmo Snow

CLICK TO ENLARGE

 

 

[flodoc]

On 1/13/2026 at 8:53 PM, lamarax said:

 

 Here's my lowly acrylic Elmo 2+ with a 14K 1.1 stub (and custom ebonite feed):

 

 

...but I cherish it anyway!  

I don't consider any Montegrappa lowly. I am using a model 300 right now. It is a great writer, looks good and brings me pleasure.

[camelsuspicious]

Picked up an Asvine P20 in a nice blue color with an EF.   The value on these pens is just ridiculous.    I’m practicing cursive and this was a major improvement compared to the Conway Stewart 15 I used last night.   I am slowly coming around to just how great Asvine is - it’s not cheap Chinese (bleep) for sure.  

[Mr. Pink]

9 hours ago, USG said:

 

Simulators???

Nah, brush burning.

[inkstainedruth]

So far today it's been the the Lamy Safari Violet SE, B nib, newly re-filled with what I think is Lamy Turquoise (there was no label on the bottle, but the cap is turquoise).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[camelsuspicious]

On 1/14/2026 at 6:55 AM, InkyProf said:

Aaand the Onoto 5601 doesn't actually fill properly, which I'm afraid is going to mean either sending it back to the UK for service by the same person who sold it to me as serviced in the first place, or doing it myself, which will presumably make the pen more expensive than it already was but will at least yield some tools to add to my toolkit. Hmph.

 

So I'll use the Omas 556/F today, with Stipula Muschiato* Verde, which I know writes well.

 

*I've been mis-remembering the Italian name of this ink as "Moschiato" lately; mi scusi. I discovered this because I was curious about having seen the ink listed both as "Mossy Green" and "Musk Green" in English, and I wanted to see what was what. If you search for either "moschiato Italian" or "muschiato Italian," though, our new artificial overlords will decide that what you really meant was "macchiato," and give you results about tasty espresso beverages. If you click the little "no, stop gaslighting me, I knew what I was searching for" link, you'll get a SCAI summary that botsplains to you that the word muschiato is "often confused with macchiato" (which of course is nonsense: I'll even bet that the total number of times anyone has walked into a cafe and asked for a muschiato doppio is close enough to zero to be, for lexicographical purposes, zero). Intelligent? No. Very good at algorithmically predicting and mimicking the techniques of rationalization and deflection human beings use to distract from their own ignorance? I'll give it that.

 

 

That is a big time bummer.  If I were a little more sure of my abilities I’d offer to replace the seals - but I’m just not ready to handle other people’s pens.  Hope that you are able to get it fixed and sent back quickly.  

[PAKMAN]

Parker Snake LE fountain pen 1997 #1144 18k m nib

[InkyProf]

5 hours ago, camelsuspicious said:

Hope that you are able to get it fixed and sent back quickly.

 

Thank you! After some back and forth with the seller and a lot of testing, the situation has improved, in the sense that I no longer think the pen doesn't actually fill. I measured some fills using a scale and was getting mostly .25-.4ml fills, followed by a .75ml one, which is still only half of the nominal capacity of a 5601, but workable, and I gather you shouldn't expect a lot more than that anyway. Even then, though, the pen stopped writing when it still had > .6ml ink in it, only to start up again after I opened the blind cap even further and waited a bit -- I suspect this was what happened to me yesterday, which I misinterpreted as evidence that the pen wasn't filling. But in normal writing the blind cap has to be almost fully tightened down, or excess ink will bead up around the edges of the feed and threaten to drip on to your paper. So, I think the seals are probably not quite right, but it's also possible that I just need to get to know this pen's idiosyncrasies. And my exchanges with the seller also led me to think that my best course of action, all things considered, will be to use the pen as is, and have it repaired in the US by someone else if "as is" proves unsatisfactory. (I wouldn't rule out learning to do it myself, but having just read the relevant chapter of M&O, I also wouldn't start on this pen.)

It writes really well, though. Springy, characterful nib, feels great in the hand. I see why you like vintage Onotos!

[camelsuspicious]

3 hours ago, InkyProf said:

It writes really well, though. Springy, characterful nib, feels great in the hand. I see why you like vintage Onotos!

Happy to hear you're enjoying it, they really are lovely writers - that springy nib is very comfortable for me.  The lack of "fullness" to the fill is likely due to a little air leaking in.  If the nib is submerged in water and you depress the plunger, it will expel the air, further cycles (while still submerged) should generate no air bubbles.  So if you see bubbles, you have an air leak - but if you're still getting a partial fill, and can live with it, it should serve you well.    

 

My Onoto of the day is a Junior which some lovely person ground down to EF/EEF - not quite as springy, but lays down a crisp line.  Looks great with Diamine Earl Grey, but now you've got me thinking about buying some brown ink - maybe for the Model O to match it's exterior.

[Al-fresco]

Lochby Mini Field Journal and a Kaweco Brass Sport.  After experimenting with fine and 1.1 stub nibs it seems that a medium was the correct choice all along.

 

.

[basterma]

Schneider EasyPen from around 2013 or so.

[InkyProf]

Yesterday, I cleaned out my Omas 556/F (as well as an all-black Lamy Studio that I kept filled with De Atramentis Document Black, but which needed a good flush), which made space in the desk tray for what I'm using today:

 

• An early-80s Montblanc 146 (split ebonite feed, grey-blue ink window, fine 14K monotone nib), filled with Rohrer & Klingner Salix, and

• A Platinum 3776 Celluloid Ishigaki ("Stone" or "Calico") with a fine nib, filled with Teranishi Guitar Gentle Green.

 

Observations: I don't know if the R&K is just a little too dry for this nib, or what, but the MB suffers from that most annoying of problems: a teensy bit of hard-starting, not enough to cause a problem when you're in the flow of writing, but enough that if you pause for even a second before starting an initial downstroke on a new word ("the," for example), you lose the top half of your descender. Drives me nuts. I've cleaned the nib slit; I've inspected for alignment issues (none) and BB (no? maybe? pardon the expression, but only if your baby really hasn't got back); and I don't want to make it wetter than it already is. Other than that, it's lovely.

The Platinum was my last or maybe next-to-last purchase of 2025; I'd been hemming and hawing all year about it; after seeing one in person in NYC a little earlier in the year, I decided to get one before the price increase. I'm pleased with the pen and glad now to have 3776s in F, M, and B; but it will not be difficult to resist further new-production Platinums, Sailors, or Pilots this year. Also, Gentle Green is green the way Antique Black is black, which is to say: not quite. (But I like it.)

 

[PAKMAN]

Porsche Design Tec Flex P3100 by Faber Castell steel/gold wrap fine 18c nib

 

[A Smug Dill]

[Misfit]

Yesterday’s pen was the Pilot Metro Pop Houndstooth with CM nib filled from a sample of Montblanc Oyster Grey ink. 
 

Today it’s the DeLike New Moon in green marble with a Nemosine 1.1mm stub nib filled with Diamine Eau de Nil ink. 

[Misfit]

Today’s pen is the Monteverde Mountains of the World K2 with a 1.1mm stub nib filled with Diamine China blue ink. I swapped a new stub nib on the pen today because I was doubtful on the performance of the stub it came with. It wrote well, and I was pleased. Then I saw ink on the next page, my hand and on the pen. Hopefully I got it fixed. Ink stained wretches indeed.