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Rollerball pens that use fountain pen ink

unsharpen.com

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Re: Rollerball pens that use fountain pen ink

#101

Post by fishmaster »

sizzle wrote: post #91
fishmaster wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, what paper are you using? 90g? High quality paper does make a difference.

A leuchtturm1917 notebook with pretty absorbent paper that soaks up the ink nicely. I switch paper though in meeting, so sometimes I will be using waxy coated paper e.g. 3M post-it notes, which I think is the main culprit clogging my pens. What do you think?

The notebook should be fine but I'd avoid the cheap paper, just to be sure. Which nib are you using? With a f nib I'd avoid it for sure.

Re: Rollerball pens that use fountain pen ink

#102

Post by fishmaster »

sizzle wrote: post #93
fishmaster wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have the link any more but I believe there's a way to smoothen the nib by writing on fine graded 'smoothing paper', not sure what it's called in English, with a little bit of water. Also, I don't think soap is advisable, use filtrated water as tap water can contain minerals that might damage the nib. That's just some stuff that I remember, might not be 100% true. Maybe someone can provide a link.

Smoothing paper sounds like an interesting solution, will look into your this. Thanks!

Just don't do anything before you have a legitimate source! ;)

Re: Rollerball pens that use fountain pen ink

#103

Post by randomcarbloke »

I much prefer a ballpoint to rollerball or fountain, I grew up using a fountain pen and still have a couple of nice ones but they are just don't do it for me, rollerballs sacrifice the practicality of a ballpoint and the style of a fountain, why not just pick one or the other.

Re: Rollerball pens that use fountain pen ink

#104

Post by Symbiote »

frosted-flakes wrote: post #69
Symbiote wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can't say erasure is a typical ability in fountain pen inks By volume, it is probably the majority of ink sold. Several countries require children to use fountain pens at school, or still have widespreaf use even if it's no longer officially required. Germany, the UK, I think India. The blue ink that everyone uses most of the time is erasable with a chemical eraser pen [1], which everyone in my class (in the UK)…

> Several countries require children to use fountain pens at school Now I'm curious. Why is that? How are fountain pens different from regular pens when it comes to school? I've never even seen a fountain pen, let alone written with one (Canada).

The grip on the pen can (should) be much lighter, and the movement on the paper is smoother, so it's easier to write in a cursive script, and more comfortable to write a lot.

It's amusing to see discussions on fountain pens online. They're held in high regard by a section of HN, with discussions around ink type, importing Japanese nibs, using special paper and so on.

Mine cost €13 from a shop in Germany. It's a typical pen a high school student might own.

(You can buy them for as little as €4, although those are more likely to leak if dropped etc. Typical for a primary school student though.)

Re: Rollerball pens that use fountain pen ink

#105

Post by Symbiote »

mattlondon wrote: post #99
Symbiote wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can't say erasure is a typical ability in fountain pen inks By volume, it is probably the majority of ink sold. Several countries require children to use fountain pens at school, or still have widespreaf use even if it's no longer officially required. Germany, the UK, I think India. The blue ink that everyone uses most of the time is erasable with a chemical eraser pen [1], which everyone in my class (in the UK)…

Yep I remember the same forced fountain pen work too (also UK) and the inevitable ink-leaks in pencil cases, hands, books etc, and the fairly-awful erasers that went along with it. The thing with the erasers was once you erased, the chemical was still on the paper so you could not re-write ont he erased parts. This meant you had to use the other-end of the eraser pen where there was a special blue ink pen. Often this…

Maybe it's because someone (grandma?) bought me a mid-price (probably £15 or so) pen at the start of secondary school, but I don't remember that pen leaking. It seems more likely with a £3 thing from WH Smith.

I had the pen-from-grandma until I was about 30 years old, when it disappeared from my desk at work. "Made in W. Germany."

Re: Rollerball pens that use fountain pen ink

#106

Post by renox »

GuiA wrote: post #30
jfim wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity, what role/industry is that?

FWIW, it’s going away with the newer generation, but anyone in France over the age of 40-50 from an upper middle/higher class education would likely follow similar etiquette. Not sure if it’s still the case, but French students were required to use fountain pens from 1st grade till at least high school when i was growing up (as a leftie, being schooled by old school teachers who made you redo any assignment that had…

Yes, been there done that, I was so relieved when I could stop using these f.. fountain pens. Really annoying to use as for lefties..

Re: Rollerball pens that use fountain pen ink

#108

Post by Karrot_Kream »

joecool1029 wrote: post #98
Karrot_Kream wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd love to hear more about your experiences. I too am not a writing-inclined person (and prefer to do most of my notetaking digitally for that reason), and would love anything that makes the process more frictionless. Most of my writing tends to be of a mathematical nature, other than the more mundane tasks of signing legal documents.

This is difficult to approach. It's not so much that I don't like handwriting so much that it's something I have a great difficulty performing. My background in handwriting starts in kindergarten when my teacher had me pick my right hand after I couldn't decide which hand I preferred to grip with (they had these little triangular rubber grip guides for the hands). A year or two later I would switch to my left when my…

Thanks for that perspective. I too have fought with ADHD tendencies my whole life and have also had similar issues with art and penmanship, and switched to digital notes as early as possible for these reasons, but find myself needing more actual pen and paper as I do more architecture work. Thanks for opening my eyes to something I thought was always closed to me.

Re: Rollerball pens that use fountain pen ink

#109

Post by calyth2018 »

danShumway wrote: post #74

If you currently use a ballpoint pen, switching to a rollerball will be a huge jump in quality to your writing experience. However, if you already use rollerballs, and you're looking at this and thinking you'd like to try it out, but you haven't ever tried a fountain pen, I would heavily advise giving one a shot. If you know you need a rollerball, then a stick with a rollerball. But don't dismiss a fountain pen out-o…

Wouldn't the Noodler be a real PITA if it ever dries in the nib?

Re: Rollerball pens that use fountain pen ink

#110

Post by phaus »

sizzle wrote: post #90
phaus wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That shouldn't be happening even with an extra fine nib, what kind of paper are you using?

I switch mediums often which might be the reason. Typically I use my leuchtturm1917 notebooks which have decent weight paper that absorbs the ink nicely. I think when I switch materials on occasion when I'm in a meeting and only have scrap paper, think some waxy coated film papers e.g. 3M post-it notes material, this is clogging my nib somehow. What do you think? I never made this connection before, might help me avo…

I'd bet its the scraps of paper and the post its. The nicer paper for fountain pens actually has some kind of finished surface, which prevents ink from bleeding much at all. For paper where ink bleeds a lot, the surface of the paper is becoming completely saturated to the point where your nib is scraping soft chunks of ink soaked paper up as you write. That's probably what does it. If some of the paper is waxy, that could also cause clogging.

Different inks might have better results on a wider variety of paper, but that's something you have to try until you get something that works. I generally always either keep a high quality notebook around or I just use felt tip pens and keep my fountain pen at home if good paper isn't available.

Black and Red makes a decent quality notebook that's a good amount cheaper than Rhodia, Leuchtturm, etc.

Also stay away from moleskin they are trendy garbage. Ink bleeds like crazy because the paper they fill them with is of incredibly poor quality.

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