Any fountain pen nerds on Icrontic?
Anyone else think fountain pens are kinda cool? It kinda hits the same buttons in terms of appeal as mechanical watches does for me. They're all over the spectrum in terms of price and features, from $3 Chinese specials to stupid expensive one-offs made by artisans in tiny shops. And then you tack on the plethora of inks and nibs so you can get the perfect color and line weights...
I just ordered a Pilot Metropolitan and can't wait to try it. Another entry-level pen I considered was the Lamy AL-star. Both have solid reviews for being affordable and reliable.
The Pilot
The Lamy
My current grail, the Kaweco Brass Sport
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I love fountains. The only one I've bought so far, though, is the Waterman S0485220 - the Carene. Only problem is that I so rarely write that I don't get much opportunity to use it. :/
Waterman makes good shit. I have an S0920850, not a fountain pen, but the one I use to write letters (i'm old fashioned a bit) or sign checks.
That's a neat looking pen @Snarkasm. I like the detail on the nib. Thanks for sharing.
So I've been through a few in my time. the Lamy safari pretty much exploded in my hand ink everywhere ruined a notebook. Won't be buying a Lamy again for a while. Right now I am really liking the Pilot Metro, it's a fantastic cheap fountain.
I think that may be my fountain pen end game though. I just don't write enough to warrant them. Though the Karas Kustoms or whatever are pretty in line with my style I make pick up one of those May.
Edit: By cheap I mean like 13-15 dollars on amazon writes fantastic.
I have developed a fondness for fountain pens lately as well.
It all started out with the Pilot Vpen disposable fountain pen. Bought a pack just to see if I liked writing with them any more than other pens. Turns out I did, even though I had to be more selective of the paper I used and more cognizant of the position of my hand while writing.
From there, I got a Lamy Safari pen, which I have quite enjoyed. I even got the plunger cartridge so I can use it with different inks. No explodey issues with it at all, would be curious how that happened.
Currently, my daily driver is a Kaweko AL Sport. Really love how compact it is, and it has a good size and weight with the cap posted. Personally, I find it very hard to write with if you don't post the cap, but that's to be expected with my giant bear paws and the small size of the pen, sans cap.
Another discussion of awesome things, another dearth of links.
Thanks a lot, guys, now I have a bunch of fountain pens in my Amazon wish list.
The only links I found for mine were from across the pond, where I bought it. Figured most of you wouldn't want to pay that shipping. :P There's an amazon.co.uk one out there, though.
Links to what? The actual products?
Pilot Vpen Disposable Fountain Pen
Lamy Safari - Extra Fine
Kaweco AL Sport - Fine Nib - Raw Aluminum Also comes in various colors, but I love that raw aluminum look
Frankly, Jet Pens is my favorite place to buy any sort of writing supply. Also sometimes pick up art supplies from them to gift my wife. Their blog is really good and they have some wonderful articles on fountain pens. Plus their customer support is very responsive. A+ company all around.
Oh, and @Snarkasm, they sell the Waterman Carene
Well, they seem to sell a Waterman Carene, but it doesn't appear to be the one I have. Different styling, but probably the same build.
Calling @steadyflux and @Hydrar - they're into fountain pens.
Shameless plug: Join the Massdrop Writing Community and take advantage of their group buys for a lot of these pens we've mentioned.
My Pilot Metropolitan arrived today. Took a sec to figure out how to load it, but so far so good. Can't wait to dedicate a bit more time to it tomorrow morning when I write out my morning list of happy things to share around Pluralsight.
@ardichoke I have Kaweco envy.
It's warranted. The only reason I ended up with this pen is because I have awesome in-laws who give great birthday gifts. I love this pen. My only regret is not realizing they made it with an Extra Fine nib. My handwriting is shit and finer nibs result in more readable chicken scratch (IMO). Still, the fine nib works quite well for me.
Thanks for the Massdrop heads up... went ahead and signed up. I'm sure my wife will be thrilled /sarcasm
@ardichoke I am not sure how it happened but I was writing felt something wetish on my fingers looked down Blue ink literally everywhere. Wasn't doing anything weird with it either
My only fountain pen:
I have a little Pelikan glass cartridge converter and a bottle of J. Herbin Eclat de Sapire which I adore.
I like aluminum-bodied writing implements (my mechanical pencil is an Ohto Super Promecha) because they're always cool to the touch and my palms sweat a lot. Would do another fountain pen with a finer nib that's not like holding a cigar; the barrel size on the Spalding is right at the edge of what I can deal with but the medium nib is good for fancy writing and not really up to the kind of precision I need at work. I have a set of Staedtler technical pens which are just awesome but use the old trusty Pilot Precision rollerball for daily driving.
@drasnor I use the same pencils as well as their rollerball pens I think Ohto a lot. Very solid product.
Oooh, Staedtler. I used their Model 925 mechanical drafting pencils exclusively in school. A 0.9mm and some HB lead and I could rock anything from a Scantron bubble to a super fine point line for architectural drawing.
Hnnnng that bronze one. Oh man.
Edit: dang, can't find that color anywhere. This "graphite" one may be close enough though.
I am more of a 0.5mm B kind of guy. I still have my 0.5 and 0.7 Model 925's from before I switched to the ProMecha, definitely a nice pencil.
@Gargoyle That colorway is called "Coffee" and it looks to be discontinued.
This is cool though:
http://www.jetpens.com/Pilot-Prera-Fountain-Pen-Medium-Nib-Brown-Body/pd/3892
So yeah, Massdrop has a Bazaar they run to clear out extra inventory left over from group buys. Lots of writing stuff there today. https://www.massdrop.com/bazaar
Cool deals:
https://www.massdrop.com/buy/stipula-passaporto for $69
https://www.massdrop.com/buy/lamy-al-star-fountain-pen for $32 (black, blue, silver or purple)
Can fountain pens be used if you're left handed?
I've gone through hell finding regular writing pens that can continue to write effectively when used in a left hand (Smudging is another issue entirely)
Yes, they can be used by lefties. Here's a great blog post with recommendations for lefties based on how you currently position your hand.
http://blog.gouletpens.com/2015/08/fp101-fountain-pens-for-lefties.html