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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

#41

Post by allovernow »

filleduchaos wrote: post #20

As someone that still fills a notebook roughly every three months, these pens are actually pretty nifty. Most regular ballpoints aren't ergonomic at all (I don't know how to describe it, but they take way too much force to write with and that leads to hand cramps in a long writing session). Rollerballs are way easier on the hand, and I tipped over to buying refillable ones because someone introduced me to J. Herbin i…

Why don't you try a mechanical pencil? A small diameter like .5mm is silky smooth, easily refillable, erasable, and you can get a nice ergonomic drafting pencil like a Pentel GraphGear, which feels really good in the hand.

Re: Rollerball pens that use fountain pen ink

#42

Post by sizzle »

yumraj wrote: post #32
filleduchaos wrote: post #20

As someone that still fills a notebook roughly every three months, these pens are actually pretty nifty. Most regular ballpoints aren't ergonomic at all (I don't know how to describe it, but they take way too much force to write with and that leads to hand cramps in a long writing session). Rollerballs are way easier on the hand, and I tipped over to buying refillable ones because someone introduced me to J. Herbin i…

Try fountain pen, they are much more easier to write, as in even less effort. Especially if you go with a medium nib.

My nibs are always getting clogged and feel dull like it starts to lack the precision it once had where the nib once felt like it was exquisitely carving into the paper. Any tips on good nib hygiene or how to restore nibs?

I only have used Lamy fine and extra fine nibs, any recommendations for other companies?

Re: Rollerball pens that use fountain pen ink

#43

Post by mrob »

allovernow wrote: post #41
filleduchaos wrote: post #20

As someone that still fills a notebook roughly every three months, these pens are actually pretty nifty. Most regular ballpoints aren't ergonomic at all (I don't know how to describe it, but they take way too much force to write with and that leads to hand cramps in a long writing session). Rollerballs are way easier on the hand, and I tipped over to buying refillable ones because someone introduced me to J. Herbin i…

Why don't you try a mechanical pencil? A small diameter like .5mm is silky smooth, easily refillable, erasable, and you can get a nice ergonomic drafting pencil like a Pentel GraphGear, which feels really good in the hand.

>A small diameter like .5mm is silky smooth

The only mechanical pencil lead I've found that matches the smoothness of a good rollerball or fountain pen is Pilot Neox in 4B. Although it's my favorite pencil lead, it has the significant disadvantage of smudging easily.

Re: Rollerball pens that use fountain pen ink

#44

Post by slowmovintarget »

mattlondon wrote: post #38
yumraj wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try fountain pen, they are much more easier to write, as in even less effort. Especially if you go with a medium nib.

Alternatively I significantly prefer pencil to any pen (fountain or otherwise). Very low friction, super-quick to scribble stuff down, easily erased etc. Even the cheapo mechanical pencils are pretty decent IME

One of the features of a properly tuned fountain pen is that require zero friction or pressure to write. The reason for this is that they transfer ink to paper via capillary action so mere contact should be enough to put a line on the page.

I can't say erasure is a typical ability in fountain pen inks. In fact if you look into Noodler's Inks (two of the rollerballs mentioned come from Noodler's Inks) you'll notice that the creator of those inks leans the other way, toward forgery-proof, water-proof, tamper-evident, archival-quality, fade-resistant inks. Use those, and you'd be able to prove that you wrote it, and no one would be able to alter it.

That said, Noodler's provides "waterase" inks for use on material like whiteboards. Wipe the text away with a wet cloth.

I've recently taken to using a TWSBI Eco (fine) at work for note taking. I write maybe two to three pages a day. What amazed me about it is that the nib felt like using a pencil! It is tuned to run smoothly across the page, but provide a very subtle feedback to give it that feel.

Re: Rollerball pens that use fountain pen ink

#45

Post by sizzle »

ryanobjc wrote: post #23
ThePhysicist wrote: post #4

Nice, I was looking for something like this. I currently use a Lamy Al-Star with an ink converter (to use ink from a bottle instead of single-use cartridges). Really great for writing but sometimes I miss the speed and fluidity of a rollerball. Lamy also offer rollerball pens but only with single-use cartridges that are ridiculously overpriced (I think around 3 € for a single cartridge which might last a few weeks to…

Try a broader nib - with a larger surface it’s less scratchy. Also your nib probably needs a smoothing and tune up too! There’s many resources online to learn how to do that. In short very fine abrasives.

All my nibs are failing, please share any trusted guides that aren't just cleaning the reservoir with soap and water.

Re: Rollerball pens that use fountain pen ink

#46

Post by slowmovintarget »

thom wrote: post #10

Yes! If there's one thing I always wanted out of good pens that don't leak or cause a mess, it's a way to make them leak and cause a lot of mess. Finally!

You're not very familiar with modern fountain pens, are you?

Most don't leak, and if you are really finicky about mess (like I used to be before children) you can fill them with a syringe... not a stray drop anywhere.

The utility (and cost-effectiveness in many cases) of bottled inks, and avoiding the landfill waste of using cartridges is worth the extra effort in cleaning and maintaining a fine instrument.

Re: Rollerball pens that use fountain pen ink

#47

Post by slowmovintarget »

ryanobjc wrote: post #18
odiroot wrote: post #17

Hah! I use exactly the same model as pictured. It's just so pleasant to write with. And even works for lefties like me.

I thought the ink drying speed was an issue for lefties and the resultant smear. These pens don’t seem to solve it... same ink after all.

There are fast-drying fountain pen inks designed especially for left-handed overwriters. Have a look at Noodler's Bernanke series, for example: https://noodlersink.com/product-tag/fast-drying/

Funny story, the inks are named that as a commentary on Quantitative Easing. So much cash had to be printed so quickly, you see, that Bernanke really needed the ink to dry really fast...

Re: Rollerball pens that use fountain pen ink

#48

Post by slowmovintarget »

mrob wrote: post #33
ryanobjc wrote: post #21

I guess I don’t quite get it. The inks are the least good thing about fountain pens - the ink drys slow and often doesn’t well on cheap paper. I personally love fountain pens. The style, the tech, the aesthetic, everything. So this to me seems like a step back - and the writing end breaks every 20-30 fills!

How well a fountain pen writes on cheap paper depends very much on the ink. Several years ago, when I first became interested in fountain pens, I exchanged ink samples with other enthusiasts, and tried many different inks. I had the best results with Noodler's Black, which avoided feathering or bleed-through even on cheap paper. I got through a 3oz jar of it, and I'm currently using a 3oz jar of Noodler's Bad Black M…

I'm currently working my way through a bottle of Noodler's Dark Matter. Really well behaved ink, though I'll likely trade-up to Noodler's X-Feather (anti-feather black) or plain black.

I have samples of Noodler's 54th Massachusetts and Lexington Gray that I'm looking forward to trying.

Re: Rollerball pens that use fountain pen ink

#49

Post by grawprog »

mrob wrote: post #43
allovernow wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why don't you try a mechanical pencil? A small diameter like .5mm is silky smooth, easily refillable, erasable, and you can get a nice ergonomic drafting pencil like a Pentel GraphGear, which feels really good in the hand.

>A small diameter like .5mm is silky smooth The only mechanical pencil lead I've found that matches the smoothness of a good rollerball or fountain pen is Pilot Neox in 4B. Although it's my favorite pencil lead, it has the significant disadvantage of smudging easily.

I'm not a big fan of mechanical pencils myself, but i've found drafting pencils, similar to these to be nice.

https://www.amazon.ca/Mars-STAEDTLER-Technical-Pencil-Set/dp...

They've got the pros of both mechanical and standard pencils without the flaws of both. I use one for writing and sketching and i've had the same pencil for 12 years now and still use it to this day. The refills can be a bit tricky to find though in stores. Art supply stores sometimes have them and i've seen them at places like staples.

Re: Rollerball pens that use fountain pen ink

#50

Post by hoorayimhelping »

filleduchaos wrote: post #20

As someone that still fills a notebook roughly every three months, these pens are actually pretty nifty. Most regular ballpoints aren't ergonomic at all (I don't know how to describe it, but they take way too much force to write with and that leads to hand cramps in a long writing session). Rollerballs are way easier on the hand, and I tipped over to buying refillable ones because someone introduced me to J. Herbin i…

Interesting. I use Muji gel ink ballpoint pens, typically 0.7mm tips, and they are they first pen I've found that hasn't given me cramps (found 0.5mm to be too scratchy feeling). So I haven't really looked much beyond them.

The comments in this thread lead me to the wikipedia article for rollerball pens, which mentions the ink being the main reason the pens require less pressure to write and therefore produce less stress on the hand.

Either way, I love Muji pens and Muji pads. Finding them has led me to actually start writing, which has led me to keeping a dev journal.

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