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Classic fountain pens

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Re: Classic fountain pens

#131

Post by slowmovintarget »

vr46 wrote: post #96

This “article” is total “churnalism”, just marketing bunk with absolutely no content. Obviously I am aware what Wallpaper* is, which is mainly a conduit to help people spend their money as fast as possible like Brewster’s Millions, but this article on HN is surely misdirected.

Agreed. Most of those listings aren't even close to being classics.

For example, The Monoc Nib is very new. It didn't exist a few scant months ago. While I hope Ian Schon succeeds and it does become considered a classic, a single-piece titanium nib unit that encloses an Ultem feed is not a typical fountain pen design. (Very cool, just not classic yet... give it 20 years).

The Montblanc, and maybe the Conway Stewart may be the only classic brands there.

Re: Classic fountain pens

#132

Post by agambrahma »

IMO posts like this contribute to the impression of _all_ fountain pens being "expensive, fancy things".

I have a Lamy Safari that has lasted 12 years (and counting) I have a TWSBI Eco that has lasted 9 years (ditto)

You have a LOT of options with pens and ink that are high-quality and long-lasting.

Of course, there are _better_ ones out there, but it's important to share how easy it is to get started.

Re: Classic fountain pens

#134

Post by Alekhine »

quantgenius wrote: post #130
slowmovintarget wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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-Bla…

While I love many Noodler's inks and have many bottles from him too, while this used to be the case, this hasn't been my experience recently. In my experience the inconsistency has if anything gotten worse recently. Worse, the bottle will sometimes contain ink that is different from the label. I recently bought a bottle of Noodler's Navy to replace a bottle I actually emptied that was bought maybe 5-6 years ago. The…

It may interest you to know that Noodler's, as far as I know, is a one man operation. It's literally one guy making ink in his shed.

Re: Classic fountain pens

#135

Post by axiomdata316 »

quantgenius wrote: post #50

This 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…

This is a great list. Just to piggyback on the Pilot Vanishing Point. I originally wasn't interested in getting one because I was put off with the clip being on the "wrong" end of the pen. I wound up purchasing the Mahjohn A1 which is basically a Chinese replica of the Pilot Vanishing Point. (I guess the patent expired after 50 years) It's my new favorite pen. Even with a steel nib it writes very smoothly. Because it's almost identical you can interchange the cartridges and pin nib inserts.

I'm very tempted to buy the actual Pilot Vanishing Point insert and swap it so I have a 18k nib.

Originally released in 1963 it really is a really cool piece of engineering. Highly recommend the Pilot Vanishing Point or the Chinese replica as a daily writer.

Re: Classic fountain pens

#136

Post by vr46 »

slowmovintarget wrote: post #131
vr46 wrote: post #96

This “article” is total “churnalism”, just marketing bunk with absolutely no content. Obviously I am aware what Wallpaper* is, which is mainly a conduit to help people spend their money as fast as possible like Brewster’s Millions, but this article on HN is surely misdirected.

Agreed. Most of those listings aren't even close to being classics. For example, The Monoc Nib is very new. It didn't exist a few scant months ago. While I hope Ian Schon succeeds and it does become considered a classic, a single-piece titanium nib unit that encloses an Ultem feed is not a typical fountain pen design. (Very cool, just not classic yet... give it 20 years). The Montblanc, and maybe the Conway Stewart m…

The HN comment thread - once again - provides more entertainment and enlightenment than the original post :)

There’s some innovative features in the pens, but agreed, no classics.

Re: Classic fountain pens

#137

Post by quantgenius »

mpalczewski wrote: post #110
quantgenius wrote: post #50

This 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 would not reccomend TWSBI for beginners, I find that the nibs are way to finicky. I needed to tune mine a bit before it wrote well. Pilot and Lamy are great out of the box.

I haven't had this experience with TWSBI. They used to have somewhat more finicky nibs before they switched to using Jowo nibs. I've found the nibs on TWSBI pens to generally be pretty well adjusted Jowo nibs. They aren't the same level of quality control as Japanese brands but are probably better than any European brand.

Plus they have a really good lifetime warranty. If your nib has issues, call them. They will probably send you a replacement.

Re: Classic fountain pens

#138

Post by quantgenius »

throwanem wrote: post #88
Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my view, Lamy Safari is way overrated. Don't get me wrong, it's far from bad, a pretty consistent pen for the price. But the ink dries fast-ish if you don't use it, and especially, the cartridges are proprietary so you're tied to the brand's cartridges and ink colors (there's a piston converter, but converters, meh). A Pilot Metropolitan is approximately the same price and at least in my view, it's better as it us…

> [the Pilot Metropolitan] uses standard international cartridges I'm afraid not; Pilot cartridges are sui generis, and not compatible with either Lamy's own proprietary design or with "International Standard" cartridges. That said, there's nothing wrong with proprietary cartridges per se, given that fountain pen cartridges in general are a pretty niche good. I like Pilot cartridges for being refillable and resealabl…

The Pilot Metropolitans sold in Europe use standard international cartridges. The ones used in the US use proprietary Pilot cartridges.

Re: Classic fountain pens

#139

Post by quantgenius »

nunuvit wrote: post #47
e40 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I saw the recommendation for the Lamy Safari in a lot of places. Just want to say I actually hated writing with it. Maybe I got a bad one, but I doubt it.

I assume you mean the nib wrote scratchy. Honestly, troubleshooting that issue is something you have to be prepared for if you have a fountain pen. I haven't used enough of any nib to know if some of them have genuine design or quality control problems, or if the volume of reports online is due to people expecting a more plug-and-play experience.

It's extremely rare to get a nib that isn't tuned pretty much perfectly if you buy a brand new pen made by one of the Japanese big 3, Pilot, Platinum and Sailor from an actual fountain pen retailer (online or brick and mortar). I've never gotten a remotely bad nib from any of those nor have I heard of someone getting a remotely bad nib from one of them.

If you buy from eBay or used elsewhere or for that matter Amazon, you do sometimes get a bad nib because someone has tried to tune one of these nibs and botched it and then decided to try and sell the pen new.

Re: Classic fountain pens

#140

Post by quantgenius »

dmpk2k wrote: post #38
throwaway2203 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a recommendation?

Three I know about are the TWSBI Eco and Diamond, and Pilot’s disposable Vpen. They’ve already been mentioned elsewhere in this thread. Beyond those, do research. Fountain pens drying out is a major problem that catches newcomers off-guard. When you can buy EnerGels for peanuts, fountain pen manufacturers really need to up their game to stay remotely competitive with other pen types. And many don’t.

You do need to cap fountain pens because the inks are water based.

If you need to take quick notes and drying out is a problem because the pens are uncapped and capped a lot, get a Lamy 2000, vintage (not new) Parker 51 or a Pilot Vanishing Point. The first two have slip caps and hooded nibs so cap and uncap really quickly and don't dry out due to the hooded nib. The Vanishing Point also has a hooded nib but you click it like a ballpoint pen to expose and hide the nib. Also don't use quick drying inks.

If drying out is a problem because you don't write frequently enough, there are two solutions. Solution 1: Buy a Platinum (Preppy for low end, or 3776 higher end). It has a really good cap. Both will take a long time to dry out. Or even better, write more frequently.

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