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Fountain pen inks: the good, the bad, and the ugly (2011)

richardspens.com

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Re: Fountain pen inks: the good, the bad, and the ugly (2011)

#81

Post by detaro »

dotancohen wrote: post #41
Feniks wrote: post #9

As someone who writes with his left hand I hate them with a vengeance. Haven't looked at them since primary school.

Why is that? I'm a righty, but I write in Hebrew (Right to Left) so I assume that I would have similar issues to what you face. However I have no problem writing with my fountain pens. I'm genuinely curious why many lefties have trouble with fountain pens, not trolling.

One thing is the smudging thing (avoided by putting the paper at an angle), another aspect is that left-to-right movements push the pen instead of pulling it, and that might be the difference to Hebrew? Do you do mostly right-to-left strokes inside Hebrew characters, or left-to-right?

Re: Fountain pen inks: the good, the bad, and the ugly (2011)

#82

Post by balladeer »

Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #48
UenoHDTV80 wrote: post #25

If you're not a caligrapher, why bother? Just buy gel pens and get the comfort with way less maintenance.

I can write faster, for longer periods and getting less tired with a fountain pen. When I was a student I always took notes with a fountain pen, and I was the only one in the class who could log pretty much everything that was said, and with relatively good handwriting for the speed. A lot of people photocopied my notes! Maintenance depends on the pen. Some require frequent cleaning, but for example, I have a Platinu…

Hey, I would be interested in knowing about pens that do not need regular service and caring especially when not used for longer periods. Could you please suggest some good resources on it (preferably not very costly, if at all) or suggest such fountain pens?

Re: Fountain pen inks: the good, the bad, and the ugly (2011)

#83

Post by ecspike »

notananthem wrote: post #66

Dude hates Noodler's ink, but Noodler's brought back fountain pen interest. I still only use Noodler's inks, including Baystate but not the weird ones.

I have a big bottle of Heart of Darkness that I'm working through (the 4.5oz one) and an X-Feather sample that I think is done.

The only gripes I have about Noodler's is that it isn't as vivid in EF or F, they beg to be in M nibs. Also the Charlie eyedropper pen burped A LOT.

Re: Fountain pen inks: the good, the bad, and the ugly (2011)

#86

Post by projektir »

JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #19

I think I'll stick with my beloved Bic Cristals, this looks like an incredible amount of trouble.

I'm not sure how anyone can stand these pens. :) There are just so many better ones without having to go all the way down to the fountain pen route. Microns, for example, or decent jet pens, or...

Re: Fountain pen inks: the good, the bad, and the ugly (2011)

#87

Post by ecspike »

JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #19

I think I'll stick with my beloved Bic Cristals, this looks like an incredible amount of trouble.

The guy uses a lot of vintage pens. Most modern pens are very low maintenance.

I can refill a pen in less than 30 secs if using a converter, 5 secs if I'm popping in a new cartridge. For those that want to go the disposable route, there are several options.

The guy is making it sound more involved than it is for 99% of the FP using community.

Re: Fountain pen inks: the good, the bad, and the ugly (2011)

#88

Post by spaceisballer »

et2o wrote: post #27

Love writing with cheap bic disposable fountain pens... any suggestions for a low-maintenance first ballpoint? Preferably relatively inexpensive

I’m pretty particular but the main ones I like are the Uniball Signo 207, either the .5 or .7 tip but now I’ve moved to the Uniball Jetstream, just feels smoother. Then I just buy the refills which are pretty cheap and less wasteful.

Re: Fountain pen inks: the good, the bad, and the ugly (2011)

#89

Post by freosam »

balladeer wrote: post #76
twblalock wrote: post #44

Fountain pens are one of those things that probably would have died out if not for the internet, especially on the cheaper end of the market. There are today more pens and inks to choose from than at any time in history, even times when fountain pens were widely used.

I am a fountain pen enthusiast, or I should rather say "used to be". If any effect Internet has had on my fountain-penmanship or any penmanship it has resulted in drastically decreased usage. Isn't it a general phenomenon? (I've no data on it, just what I have observed around me) So if you meant just buying, selling, collecting, swapping pens, and talking about fountain pens then it makes sense (which is what it seem…

I'm the same. I used to almost exclusively write with a fountain pen. Now I write everything with a keyboard. Primarily, because I realised that notebooks full of words are hard to search and fragile in a archival preservation sense. Far better to type everything, and print it all on archival paper with pigment inks (no laser printers!).

Sort of a bit sad though, to not play with pens and bottles and syringes etc. any more.

Re: Fountain pen inks: the good, the bad, and the ugly (2011)

#90

Post by ecspike »

mrob wrote: post #35
flounders wrote: post #23

When I first got into fountain pens, Noodlers was a pretty heavily recommended ink. I wish I had seen this article ten years ago.

Richard Binder specializes in repair and maintenance of old and valuable pens. Recommendations for those pens don't necessarily apply to cheaper modern fountain pens. I've been using Noodler's inks for about 8 years in a Lamy Safari, and I've never had any trouble. The only Noodler's ink I've heard of causing problems with these pens is Bay State Blue, which is unlike any other Noodler's ink. I personally recommend N…

Same here, I haven't had a problem with any modern pens. I have Jinhaos, WingSungs, and a few Pilot Kakünos and Metropolitans.

I'm 2 years in and I think I'd just designate a pen to be dedicated to the known Noodler's "problematic" colors(BSB and Mass 54th). I just cleaned out 4 pens, some of which had dried ink in them, all of them were fine.

I'm partial to Noodler's Heart of Darkness and X-Feather.

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