For those of us that arent raking in the FAANG dosh for a 3 figure pen, give TWSBI a try. theyre just as good. https://www.twsbi.com/
The TWSBI pens definitely hit a sweet spot for me as well.
Classic fountain pens
111–120 of 180 posts
Re: Classic fountain pens
#112I am glad to see Schon DSGN there. I got myself a brass "Pocket Six" a few years ago and it is amazing. I use it daily. It is small and write like a dream. The owner now makes his own nib, which looks amazing. Highly recommended.
Re: Classic fountain pens
#113This list is certainly not classic fountain pens. They are mostly machined pens made by small batch producers with generic nibs and two with somewhat "different" nibs I wouldn't normally suggest most people get. These are pretty good pens but not what I would get as a first pen. Here are the pens I would suggest you consider if you don't know a lot about fountain pens. If you are a fountain pen collector, I'm mostly…
I haven't been keeping up; does TWSBI still have quality problems with their plastic? The last I heard, there were a lot of reports of parts breaking. TWSBI was always good about replacing the parts, but I heard too many stories about someone's second or third replacement cap breaking.
Re: Classic fountain pens
#114Are fountain pens exclusively a right-handed pleasure? I've tried, and the smudging has been an insurmountable obstacle. I would love to hear from some fellow lefties. I love pens, ink, and paper, but I feel cursed.
I'm left-handed and the basic Platinum Preppy and the blue ink that comes with it by default work great for me. My hand brushes over the text but the ink dries so fast it's not a problem. Some fancier pens with flexible nib that gives more control over line width really need that you don't push against the grain and are impossible to write with left hand.
Re: Classic fountain pens
#115I've been using fountain pens to write for about 35 years now, and I have pens that range from about $30 to about $500. At any given time I have about 2-3 pens either on my desk or in my backpack.
The best value for money I've seen are the TWSBI pens. As writing instruments they are often more reliable than most of the pens I have that are more expensive. The production quality tends to be surprisingly consistent for a low cost pen. I have about 6-7 of these and I have only had one fail on me and that was because it got banged up in my backpack. These are good workhorses for people who take a lot of notes with generous size ink reservoirs.
The least reliable pens I own are usually in the $150-$200 range. A lot of these pens either have problems with inconsistent manufacturing or they are fragile or in some way. A lot of these manufacturers have considerably more expensive versions, but the uneven manufacturing quality means I would only consider buying these in a store so I can have them serviced/adjusted/fixed or return them if they can't justify the price tag.
I'm not really into expensive pens since I don't collect them to collect: I use them. Pens that aren't good writing instruments are of no use to me.
A surprise for me is a Mont Blanc pen I've had for 15 or so years. I got it as a gift and I had never even considered buying a Mont Blanc since it is a luxury brand. Mont Blanc fountain pens are overpriced, but at least the pen I has performed without a hitch for 15 years.
The best pen I own is a nondescript black fountain pen with a nib that has a really rough looking surface finish. It has no visible brand, which has made it hard to figure out what it is. I think it was made by a company that has since gone under. The nib works well for me and it has performed perfectly for about a decade.
I tend to buy Leuchtturm 1917 A5 notebooks since these work well with almost all of my pen/ink combinations plus they are a nice size and have stiff covers. I tried Moleskine, but they're just not very good notebooks. The paper is too flimsy for fountain pens.
Re: Classic fountain pens
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've found that with regard to ink, there is no one size fits all solution. Some pens work with fast-flowing inks, other pens don't work as well. So there is some amount of trial and error that goes into pairing pen with ink.
This is very true, the pen, ink, and paper work together to form a system. They all have some effect on all of the variables such as flow, ease of movement, drying time, etc. For the most part modern ink are better in every aspect compared to classic inks.
I'm not sure I understand the difference between modern and classic inks. Is there a definition somewhere?
(I have 20-25 ink bottles of ink and by trial and error I've roughly figured out what ink works in what pen. I probably should know more about inks given that I write a lot, but I haven't made any systematic approach to figuring this out :-))
Re: Classic fountain pens
#117For anyone with a budding or casual interest in fountain pens, the Lamy Safari is the way to go. They're plentiful, inexpensive, rugged, and have plenty of nibs, cartridges, and refillable cartridges to experiment with. Just pick your color and start using it to figure out what you value in a pen. Don't let the grip shape scare you off, you might like it more than you thought, but if not it won't ruin the value as an…
Agreed, love the Lamy Safari. I got the Al Star to up-scale it a bit. And, then a gold-nib later. But, honestly, like the steel more! I also tried the Pilot Metropolitan, for some reason this awful pen is recommended as an alternative to the Lamy. Doesn't even compare, got rid of it fairly quickly. The ridge along the grip was very uncomfortable for me.
The Lamy grips are pretty controversial too. It looks like there are a few other pens that use the same nib and feed as the Metro. Do any of them lack that ridge?
Re: Classic fountain pens
#118This list is certainly not classic fountain pens. They are mostly machined pens made by small batch producers with generic nibs and two with somewhat "different" nibs I wouldn't normally suggest most people get. These are pretty good pens but not what I would get as a first pen. Here are the pens I would suggest you consider if you don't know a lot about fountain pens. If you are a fountain pen collector, I'm mostly…
Regarding Noodler's Ink: Most of his popular inks are fairly consistent. Noodler's Ink Black being by far the most popular. For black inks I prefer Heart of Darkness. It is a deeper, richer black, though it isn't as well-behaved on bad paper.
Noodler's Navy is also very good. (I have many bottles from this brand.)
But if you want a safe-in-any-pen, just works, generally great ink, I'd have to recommend Pilot Blue-Black in the 70ml bottle. The bottle has built-in ink well, so it ensures you get a good fill all the way through the life of the bottle. The ink is middle of the road for wetness (Pilot Iroshizuku inks are wet, this is in the middle, not dry like Robert Oster inks, for example).
Re: Classic fountain pens
#119This list is certainly not classic fountain pens. They are mostly machined pens made by small batch producers with generic nibs and two with somewhat "different" nibs I wouldn't normally suggest most people get. These are pretty good pens but not what I would get as a first pen. Here are the pens I would suggest you consider if you don't know a lot about fountain pens. If you are a fountain pen collector, I'm mostly…
> Pilot Metropolitan
One thing I’d like to mention is the difference between Japanese Fine and European Fine, with Japanese being much finer.
I found Metropolitan Fine to be scratchy while love Lamy Safari Fine. I’ll recommend Metropolitan Medium to most people who are starting with fountain pens, or a Lamy Safari Fine.
Re: Classic fountain pens
#120This list is certainly not classic fountain pens. They are mostly machined pens made by small batch producers with generic nibs and two with somewhat "different" nibs I wouldn't normally suggest most people get. These are pretty good pens but not what I would get as a first pen. Here are the pens I would suggest you consider if you don't know a lot about fountain pens. If you are a fountain pen collector, I'm mostly…
I came here to write something similar, so thank you. I would add a Pelikan M800 or M100 to the level-up list, though.
Love my Pelikans. But the M800 and M1000 retail for more than double the most expensive pen on my list. They are awesome but not necessarily a better writing experience than the pens on the list.
Still, they mostly didn't make the list because while Pelikans are awesome, their nib quality control isn't what one would hope it was. In addition, you don't really know what you are getting in terms of nib size. I've bought Pelikan extra fines that make a wider line than Pelikan mediums.
If you know how to tune nibs or you budget and extra 50 dollars for a nibmeister to get it the way you like, or you buy from a retail store where you try the pen out first and know what to look for great. I suspect most here will buy online and won't necessarily know what makes for a problematic nib and how they want it to work.