What pen(s) are you using today?

[Ceilidh]

11 hours ago, Victorian2001 said:

The Pelikan M800 is supposed to be a good size, as Hemingway Jones points out on his Youtube. But cannot help feel that I should save toward an M1000.

If you have a chance to try the M800 & M1000 somewhere, I recommend it. I don't find the M200 too small to use. But the M600 is better and the M800 works well for me too. I find the M1000 a little too big. It's not unusable, but the 800 is more comfortable. The 1000 is an expensive pen to save for if it turns out not to be a good fit.

[InkyProf]

1 hour ago, Gloucesterman said:

Please keep us informed. One of the reasons that I rarely, if ever, buy from an overseas vendor is because it's such a headache if there's a problem with what I receive. Especially in today's Bureaucratic Systematic environment.

 

I try not to, too, when I'm ordering something that I can also get domestically, but I preordered this Leonardo at a point when it wasn't clear (to me: the fault of my own impatience) whether it would be sold in the US or not. I did also buy a pen from them that I haven't seen available in the US, so there's that. And I guess I also figured that the risks were a little less serious when dealing with JoWo steel nibs, which are readily available (including with Leonardo branding) and of which I already have... enough to keep me writing. 🙂 But I'll let you know how it shakes out.

[Mark from Yorkshire]

Pilot MR Metropolitan with IC50 cartridge in blue

[Misfit]

Same pen as yesterday, the Monteverde Mountains of the World Cortina with M nib filled from a sample of Cradle Mountain Grey. 

[Russprechtl]

13 hours ago, USG said:

How do you like Horizon Blue in your 743?  Not to wet?  I have a 743 SF that needs a new ink and I have Horizon Blue..humm.

Any Chance of a writing sample?

The Horizon Blue is now my favorite ink. It hasn't been too wet in any of my pens, even with the lubricant. I highly recommend it! Here's what it looks like on standard, everyday paper.

 

[nm4]

Namiki VP Raden stripe.  Smoothest medium nib I own!

 

N

[USG]

6 hours ago, InkyProf said:

Yes, and now that I’ve been writing with the pen a little, I think I’ll try to get it replaced, though I certainly hope I can do that without having to send the whole pen back to Italy (I bought it from Stilo & Stile). Maybe Leonardo’s US distributor can help.

 

If you  send some diagnostic photos, I'm pretty sure Stilo & Stile will send you a replacement nib unit.  I bought my Furore from Appelboom and was told they would send 2 replacement nib units. It took a while but I didn't have to send anything back.

[InkyProf]

11 minutes ago, USG said:

 

If you  send some diagnostic photos, I'm pretty sure Stilo & Stile will send you a replacement nib unit.  I bought my Furore from Appelboom and was told they would send 2 replacement nib units. It took a while but I didn't have to send anything back.

I sent them a couple of pictures earlier today. Thanks for prompting me to think about that pen again, I hadn’t tried it in a few days and it had fallen out of mind.

[USG]

52 minutes ago, Russprechtl said:

The Horizon Blue is now my favorite ink. It hasn't been too wet in any of my pens, even with the lubricant. I highly recommend it! Here's what it looks like on standard, everyday paper.

 

 

Thanks for the pic and writing sample. 👍  A couple of questions though.

What's up with the Lubricant?  Is that something you added to the ink?   What was it? Why?

What paper is that?  CuriousMe always wants to know the ink and the paper.....😀👍

 

 

 

On 2/7/2026 at 3:27 PM, zmija said:

Visconti Homo Sapiens Bronze Age 23k Pd F - 2010'

 

That's interesting.  I don't think I've ever seen a closeup of a Homo Sapiens.  Can you feel the porosities in the material?

Really nic photo btw...  👍😀

[USG]

Jinhao Century w/Asvine nib <F>

Sailor States Mississippi ink

Iroful Paper

 

CLICK TO ENLARGE

 

[Amberjack]

Same as before, Narwhal Nautilus in black, Nakahama Sepia - no work today or I'd be using the Navy Gray P51.

[Russprechtl]

1 hour ago, USG said:

 

Thanks for the pic and writing sample. 👍  A couple of questions though.

What's up with the Lubricant?  Is that something you added to the ink?   What was it? Why?

What paper is that?  CuriousMe always wants to know the ink and the paper.

Great questions! No, I didn't add it. Apparently the Monteverde Inks have a standard additive called "ITF" or Ink Treatment Formula. I believe it is a lubricant, and I'll defer to our more knowledgeable experts on here. What I can tell you for certain is it writes MUCH more smoothly than Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue, while behaving just as well - even on abysmally cheap paper. I've had the same success with their Midnight Black, and now have Yosemite Green on order to try it as well. On the paper, it was from a generic pack of graph pads I bought from Staples something like three years ago. I'm afraid I can't narrow it down any further than that (sorry I'm not much help there).

Edited February 9 by Russprechtl

[InkyProf]

Santini Italia Nonagon in Madagascar, 18k F nib, Serenity Blue. Today I did another little bit of tuning on this nib, this time to relieve the inside edges of the tipping, and then wrote a couple of pages. Finished! No more dryout (that was nib number 1), no more hard starting, smooth but not quite glassy in every direction, and most importantly, by doing this very very slowly over the space of two weeks, I seem not to have created any new problems. (Whew.) Now I can get on with enjoying this pen!

[AmandaW]

Lamy Safari Savannah (2021 SE) extra fine filled with Graf von Faber-Castell Olive Green.

[Penguincollector]

19 hours ago, USG said:

Haha, and now you see music in color!   I wish I could do that.

I remember reading somewhere that Red is a mildly stimulating color.  How does it affect you?

 

----------------------------------------------------------

Apologies for my tardiness.  I'm trying to catch up.  I had a massive blue screen computer crash that took a sleepless week to recover from.  

 

 

  Hi, USG- I hope you’ve recouped your sleep and your CPU- that sounds awful.  Red to me is a stressful color. I do appreciate now, at times, but it used to make me downright angry as a child, and pink wasn’t far behind. It’s easier to separate colors and emotions now then it was when I was younger.
 

 

[zmija]

14 hours ago, USG said:

That's interesting.  I don't think I've ever seen a closeup of a Homo Sapiens.  Can you feel the porosities in the material?

Really nic photo btw...  👍😀

 

Thank you. The porosity is very pleasant. It feels like ebonite and has a very smooth surface. Every few weeks, I wipe this pen with lemon oil (Dunlop 65 guitar fretboard oil  ) and it stays fresh, with no ink stains on the section. If you like ebonite, you'll also like this lava-resin material.

[inkstainedruth]

@Penguincollector For some reason this is making me think of a guy in a sculpture class I had in college (I think he was a photography major).  He was red/green colorblind, apparently, and someone in the class found and was kind of jagging him about it, going, "What color is that file cabinet in the corner?"  And the guy said, "Well, I KNOW it's green -- but it looks GREY to me...."

I can't imagine what being colorblind is like, any more than I can imagine how people react emotionally to colors.  I do remember reading something once years ago about someone who found red to be overstimulating emotionally and I just couldn't wrap my brain around the concept (other than that red is used for stuff like stop signs because it stands out more).  

I've also read that emotional responses to different colors may vary due to culture.  When my parents took a trip to China (in the 1980s) the adults were all still wearing "Mao suits" -- but this was also during their "one-child" government policy, and my mom said that the kids were all dressed up in bright colors.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Penguincollector]

15 hours ago, Russprechtl said:

Great questions! No, I didn't add it. Apparently the Monteverde Inks have a standard additive called "ITF" or Ink Treatment Formula. I believe it is a lubricant, and I'll defer to our more knowledgeable experts on here. What I can tell you for certain is it writes MUCH more smoothly than Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue, while behaving just as well - even on abysmally cheap paper. I've had the same success with their Midnight Black, and now have Yosemite Green on order to try it as well. On the paper, it was from a generic pack of graph pads I bought from Staples something like three years ago. I'm afraid I can't narrow it down any further than that (sorry I'm not much help there).

  I absolutely love Monteverde inks. They are really well behaved in all of my modern pens, not too dry for my Pilots, not to wet for my Pelikans. They are legible in every nib size. I don’t use them in my sac pens, but that’s a complicated subject for a different conversation.

[Penguincollector]

  Oh, yesterday I got to try a friend’s sterling Cross Peerless 125 with that lovely Sailor nib, and a 110 year old ebonite Japanese eyedropper. 

[inkstainedruth]

So far today it's been the Midnight Blue Parker 45, F nib, just refilled with vintage Quink Permanent Blue Black.  

Of course I keep wondering if the nib really *is* an F nib (like it is marked on the collar of the nib unit) because it's such a wet writer....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth