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Fountain pen inks: the good, the bad, and the ugly (2011)

richardspens.com

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Re: Fountain pen inks: the good, the bad, and the ugly (2011)

#31

Post by matte_black »

UenoHDTV80 wrote: post #25

If you're not a caligrapher, why bother? Just buy gel pens and get the comfort with way less maintenance.

There is something timeless about writing with a fountain pen that a crappy gel pen can never capture. I rarely have to write by hand these days, but when I must write something beyond a few scribbled notes, I find the fountain pen encourages me to write with intent, and to savor every stroke.

Re: Fountain pen inks: the good, the bad, and the ugly (2011)

#32

Post by fatbird »

My wife and I both draw with Namiki Falcon fountain pens, which are fantastic, and use Platinum Carbon Black ink, which is a pigmented ink. I don't know if it's nano-particles (i.e., the pigment is ground extremely fine so brownian motion alone is sufficient to maintain dispersion), but we've never experienced clogging, and it has a permanence (and blackness) on par with Noodler's Bulletproof Black. She uses her pen almost every day; mine can go a week or more without being used. Still works perfectly every time I pick it up.

Re: Fountain pen inks: the good, the bad, and the ugly (2011)

#33

Post by cmplxconjugate »

jseliger wrote: post #30

If you like pigmented pens but don't want to use them in a fountain pen, for the reasons the author lists, consider a Pigma Micron pen: http://kk.org/cooltools/pigma-micron-pn-pen . They're available from Jetpens and are expensive enough to be good but not so expensive as to be terrible when lost.

I’ve actually got a set of these and I have to agree that they are fantastic to write with. The plastic tips have such a nice friction, well, at least to my personal taste.

Re: Fountain pen inks: the good, the bad, and the ugly (2011)

#34

Post by freosam »

This articles says that inkjet ink "frequently uses pigment, not dye," but my understanding is that most inkjet inks are actually dye-based, and that you have to somewhat go out of your way to find pigment-based ones (and they cost more).

The latter are usually recommended for archival printing purposes (e.g. Epson's "Dura Brite" inks), because they are less likely to fade over time and are better bonded with the paper (and actually have particles that can bond with the paper).

Re: Fountain pen inks: the good, the bad, and the ugly (2011)

#35

Post by mrob »

flounders wrote: post #23

When I first got into fountain pens, Noodlers was a pretty heavily recommended ink. I wish I had seen this article ten years ago.

Richard Binder specializes in repair and maintenance of old and valuable pens. Recommendations for those pens don't necessarily apply to cheaper modern fountain pens. I've been using Noodler's inks for about 8 years in a Lamy Safari, and I've never had any trouble. The only Noodler's ink I've heard of causing problems with these pens is Bay State Blue, which is unlike any other Noodler's ink.

I personally recommend Noodler's Bulletproof Black. It writes consistently and reliably on any paper I've tried, it's waterproof, and it's reasonably priced. If you're interested in fountain pens as a hobby rather than as practical writing implements you might have different recommendations.

Re: Fountain pen inks: the good, the bad, and the ugly (2011)

#37

Post by _emacsomancer_ »

blattimwind wrote: post #26
_emacsomancer_ wrote: post #18

I like fountain pens a lot, but most of the times I actually need to write, I need to do so away from a desktop and fountain pens aren't ideal for these conditions (for those occasions I have the zebra 701+space pen hacked pen [e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S4bjPG5Lr4] ).

I don't quite follow?

Fountain pens work well when you've a flat surface that you're sitting above. They work much less well when, say, you're standing and trying to write on a notepad you're holding in your other hand.

Re: Fountain pen inks: the good, the bad, and the ugly (2011)

#38

Post by diffeomorphism »

blattimwind wrote: post #26
_emacsomancer_ wrote: post #18

I like fountain pens a lot, but most of the times I actually need to write, I need to do so away from a desktop and fountain pens aren't ideal for these conditions (for those occasions I have the zebra 701+space pen hacked pen [e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S4bjPG5Lr4] ).

I don't quite follow?

While fountain pens are nicer to write with, they are also more demanding than ballpoints (humidity, temperature, paper quality, writing surface, blotting etc.). Hence, for reliably being able to take notes it might be a better idea to carry a space pen (pressurized ball point) instead of a fountain pen.

However, if you can control conditions and for example write comfortably at your desk, a nice fountain pen is preferable.

Re: Fountain pen inks: the good, the bad, and the ugly (2011)

#39

Post by cyberferret »

UenoHDTV80 wrote: post #25

If you're not a caligrapher, why bother? Just buy gel pens and get the comfort with way less maintenance.

As another commenter mentioned - when writing something meaningful, doing it with a fountain pen adds an air of magic about it. I've just returned from a 'bucket list' overseas trip, and every day, I wrote in a journal about my experiences. Somehow, doing it with a cheap ballpoint doesn't seem as special as sitting down and getting my deepest emotions and thoughts down on paper with a nice fountain pen.

To re-frame your analogy to suit a more HN centric view: Why would most developers bother with the hassle and maintenance of Linux when they could just slap Windows 10 on a PC and code away in an IDE easily?

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