Fountain pen talk

[Thebes]

I agree on taking care with fountain pens. For this, dip pens are my friend. I can wash the nibs after with no issue.

digitalgraffiti, if you have suggestions on a good fountain pen, I'd appreciate it. I need to get a new one, and it has been a few years. Thanks.

 

[digitalgraffiti]

I agree on taking care with fountain pens. For this, dip pens are my friend. I can wash the nibs after with no issue.

digitalgraffiti, if you have suggestions on a good fountain pen, I'd appreciate it. I need to get a new one, and it has been a few years. Thanks.

ahahah oh dear. Price range?

decent workhorses <50 euro:

• Lamy safari/AL-star: ABS/Aluminum bodies, easily swappable nibs, available in a zillion colours. Proprietary cartridges/ converters
• Kaweco sport: available in plastic or a wide array of metals, uses mini converters or short cartridges
• Pilot Kakuno: Extremely well loved by everyone. the nibs have faces
• and if you like extra skinny nibs, a lot of the chinese brands like Majohn, Asvine, and Jinhao are actually a really good bang for your buck. they can range from a couple bucks to 75.

Slightly more pricy <100 euro: TWSBI eco seem to be loved for the 9023 different colours, but some people experience breakages

My most expensive pens are BENU, They're between 100-200 EURO, but I got them on sale.

And if you want a flex pen, the closest you're going to get in modern pens to a vintage wet noodle gold nib is a KANWRITE pen with an Ultraflex steel nib. they flex beautifully and they are DIRT CHEAP. Like 17 euro for a pen, My partner has link removed
with Fine Ultraflex nib and an ebonite feed and its delightful

As for the more expensive stuff, people love SAILOR and Pilot and Montblanc, though i cannot for the life of me understand why montblanc is so expensive. They're SO BORING. SAILOR has some feedback and apparrently feels more like a pencil lead instead of an FP nib. Pilot is well loved across the board. The fountain pen subreddit would probably answer your question much better than I can.

 

[L’chaimGoldberg]

ahahah oh dear. Price range?

decent workhorses <50 euro:

• Lamy safari/AL-star: ABS/Aluminum bodies, easily swappable nibs, available in a zillion colours. Proprietary cartridges/ converters
• Kaweco sport: available in plastic or a wide array of metals, uses mini converters or short cartridges
• Pilot Kakuno: Extremely well loved by everyone. the nibs have faces
• and if you like extra skinny nibs, a lot of the chinese brands like Majohn, Asvine, and Jinhao are actually a really good bang for your buck. they can range from a couple bucks to 75.

Slightly more pricy <100 euro: TWSBI eco seem to be loved for the 9023 different colours, but some people experience breakages

My most expensive pens are BENU, They're between 100-200 EURO, but I got them on sale.

And if you want a flex pen, the closest you're going to get in modern pens to a vintage wet noodle gold nib is a KANWRITE pen with an Ultraflex steel nib. they flex beautifully and they are DIRT CHEAP. Like 17 euro for a pen, My partner has link removed
with Fine Ultraflex nib and an ebonite feed and its delightful

As for the more expensive stuff, people love SAILOR and Pilot and Montblanc, though i cannot for the life of me understand why montblanc is so expensive. They're SO BORING. SAILOR has some feedback and apparrently feels more like a pencil lead instead of an FP nib. Pilot is well loved across the board. The fountain pen subreddit would probably answer your question much better than I can.

I agree with everything here.
Jinhao pens you can get for under 10 USD every day on amazon in the USA, they always come with a converter, and you can get 100 of their Chinese 2.6 mm ink cartridges for about 10-15 bucks.
Fountain pens are making a comeback according to my YouTube feed lol.
I can’t imagine spending 1,000 clams on even a dozen pens, how many books could I get for that much money? Holy priorities!

 

[glaive]

I love Kakuno, I have a few that I use as my main pens! Jinhao are fun (I have some that look like sharks) but the nib is too scratchy for me.

 

[kingmyx36]

I have a carefully curated collection, There is a personal taste in which fountain pen best suits you.

I recommend looking into the different nibs types as this is the most important aspect that will effect the usage.

For calligraphy, seek out the flexible nibs. These will almost always be made from gold, you can test by lightly pressing the nib into the paper, if it opens with ease, you have a flexible nib.
Some vintage brands I consider gems that often made these are Mabbie Todd Swan, Waterman, Wanamakers.

If you are a fast writer and just want the writing down fast. You should go for a fine nib as the ink will be light and dry quickly (also look into getting a permanent ink, water will melt the ink completely out of the paper if it's not a permanent ink).

Pelikan, Lamy are very nice standard fine/medium run of the mill for a good experience.

Plenty of chinese pens are actually quite nice too if you don't want to spend much to see if you like the process of using a fountain pen.
(You will get ink on your hands and places from time to time, I don't think it's avoidable, it comes with the territory of fluid ink)

If you are feeling more bold, look into stub nibs.