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Let the Fountain Pens Flow

nytimes.com

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Re: Let the Fountain Pens Flow

#21

Post by ternaryoperator »

sieabahlpark wrote: post #10

> Packed around a table with notepads and test pens, the group, ethnically diverse but mostly men, lacked the slick appearance you expect of customers at a luxury boutique. Why do we have to know the demographics? How is it pertinent info, and why is it bad that it was mostly men?

The demographics are the least of it. The whole article reeks of a kind of superficiality and condescension: "...who had the handsomeness of a 1950s young dad, thick hair like mink, broad shoulders, a warm handshake."

I do wish that when newspapers describe a trend, they would stop trying to write literature and simply provide the information. If I want more detail with off-topic asides, I'll subscribe to a magazine or read blog posts.

Re: Let the Fountain Pens Flow

#22

Post by Slackwise »

pseudolus wrote: post #4

The aesthetic value of fountain pens is undeniable but for the left-handed amongst us who refuse to twist their writing hand into some bizarre contortion, the fountain pen will never be viable. My personal left-handed recollections of using fountain pens all involve smears of ink on the side of my hands and smudged lettering.

I'm a lefty and while I avoid writing, a fountain pen with fast drying ink and a BOLD tip is very lefty usable.

The trick to lefty pens is to get BOLD tips!

When you have a thin needle-like tip, as you know, you end up stabbing or scratching the paper. But if the tip is either a big round rolling ball or nib, then it glides across the paper on its roundy edge.

I can definitely recommend the Lamy Safari with a 1.0 bold tip, or any Pilot ballpoint pen with a 1.0 bold tip. (I carry a Pilot Precision 1.0 Bold ballpoint pen with me at all times.)

Re: Let the Fountain Pens Flow

#23

Post by drgoodvibe »

I'm in my mid 30's and have been collecting fountain pens for a few years now. Not a a lot of vintage but I have a few rare limited editions and high end stuff not because of status or collectibility but because I love the materials and look and feel. To be honest, it's the tactility of it. Being all digital all the time makes me miss the closeness to the words when I'm actually writing with a pen and paper. And when you have this wonderful somewhat piece of art of pen and ink to write with it makes writing different - more emotive somehow. There are plenty of pens now that suit any particular style and budget which is great. It's a great hobby to be honest.

Re: Let the Fountain Pens Flow

#24

Post by mfringel »

I started using fountain pens a couple of years ago, and still do for my daily writing.

I write rather a lot; I don't bring my laptop into meetings unless I need to. Combine that with my handwriting being relatively neat, small, and stylized, and I needed something with a sufficiently fine nib, and ink that would flow well through it.

It turned into a fascinating optimization problem, during which I ended up down the rabbit hole of nib sizing (European nibs tend to run wider than Japanese nibs), notebook paper (there are plenty of good notebooks that are fountain-pen friendly, and that Moleskine notebooks are both comparatively expensive and the paper just isn't great), and different types of ink (which brands run "wet" or "dry", etc.)... and all of this is before getting into eyedropper-conversions, nib repair, and all of the other craft-related things one can get into.

I started with (and still have) a Pilot Metropolitan and a Platinum Preppy that still see use, although I've gone over to a Kaweco Special FP and a Pilot Vanishing Point (both with extra-fine nibs) for daily writers.

The current "daily writer" tuples are:

1) Pilot Vanishing Point (extra-fine nib), Pilot black cartridge ink.

2) Kaweco Special FP (extra-fine nib), Faber-Castell Carbon Black ink.

...preferred notebook is the Kokuyo Campus High Grade MIO notebook (A5 paper, 80 sheets, ~$6.50 each).

That all being said, I still use ballpoint pens on airplanes; the Pentel BK77 Superb (fine point, black) works just fine.

Re: Let the Fountain Pens Flow

#25

Post by blhack »

joshu wrote: post #2

Not quite the same, but I've been getting into technical pens because normal pens don't work as well in my plotter. I've found a lot of different failure modes in all sorts of writing implements so far... Example output: https://twitter.com/joshu/status/1074836822751010816

Ohhhh! What pen is that? I'm actually a big fan of using sharpies in plotters (made some drawings like this: http://blog.blhack.me/show?p=colorBook)

The problem is that they run out of ink very quickly. I've been looking for a more "pro" version of them, and it seems like your pens might be a good place to start!

Re: Let the Fountain Pens Flow

#26

Post by joshu »

blhack wrote: post #25
joshu wrote: post #2

Not quite the same, but I've been getting into technical pens because normal pens don't work as well in my plotter. I've found a lot of different failure modes in all sorts of writing implements so far... Example output: https://twitter.com/joshu/status/1074836822751010816

Ohhhh! What pen is that? I'm actually a big fan of using sharpies in plotters (made some drawings like this: http://blog.blhack.me/show?p=colorBook ) The problem is that they run out of ink very quickly. I've been looking for a more "pro" version of them, and it seems like your pens might be a good place to start!

I started with sharpies originally but they get exhausted very easily.

I am currently using Koh-I-Noor Rapidograph on Bristol Board paper from Strathmore or Canson

Re: Let the Fountain Pens Flow

#27

Post by ggm »

I used to write with a 0.2 Rotring in school in the seventies. It was not designed for this task, and worked poorly (not unrelated to my general lack of dexterity).

However, it had one supreme advantage over others: I kept my tiny 1/8th of hash wrapped in foil, in the tiny devo-like removable butt screw on it. A fatter nib might well gave worked better, but this one was mine...

Re: Let the Fountain Pens Flow

#28

Post by drifkin »

pseudolus wrote: post #4

The aesthetic value of fountain pens is undeniable but for the left-handed amongst us who refuse to twist their writing hand into some bizarre contortion, the fountain pen will never be viable. My personal left-handed recollections of using fountain pens all involve smears of ink on the side of my hands and smudged lettering.

I've had good luck with Pilot Varsity disposable fountain pens as a left hander. Surprisingly not very smudgy.

Re: Let the Fountain Pens Flow

#29

Post by tzhenghao »

Growing up in Malaysia, we students made the transition from mechanical pencils to using pens in high school. I pretty much hated ballpoint pens due to the increased force needed to make ink stay on paper (lots of fatigue when you write 700 word long essays). I grew up using Pilot G1 and G2 gel pens. I finally caved and bought myself a Pilot Kakuno fountain pen while I was back in the motherland a week ago. I doubt I can move back to ballpoint again, but still keep one in the travel backpack just in case I need it to fill up customs forms in the plane.

Re: Let the Fountain Pens Flow

#30

Post by jackvalentine »

I got given a mall voucher eight years ago and decided on a whim to get a Lamy Al-Star with it. I’ve been using it ever since as my daily pen. I keep a paper diary in an a5 notebook using it and have filled almost 10 volumes. In recent years I have de-emphasised verbose writing and started sketching small maps etc in it as well.

Nothing I do is particularly groundbreaking or interesting, but I like the exercise!

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