Carrying a pen

[mcshroom]

Or being a sinister type like myself who pushes the nib, causing it to dig into the paper and bend!

And then my following wrist smudges over what I've just written.

Perhaps I should buffer a line of text in my head, and output it in reverse, writing from right to left.

Fountain pens are not for me.

Learn Arabic, that's right-left

[Efrogwr]

I'm left-handed, but manage OK. I usually use "The Parson's Essential" (Frankie Howerd's pen?) from Mr Pen, with Diamine ink (black, midnight or teal as the mood takes me. Somewhere I've got a 1930s Parker Vacumatic and a cheap (Chinese made) but very good Sheaffer. I also like the Uniball Eye, preferebly micro. but fine will do.

For drawing i use a Pentel P205 mechanical pencil, Pilot Hitecpoint V5 and G-TEC C4 and Zebra Jimnie, which is available in subtle colours. The green and maroon are especially nice.

I covet a fat barrel Pelikan and the Pilot Capless (which appears to be cheaper than the imitations).

[Tewdric]

I've just got a 1.1 broad nib for my work TWSBI.  It writes wonderfully.

[Woofage]

I've just got a 1.1 broad nib for my work TWSBI.  It writes wonderfully.

 

[mrcharly-YHT]

Is there any truth in the rumour that fountain pens "break in" and become specific to their owner in the similar way that brooks's do?

I used to use rotring art pens, which have a stainless steel 1.1 flat nib.  They wore in to me - tried writing with someone else's and it was hopeless.

Like a Brooks, once you've broken in a nib, it becomes more comfortable and easier to write with. If someone damages it and you have to replace the nib, it is like the pain of breaking in a new brooks.

[Woofage]

Is there any truth in the rumour that fountain pens "break in" and become specific to their owner in the similar way that brooks's do?

I used to use rotring art pens, which have a stainless steel 1.1 flat nib.  They wore in to me - tried writing with someone else's and it was hopeless.

rOtring italic nibs are not tipped, therefore you are just writing on the steel body. Artpen sets come with an Arkansas stone to re-grind the nib when necessary.

Personally, I do not believe that a pen "wears in" or "adjusts" to its owner. As RZ pointed out, nibs are tipped with Very Hard Stuff which takes literally decades of constant use to show any signs of wear.

An analogy is hi-fi speakers: do they wear-in or do you just get used to them?

[mrcharly-YHT]

Do I need to post close up photos of my old pens and new ones so you can see the wear?

It's only stainless. Paper is quite abrasive and wears away soft steel easily. You can sharpen knives on paper.

<I am in a grumpy mood. plz do not be telling my that I imagined something in over 10 years of using these pens. Maybe I'm just hard on pens?  YMMV>

[Woofage]

Do I need to post close up photos of my old pens and new ones so you can see the wear?

No, because I know that un-tipped italic nibs like those on rOtring Artpens do wear out. I wrote as much in my post above.

I hope your day improves .

[MattH]

At the moment I like the Parker Cisele style pens, as they are quite tactile and, IMHO look great as a work pen - not too fancy and not too out of place in an engineering business environment. My main pen at the moment is a late 60s fine nib 75 Cisele fountain pen with Diamine Amazing Amethyst purple ink, obtained from Woofage's emporium. I'm actually using an old, rinsed out cartridge for holding the ink, which I refill with a syringe - that gives more capacity than the converters so I don't have to carry ink when I travel. It writes a little dry compared to the mid-70s Parker 61 I also use.

For a mechanical pencil I have a modern Sonnet Cisele, and store them with a ballpoint in a three pen Conway Stewart case that also holds some credit cards. The Leuchtturm pen loop was a recent discovery, which makes carrying a pen with a notebook or pad much easier.

I'm still trying to decide upon a good ballpoint to use. I'm using a fairly default choice - a plain stainless Parker Jotter, which is convenient as both kids have Jotters as school pens so we just need to keep a stock of one type of refill (except one prefers blue, the other black  ). I'm tempted to get a matching Cisele, but I'm put off by the quality of the Parker refills - a disposable bic crystal feels far smoother to write with than a Parker refill.

[Dibdib]

A few in usual rotation for me. The usual suspects are either a (now badly battle-worn) TWSBI or if I fancy a change, a Faber Castell e-motion (I like fat pens). There's a couple of others in the pot on my desk, including a freebie eyedropper which came with a bottle of Noodler's Heart of Darkness and a Waterman my ex gave me.

Ink wise, I'm on a bit of a sepia kick lately but I usually end up going back to the bottle of Sailor Jentle Sky High.

[Woofage]

I appear to have accumulated a pile of pens since a fountain pen craze broke out in our office last year.

I see you've been hanging around on FPN as well .

[Clare]

Why are ink bottles the shape they are (generally short and fat)?

Trying to fill a pen when the bottle is less than half full always results in me spilling ink on the desk or only getting a half full or less pen.

'Tis annoying.

[dasmoth]

Why are ink bottles the shape they are (generally short and fat)?

To encourage you to buy an inkwell.

(Any maybe also to avoid the risk of them being knocked over?)

[Clare]

I don't want an inkwell they are stupidly shaped as well.

Ink could easily be in a tall thin bottle with a heavy and wide base to prevent tipping.

[rogerzilla]

A bottle cast with a "V" shaped interior would do.

The guy at work is using Montblanc Orange from the "Ink of Joy" range, apparently.

[Woofage]

This:



or this:



Both have narrow sections to maintain sufficient depth when the remaining quantity gets low.

Sheaffer used to have an internal inkwell but since changing to the current style bottle this feature has disappeared. Sailor has an internal plastic inkwell system similar to that used by Parker in the Penman range, as does the TWSBI ink well.

Waterman bottles have an angled side so you can tip the bottle over to help filling when low on ink.

Alternatively, remove the converter from the pen and fill that directly. Or buy a new bottle and when that gets low top it up from the old one .

[rogerzilla]

Does anyone else find paper a problem?  Most A4 bound notebooks (I get through about one a year at work) have at least one side of the page that doesn't cope well with a fountain pen because the paper isn't properly coated.  Ironically, the one I got from the Isle of Man Poundland offshoot for £1.20 is pretty good for writing in, although the cover is horrible.  Ideally I'd like something with off-white paper that is smooth enough to write in.

[Canardly]

Don't even think about using an ink pen with recycled paper.

[MattH]

I'm using Rhodia pads and notebooks, which have Clairefontain paper in them that is pretty good with a fountain pen. The problem with the A4 pads for folio use is that they are stapled through the top edge, so when you remove a page it is shorter than A4. They do an A4+ pad that gets around this, but you need to have a folio big enough to hold it.

[rogerzilla]

Even more oddly, the A4 stuff out of the photocopier at work is fine but the A3 stuff is awful.  Probably a different brand, but you'd think photocopier paper had to meet some kind of universal standard for coating.

[rogerzilla]

I have a new recommendation for "best value pen".  I picked up a barely-used base model Sheaffer Targa from eBay, brass with brushed stainless steel finish and a stainless steel nib.  It's better-made and smoother-writing than anything else I have, and it was about a tenner.

You can pay over £100 for one of the rarer Targas with gold nibs (they came in about 80 finishes) but they won't work any better.  I have a Valor (the current model with the same "inlaid nib") and the Targa makes it look rather crude.

There are rumours that Bic/Sheaffer might start making the Targa again, since many people consider it to be the last really good pen they made.

Small rant though - used eBay pens WILL be caked with dried ink.  No-one ever bothers to clean them before sale.  It is, however, interesting to see what colours come out when you chuck the nib in ammoniated water.  If they were using blue ink, it normally dissolves out quicker than black does.

[andyoxon]

I normally have use either some Bioscience company freebee pen that reps hand over, a charity envelope pen, or bic-type...

101 uses?  Apparently bics et al., have been used for emergency tracheotomies....  http://www.wikihow.com/Perform-a-Tracheotomy.  "by trained medical professionals."

[Fab Foodie]

I have a new recommendation for "best value pen".  I picked up a barely-used base model Sheaffer Targa from eBay, brass with brushed stainless steel finish and a stainless steel nib.  It's better-made and smoother-writing than anything else I have, and it was about a tenner.

You can pay over £100 for one of the rarer Targas with gold nibs (they came in about 80 finishes) but they won't work any better.  I have a Valor (the current model with the same "inlaid nib") and the Targa makes it look rather crude.

There are rumours that Bic/Sheaffer might start making the Targa again, since many people consider it to be the last really good pen they made.

I've had and unfortunately lost/had stolen 2 Targas (gold nibbed I believe) and I agree they're fabulous pens, I'll certainly get another when I've a few quid spare.  Excellent weighty writing machines.

My Mont Blanc Traveller I've managed thus far to keep and I use it on a daily basis, it's lovely but a little light for my liking.  I did leave in the back of a taxi taking me to Heathrow, fortunately it was a company we regularly used and the driver gave it into the office.  I realsied it had gone when I got to my hotel in Spain and reckoned it lost in security.  I called the taxi firm the next day and the lady said she had it on her desk, I politely asked her to put it in the safe and sent Mrs FF round to collect it - very happy bunny. 

I have a nice Waterman boxed upstairs that I've never used on the basis that it's hard enough to look after 1 decent pen without having more.  I reckon the last Targa dissappeared because I got lax carrying around 2 pens.

[lou boutin]

This is my latest pen http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/livescribe-echo-smartpen-8gb-black-09964899-pdt.html

[Titan]

Rotring tart here.

I have a couple of the very solid metal bodied 600 series ones, that lock each tip into place with a ball bearing. Pencil + pens + stylus. Bought myself one the hex bodied ones, then my kids lost the clicker top bit.  Wife tried to get me a replacement, but could only find a Quattro - same mech, but doesn't have the same style.

I've worn out 3 of the Rotring artpens. Cheap nib pen that works so reliably.

Beware rot rings. I stuck one into my scalp at school and have been left with a blue black tattoo that becomes more obvious each year as my hairline recedes.