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Mountain of Ink

mountainofink.com

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Re: Mountain of Ink

#71

Post by shriphani »

agambrahma wrote: post #16

I think people over-complicate fountain pens a lot. I have a Lamy Safari that I got in 2012 and works just as well today. It's what I still recommend to anyone who asks what to get. Just get the pen, with its cartridge, add more cartridges -- you can stay here and already you're way better than with most standard ball pens that you'd be using otherwise. Then, get the small converter, plop it in, get your first bottle…

I carry a few pens with me - different color ink for different days of the week - so I can see how much I wrote in a single day. Started doing it after I read about Neil Gaiman's writing habits.

Re: Mountain of Ink

#72

Post by vanderZwan »

agambrahma wrote: post #16

I think people over-complicate fountain pens a lot. I have a Lamy Safari that I got in 2012 and works just as well today. It's what I still recommend to anyone who asks what to get. Just get the pen, with its cartridge, add more cartridges -- you can stay here and already you're way better than with most standard ball pens that you'd be using otherwise. Then, get the small converter, plop it in, get your first bottle…

> Either way, that first step is enough to improve your life a lot

Clearly you've never tried being left-handed.

(I joke, but I also wish fountain pens wouldn't fundamentally be incompatible with my way of writing. And I was taught to write with a fountain pen using cursive in school, so it's not like I didn't try.)

Re: Mountain of Ink

#73

Post by innocenat »

quirino wrote: post #9

I had some fountain pens over the years, but I was never able to truly enjoy them or recommend them to anyone. I didn't find them practical as daily writing tools and or too fun as a hobby. I really dislike the feeling that you need to be a bit careful with a tool. I want the peace of mind of being able to drop pens nib-first into the ground. They're also not great for writing on many types of paper and require some…

> They're not just small luxuries, but actually better-performant and more practical than the popular alternatives in almost every way.

Most of us who use fountain pen feel this way too.

I literally just an hour ago tried picking up a gel pen for writing and 3 minutes later it went back into storage. It's Uniball One so it's not a bad gel pen either.

Re: Mountain of Ink

#74

Post by jszymborski »

agambrahma wrote: post #16

I think people over-complicate fountain pens a lot. I have a Lamy Safari that I got in 2012 and works just as well today. It's what I still recommend to anyone who asks what to get. Just get the pen, with its cartridge, add more cartridges -- you can stay here and already you're way better than with most standard ball pens that you'd be using otherwise. Then, get the small converter, plop it in, get your first bottle…

I always kinda hated the cartridges and the ink that came in them from day 1.

My second pen was filled by piston and I bought some cheap Diamine samplers, and it was both simple to use and cheap.

I found converters to be often hard to use which results in messes.

Re: Mountain of Ink

#75

Post by jszymborski »

crabl wrote: post #67
agambrahma wrote: post #16

I think people over-complicate fountain pens a lot. I have a Lamy Safari that I got in 2012 and works just as well today. It's what I still recommend to anyone who asks what to get. Just get the pen, with its cartridge, add more cartridges -- you can stay here and already you're way better than with most standard ball pens that you'd be using otherwise. Then, get the small converter, plop it in, get your first bottle…

the Zebra disposable fountain pens are EXCELLENT for how cheap they are, it's honestly a shame they're not refillable

Excellent starting point but they are sooo scratchy. It made me doubt if fountain pens were for me, but I bought some cheap pens that were less fine and it was a dream.

Re: Mountain of Ink

#76

Post by throw0101c »

agambrahma wrote: post #16

I think people over-complicate fountain pens a lot. I have a Lamy Safari that I got in 2012 and works just as well today. It's what I still recommend to anyone who asks what to get. Just get the pen, with its cartridge, add more cartridges -- you can stay here and already you're way better than with most standard ball pens that you'd be using otherwise. Then, get the small converter, plop it in, get your first bottle…

> Then, get the small converter […]

E.g.:

* https://www.lamy.com/en-us/p/lamy-z-28-converter

Re: Mountain of Ink

#77

Post by bayindirh »

jszymborski wrote: post #74
agambrahma wrote: post #16

I think people over-complicate fountain pens a lot. I have a Lamy Safari that I got in 2012 and works just as well today. It's what I still recommend to anyone who asks what to get. Just get the pen, with its cartridge, add more cartridges -- you can stay here and already you're way better than with most standard ball pens that you'd be using otherwise. Then, get the small converter, plop it in, get your first bottle…

I always kinda hated the cartridges and the ink that came in them from day 1. My second pen was filled by piston and I bought some cheap Diamine samplers, and it was both simple to use and cheap. I found converters to be often hard to use which results in messes.

You don’t fill a “converted” different from a piston one. Both operate exactly the same. Why the mess?

Re: Mountain of Ink

#78

Post by _giorgio_ »

voidUpdate wrote: post #59
_giorgio_ wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm left handed and I never smudge at all. I use Iroshizuku Kon Peki, Oxford Optik paper, Pilot Prera and Kakuno in M width.

What hand position do you use? The equivalent of a right handed person, or a specialised one to move your hand away from the writing?

My pinky rests just above the line I'm currently writing on — the line I just finished. You'd expect that to cause the most smudging, since the ink is still fresh, but surprisingly, it doesn’t.

Re: Mountain of Ink

#79

Post by _pigpen__ »

agambrahma wrote: post #16

I think people over-complicate fountain pens a lot. I have a Lamy Safari that I got in 2012 and works just as well today. It's what I still recommend to anyone who asks what to get. Just get the pen, with its cartridge, add more cartridges -- you can stay here and already you're way better than with most standard ball pens that you'd be using otherwise. Then, get the small converter, plop it in, get your first bottle…

>Now if you want to try a few different inks, do that next. Maybe get a second pen, see whether 'fine' or 'medium' sized nibs is more your thing.

And that’s the moment you fell into the trap.

Re: Mountain of Ink

#80

Post by _giorgio_ »

voidUpdate wrote: post #24

While the colours and such do look very nice, the "writing samples" images show exactly why I hate using fountain pens. I'm left-handed, so if I try to write prose then my hand will just smudge the writing. I've always found that cheap ballpoints are the least likely to smudge, even if they still leave residue on my hand, and as the pen gets more "premium", the worse the smudging problem gets. I like to use as fine a…

I'm left handed, I use european fine pens with oxford optik paper and I never smudge. Probably it depends on the ink. I use mostly Iroshizuku inks.
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