Now more than one fountain pen

fancontroller

fancontroller

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Out of off of Chorley
Having not used a fountain since secondary school (we're talking 35 years ago!) I thought I'd get one to see what all the fuss was about.
I'd see posts here with gleamingly attractive pens and had wondered how they felt to use. I've watched many of sbrebrown's fountain pen videos on YouTube and enjoyed his enthusiasm. As my wife's birthday was upcoming I decide to get her one and one for me too (well "save on postage" I argued with myself). After reading reviews of best first inexpensive pens I chose a Lamy AL-star graphite (which is like your basic plastic Lamy Safari but with an aluminium body. I got another in purple for the wife. Also got a packet of black cartridges and one in blue-black.

Now having used these pens I've got to say I love them. Just the act of writing more slowly and carefully has turned my handwriting from scruffy unintelligible mess into how I used to write when I was a teenager i.e. legible. I'm still practicing my capitals which for me are way too straight and unimaginative. I enjoy adding a little flair to capitals and have rehearsed my new signature many times now.

To my great surprise the wife has taken to her fountain pen too and uses it in work for note-taking and every opportunity.

We popped into WH Smith the other day and saw a BIC fountain pen for £7 and had to pick it up just for that fact that they make razors too. It's cheap and plasticy but writes ok and is fun. It takes standard cartridges so I'm going to invest in some coloured ink cartridges from Diamine.

Now I'm planning on returning to CultPens.com and get a converter and some bottled ink for the Lamy and also have my eye on the TWSBI Eco Fountain pen.

I can see the connection between pens and razors. It's the act of doing something carefully, well and give yourself a result you can be proud of. I reckon we all need more time to think about what we're doing while we're doing it and less time rushing to save time. Not really sure what we're all saving time for but I kind of think the saved time is spent on the sofa watching TV.

Have a rewarding day, folks.

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Great story!

The Lamy AL-Star is a fantastic pen - superbly tactile with the aluminium body and a really nice writer.

The TWSBI Eco is a great pen too. I have a 1.1mm stub nib which gives beautifully expressive writing - not necessarily an everyday nib, but the pen itself is perfect for everyday use; just like the AL-Star.

I would agree with you too, there's something extremely satisfying about doing something carefully and in a considered manner. Being mindful of the moment and absorbing oneself in even fairly simple tasks is a wonderful experience.

PS - dare I say that, like wet shaving, collecting pens can be expensive too. I can see you're at the top of another slippery slope...;)
 
Just added a new TWSBI Eco fountain pen, a Fine nib and a converter for my Lamy.
Also ink supplies, mixed batch of colours for my BIC cartridge pen and some bottled ink, Bilberry and Deep Dark Orange.
That should see me for quite a while... surely.

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Sounds like early onset FPAD. It's insidious and stealthy. I started much the same way nine years ago, and low and behold my accumulation has grown to over 100 fountain pens, about equally split between modern and vintage. At the same time SWMBO took up using a fountain pen and she dips into my pen chest every so often although she has a couple of her own. I'm not into different inks and stick with Watermans and Diamine blue, blue-black and black.
 
Another fountain pen arrived. This time from China via eBay for the princely sum of £2 (including postage). The pen was simply wrapped in a single layer of bubblewrap and put in a plastic envelope. I guess I was lucky it wasn't damaged through its intercontinental journey.
The Jinhao x750 pen is surprisingly well built. It's mostly metal, so is on the heavy side and takes International Standard cartridges. It even ships with a converter, not bad quality which can be disassembled for cleaning purposes. There was a tiny shaving of plastic stuck in the plunger seal but I cleaned that off when taking the converter apart and lubricated the seal with silicon grease. The pen feels very comfortable in the hand and writes quite well. I don't think the nib is much to write home about but it works ok.

The pen takes #6 nibs, so I went and ordered a few steel nibs from Goulet Pens so that I could see how they play out in the Jinhao.
Nibs shown here are Goulet's own two-tone, a Noodler's Non-Flex and a Noodler's Flex.

Lots of stuff to play with now.

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Edit: Spoke too soon. The two Noodler's nibs are slightly too thick to comfortably insert into the Jinhao; they would need some reduction, which is a pain. But hey ho they were literally a few bucks.
 
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I've had a few of those Chinese pens, including the one in your picture. Always found them to look and feel good but it's never more than a few weeks before they become scratchy or have ink flow problems. I think it's just me though as I've always bought cheap!

I also have a Vista by Lamy and love it but haven't used it for a while because I haven't got round to getting a fine nib.
 
Another fountain pen acquisition, this time the ubiquitous Pilot MR with medium nib.
It's the same as the Pilot Metropolitan but is the European version in that it has the bonus of taking Standard International cartridges instead of proprietary Pilot ones. Nice tin gift box too.
Not bad for £10.31 from First Stop Stationers

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During my fountain pen fad I had many many pens from the Waterman Edison, Just about every modern Parker, vintage Parkers, and other makes. Of course how each pen suits your hand is probably the most important thing, but for quality, ink flow, nib smoothness and all round performance I like Pelikan. For value for money performance Pilot 78G. I still have several Parker 45 Flighters, 2 Pilot 78Gs and a Parker Profile which is suprisingly good for a cheap pen. Haven't used them for ages so I may see what else I can find in drawers and start writing with them again. Or sell them and buy razors :)
 
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