Fountain Pens

missingskin said:
[attachment=0]Ok my 3 fountain pens that I will not part with. All 1930's Parker Vacumatic's, IMHO the most beautiful pens to look at and also very good to write with..... :D

Extremely nice mate, hom much did they set you back ? (If you don't mind me asking ?)
 
sunburyboy93 said:
missingskin said:
[attachment=0]Ok my 3 fountain pens that I will not part with. All 1930's Parker Vacumatic's, IMHO the most beautiful pens to look at and also very good to write with..... :D

Extremely nice mate, hom much did they set you back ? (If you don't mind me asking ?)
From the left;
The 34 O/S was a mis-advertised one that cost £30.00 but needs a bit of resto work (quoted £50.00 to sort it out)
The 37 Major with the wide cap band was £70.00 restored
The 37 Slim was £50.00 restored and is my main one that I use a lot of the time.
But these now fetch stupid money, the O/S and the Major can reach over £200.00 !! But I will never sell them as I like them too much. You can pick writing grade ones up for much cheaper prices, (I used to have quite a few more but decided to keep the best ones). Like razors condition can make so much difference to the price and these are getting rarer all the time......... :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
 
Well this thread worked, my Parker Frontier that I have absolutely no need of arrived today, you gits.

Writes like a beaut though. Haven't had a fountain pen since school. Turns out the guy who sits next to me at work is a fountain pen nut and has offered to hook me up with a bunch of websites and shops in Manchester AAAARGH
 
I haven't tried a lot with 'nibs' since I was dipping them in the inkwell in the school desk.....biros do it for me. Call me rough, call me very very rough....I might care, and then again, I might not. If there was time in my life to write as if a word I wrote mattered....I might once again go to the nib.
Or then again, I might use the so much more easily rectified word processor.
But, yis have got me me thinking now.....I'll be dead soon, and what do I want to leave behind for my daughter and grandchildren.....not the fat photos, obviously......so ................jeez, yisser suckng me in.
O.K. In a word; what's the cheap one that works????
 
In work I use a Sheaffers fountain pen which was a leaving gift from an earlier job. Silver coloured with gold trim (wearing off). Quite a nice pen.

My favourite fountain pen was an old, worthless, plastic Platinum Regal whose broken nib was nail clippered and sanded down by me, which by sheer chance (remember my DIY) became the most excellent pen to write with, unfortunatly snapped in half in the middle of the barrel.

For fun I'm using a celtic design metal dip pen. Its always made a mess in the past particularly as I'm left handed, but for some reason is working well at the moment. Great for short notes, writing addresses etc.
 
Deary me, you people have a lot to answer for :roll: Spot the good one:
SixPens.jpg

I unreservedly recommend Andy's Pens to anyone else who has been sucked into this: everything as described or better, and impeccable personal service.
 
Never tried Andy's pens, he has good reputation though.

Parker 51 there, well, well, what else is good, I don't know really, third from left a Visconti, perhaps? :?

Nice score, Andy.
 
i have got into fountain pens too, for two reasons, 1. i love the way they look and enjoy getting grubby ones looking like new again, and 2. my Handwriting is really bad, always has been, i'm ashamed of it as im 35 with Handwriting like a 10 year old :oops: :oops: , so i have some nice pens now that i'm practising with to improve my Writing, havent used Fountain pens in over 20 years and i find it encourages you to write slow and steady which is just what i need.

i have 12 different pens, Sheaffers, Parkers, Conways etc, i am gonna concentrate on the the older Parker 45's, not really a rare pen as they are often on E-Bay and still made today but there is a huge choice of colours, styles etc.

so if anyone has any or see any at a good price, give us a shout..

Steve
 
No, it's probably not a Visconti, more like a Pelican, and the one next to it (4th from left) a Conway Stewart may be...

Writing with a fountain pen opens a window into a brand new (actually it's pretty old), indescribably fascinating, and very different world.
 
N_Architect said:
Never tried Andy's pens, he has good reputation though.

Parker 51 there, well, well, what else is good, I don't know really, third from left a Visconti, perhaps? :?

Nice score, Andy.
It certainly looks like a Parker 51, doesn't it? You have to get quite close to spot that it's actually one of these. You did spot the good one though, it's a 1920s hard rubber lever fill with a soft gold nib, good quality. No maker's name, but it does have an engraving: "Try Ty-Phoo Tea for Indigestion"! All the others are Chinese, 4th from left is a Luoshi.

My handwriting has suffered from spending too much time at a keyboard, like a lot of people's. On a good day though, it's quite confident and legible, and definitely better with a fountain pen.
 
Here's my recent haul:

4919645574_d7a497cc76_z.jpg


Left to right: Baoer 388, Hero 616 (same as Arrowhead), Wing Sung 380 and Wing Sung 234

Some of these are available from Andy's Pens but I picked them up from Todd at isellpens.com for a stupidly cheap price. I also bought a more expensive pen for my wife's birthday, but that's put away for now!

Here's the detail of each:

Baoer

4919046391_98cb6acfa1_z.jpg


The Baoer is the only one I've used as it takes international cartridges (but was supplied with a converter too). The nib is really smooth but super fine, which makes my handwriting look awful! The nib is gold plated and exceptionally hard, so the pen is almost like writing with a pilot gel pen. The build quality for a pen that cost under £5 is exceptional - the threading for the barrel is all metal rather than plastic and the fit and finish is well above average. With the cap posted it's a tad rear-heavy, but it's such a weighty pen that you don't really notice.

Hero

4919646200_aba779ea11_z.jpg


Wing Sung

4919645258_24a577ea5b_z.jpg


Other Wing Sung

4919645408_bc220f5fd0_z.jpg


I haven't used these yet - will have to pick up some bottled ink this week and give them a try.
 
Arrowhead said:
N_Architect said:
Never tried Andy's pens, he has good reputation though.

Parker 51 there, well, well, what else is good, I don't know really, third from left a Visconti, perhaps? :?

Nice score, Andy.
It certainly looks like a Parker 51, doesn't it? You have to get quite close to spot that it's actually one of these. You did spot the good one though, it's a 1920s hard rubber lever fill with a soft gold nib, good quality. No maker's name, but it does have an engraving: "Try Ty-Phoo Tea for Indigestion"! All the others are Chinese, 4th from left is a Luoshi.

My handwriting has suffered from spending too much time at a keyboard, like a lot of people's. On a good day though, it's quite confident and legible, and definitely better with a fountain pen.


i thought you were on a wind up about the Ty-Phoo bit....found out a little something about them :

http://munsonpens.wordpress.com/2008/01/19/tea-anyone/

http://picasaweb.google.com/tipstricks/TyPhooTeaFountainPen#

One advertised for sale, different model though $170 usd, keep hold of that pen matey !!
http://www.fountainpenemporium.com/The-TyPhoo-Tea-Vacuum-Filling-Fountain-Pen_p_868.html
 
Cor - thanks for those links! No. 2 from the left in my pic is another Baoer, and I concur with you about the build quality: remarkably heavy, metal threads and very nicely turned out all round.

What I little realised when you lot got me going on pens was the huge, agonising choice of ink. It will take me a long time to make up my mind, poring over the Diamine swatches at The Writing Desk, but in the meantime I'm hoping to find a bottle of Waterman blue / black locally. I never did like Quink.
 
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