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The cheap pen that changed writing forever

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Re: The cheap pen that changed writing forever

#161

Post by woofie11 »

asib wrote: post #56
woofie11 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Intense, short loads, with long recovery breaks in between build muscles and strengthen tendons. That's lifting weights at the gym. Writing and typing is continuous, repetitive strain with no recovery. That's the killer.

Wouldn't you describe cardio as continuous, repetitive strain with no recovery? I would've assumed writing is more of an endurance type of strain, but perhaps the strain due to writing occurs at an intensity that is analogous to lifting weights.

The other answers nailed it -- different types of muscles -- but even so, if you do cardio every day for 8 hours a day, your body may still break down. If you do it for 16 hours a day, your body WILL break down.

Hard labor is continuous cardio. Hard labor isn't healthy. Athletes have specific training regiments with up times and recovery times.

If I go on a 60 mile bike ride, I need at least a few days downtime to recover. If I'm biking 20-30 miles, I'll do that at most every other day. And if I lift weights, I'll alternate upper body and lower body days. And if I'm doing basic calisthenics and stretching, I can do that every day.

(Not that I do any of those anymore, at my age)

Re: The cheap pen that changed writing forever

#162

Post by ruste »

golergka wrote: post #146
ascar wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, using a fountain pen is incredibly frustrating and exhausting for left-handed people (in a left to right writing system). I had to unnaturally bend my hand above the line I wanted to write so I don't immediately smear the ink. Basically mimiking a right-hand draw position with the left hand while having your hand above the line instead of on the same level. It hurts. We were also forced to use it i…

Now I finally realise why left-handed people were so often forcibly re-taught to be right-handed in school in 20th century. It always seemed so pointlessly cruel! But with only fountain pens available, it must have been the only choice. Edit: this also makes me wonder how the hell Ben Yehuda revived Hebrew without ballpoint pens.

As a right-handed person imagining writing left handed, I think the minimal inconvenience of learning to write with the other hand sounds like it far outweighs a lifetime of smeared ink. I don't think it would cause me too much inconvenience to switch hands and I would hardly call it cruel.

Re: The cheap pen that changed writing forever

#163

Post by golergka »

ruste wrote: post #162
golergka wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now I finally realise why left-handed people were so often forcibly re-taught to be right-handed in school in 20th century. It always seemed so pointlessly cruel! But with only fountain pens available, it must have been the only choice. Edit: this also makes me wonder how the hell Ben Yehuda revived Hebrew without ballpoint pens.

As a right-handed person imagining writing left handed, I think the minimal inconvenience of learning to write with the other hand sounds like it far outweighs a lifetime of smeared ink. I don't think it would cause me too much inconvenience to switch hands and I would hardly call it cruel.

Thinking abstractly, it doesn't seem to be cruel indeed. But I'm not left-handed, and people I know that are and have experienced it have called it such; I'm not sure whether it's the practice itself or just the common everyday teacher cruelty, but having experienced the latter myself, I wouldn't want to have one more reason to be otherfied by them.

Re: The cheap pen that changed writing forever

#164

Post by freerobby »

tvb12 wrote: post #111
BeetleB wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apart from Lamy Safari, another option is the Pilot Metropolitan. If you want smooth writing, get a Medium or larger. Pilot Medium's are the equivalent of Fine in most countries.

I have a fine Pilot Metropolitan and went looking for a Medium tip to try it out. Unfortunately, they don't sell the tips separately, but I did find a list of Pilot pens which are said to have compatible tips: Plumix, Pluminix, Prera, Penmanship, 78G, Kakuna. It looks the Plumix is $10, which seems steep for the tip, but I guess it's better than paying another $20-ish for a second Metropolitan. On another note, I cam…

Check out the Pilot Vanishing Point. Fantastic pen, also click-style and with a reasonably good seal while disengaged. I've been using mine as a daily writer for the better part of a decade. Unfortunately the price has crept up in recent years.

Re: The cheap pen that changed writing forever

#165

Post by mleonhard »

I wrote a lot in university. My favorite pen is the Pilot G-2 07 black. It can make the tapered points of Chinese & Japanese characters. Its only shortcoming is that the ink takes about a minute to dry.

UNI JetStream 0.7mm black has quick-drying ink and is just as smooth. But it cannot make the tapered line ends, is more expensive, and has a counterfeit problem.

Re: The cheap pen that changed writing forever

#166

Post by adolph »

Cancan82 wrote: post #76
adolph wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm new to fountains and enjoy my Lamy Safari even if it is inexpensive plastic. The refillable reservoir is of the screw-suction type but I don't use it that way. I use an inexpensive syringe to transfer ink. https://www.jetpens.com/JetPens-Ink-Syringe/pd/22182

Did you get the converter for the Lamh Safari? I actually use the same for cost reasons (and I like the grip) but I use the disposable cartridges, which seems wasteful. I have just heard that the Safari converter is pretty quick to run empty?

Yes, I did get the official converter. I think it was a waste as it doesn't do anything aside from the not very useful screw-suction thing. Even when fully out the suction mechanism does take up space that could be ink volume and after the first disposable that came with it refills have come more often.

If I ever use a disposable cartridge again I'll try reusing it instead.

Re: The cheap pen that changed writing forever

#167

Post by garblegarble »

ruste wrote: post #162
golergka wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now I finally realise why left-handed people were so often forcibly re-taught to be right-handed in school in 20th century. It always seemed so pointlessly cruel! But with only fountain pens available, it must have been the only choice. Edit: this also makes me wonder how the hell Ben Yehuda revived Hebrew without ballpoint pens.

As a right-handed person imagining writing left handed, I think the minimal inconvenience of learning to write with the other hand sounds like it far outweighs a lifetime of smeared ink. I don't think it would cause me too much inconvenience to switch hands and I would hardly call it cruel.

>I don't think it would cause me too much inconvenience to switch hands and I would hardly call it cruel.

As a left handed person, I'd recommend you give it a go for a few months, I think you'll find it a good bit harder than you might think - although you're probably not handwriting pages of text all day anymore, so whether it's a fair comparison I don't know.

I certainly found it quite tortuous to be forced to do things with my less (forgive the pun) dextrous hand: it takes constant conscious effort, like a wasteful background process. And that's not to mention the psychological effect of, as a child, being scolded because the most comfortable & natural way of doing something is "wrong".

Edit: Wikipedia has an interesting section on other consequences of forced conversion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bias_against_left-handed_peopl...

Re: The cheap pen that changed writing forever

#168

Post by citrusybread »

karlding wrote: post #32
NewOrderNow wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same, once I used one, there is no no going back. You can certainly go deep with ink and pens and whatnot, but you can buy a Lamy for cheap on Amazon and just stick with cartridges and still get a far superior result. If anyone feel like their writing is sloppy and avoid writing because of it, try a fountain pen.

For what it's worth, the consensus on /r/fountainpens and other fountain pen enthusiast sites is that you risk receiving counterfeit Lamy Safari pens when purchasing from Amazon. These fakes often have poor quality nibs and ruin people's first experience with fountain pens. The recommendation is to purchase a pen through a reputable dealer so you know that you are getting the real thing. There's a post here on Imgur…

In Canada, Wonderpens is an excellent source of fountain pens & inks (based in Toronto). Stylo is also great in Montreal and ships.

But you might have a local shop (most cities seem to have at least one -- either catering to artists or catering to the wedding/cards types).

The Lamy Safari is a great starter but I found the Platinum Plaisir and the cheaper Platinum Preppy to also be great introductions. The Plaisir also comes in finer tips, down to 0.3mm, which helps for those of us with angry writing :) It's also quite a bit cheaper, and the piston refill is cheaper.

(although these days I just use a syringe to refill as drawing ink up any other way seems to never work right...)

Re: The cheap pen that changed writing forever

#169

Post by citrusybread »

adolph wrote: post #166
Cancan82 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you get the converter for the Lamh Safari? I actually use the same for cost reasons (and I like the grip) but I use the disposable cartridges, which seems wasteful. I have just heard that the Safari converter is pretty quick to run empty?

Yes, I did get the official converter. I think it was a waste as it doesn't do anything aside from the not very useful screw-suction thing. Even when fully out the suction mechanism does take up space that could be ink volume and after the first disposable that came with it refills have come more often. If I ever use a disposable cartridge again I'll try reusing it instead.

Refilling with a syringe is fairly easy. Lots of places sell blunt-tip syringes or you might be able to get away with insulin needles (I'm not sure -- pink tipped luers are the smallest I've ever used).

Do use luer-lock though, because the other kind of syringes suck. Just ask your local pharmacy -- they usually carry them and they can be used for all sorts of non-illicit-drug reasons.

In the US/Canada Lee Valley sells a set of blunt tip syringes for inks and glues.

Re: The cheap pen that changed writing forever

#170

Post by citrusybread »

wenc wrote: post #99
wombatmobile wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love fountain pens too, and recently tried to switch back to my classic Parker 45. Sadly, the plastic lining of the reservoir had perished, so the pen wouldn't suck ink up. I tried a replacement reservoir, but it didn't work. So I tried a different type, with a screw based impeller mechanism, and got ink all over my fingers and desk. Some of the ink went up into the reservoir, but wouldn't flow back down through th…

I use a TWSBI ECO F (~$30) every day. It is one of the more inexpensive piston filled demonstrators out there. The writing experience is the best I've had so far (when paired with heavier Rhodia or Clairefontaine paper). The only downsides are (1) it uses a screw cap mechanism (which is preferred by some in the fountain pen community because it doesn't fail like snap-on cap mechanisms; but is slower and less convenie…

you might already know this, but Noodler makes an extremely quick drying ink called the Bernanke. It's available in blue and black and dries way faster than anything I've ever seen. It doesn't feather or bleed on any paper I've tried it on.

I used to use Staples Sustainable Earth notebooks, now I've started using their TruRed series. I also use Rhodia notebooks, but am switching to TruRed because they're easier to find, cheaper, and handle my other inks better (the rhodia stuff actually performs terribly with all my other inks -- no idea what the deal is).

Combined with a 0.3mm Platinum nib I never have any issues. If you've tried Parker Quink it's significantly faster.

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