Fountain Ink Pen Acquisitions

Ah! The phoenix, very nice looking pen, it was on the list with the Mt. Fuji and the Red Soryu, I couldn't choose. I also like the look of the bronze Pilot falcon and have been looking at a couple of Diplomats, although I do not think I would gain anything from the latter.
Have you any experience of Diplomat pens?
T
I've got a Diplomat Aero in black and orange. The nib is a steel medium, but a gold version is available. It writes well enough, although a bit prone to dry starts. It's a heavy pen, and I find the balance needs getting used to. I think that Cleo Skribents are more to my taste.
 
Interesting - I've never seen a music nib before with only two tines - normally they have three, and two slits in the nib. I think I have written to you using the #3776 Platinum version - how does it compare - line width, variation and what not? - I.
I will have a look tomorrow, its a nice writer, very wide and very expressive.
 
If your pen uses International cartridges then you may be interested in buying them from Morrisons. They are priced at 25 for 10p, one colour only which is a great blue. I have been trying to work out the maker, possibly Waterman, it is an excellent quality.

They are sold out for on line shoppers, as you can imagine at this price, you can often pay £5 for 20, it might be worth going to Morrisons.
 
In pursuit of a first-rate modern flex pen, I have acquired two LE edition Italian flex pens. I decided to go for some brighter colours as well. The top pen is a piston-filler Aurora Optima with 14k "F" flex nib, and the lower is a converter Scribo Piuma "Levante", also with the Scribo "F" 14k flex nib. Of the two, the Aurora is a less-flexible nib, although it is new and may loosen up with more use. The Scribo nib is, as usual with their flex nibs, wet and superb. The inks are Pilot inks.

I spend a lot of time daily with Gripmaster hand exercisers in order to get some strength back in my somewhat impaired writing hand and fingers, and must therefore apologise for my degraded handwriting; I hope a temporary thing.

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The last of this year's new acquisitions. I'm still in pursuit of my ideal modern flex nib, and have something in mind for the new year, but meanwhile, I'm enjoying these.

The top black pen is a Pilot Falcon, with 14k Soft Medium nib. This is quite flexible, good and wet, and a very smooth nib. It's new, and I expect the flex to improve in time.

The pen below is a Leonardo "Momento Magico", in the Miele (honey) finish, with a 14k Medium nib and ebonite feed. I couldn't source one with the Leonardo 14k "Elastico" flex type nib, which is a gold Fine with the wings cut out for flex, but this is quite a springy nib with reasonable line variation. The collar and feed are JoWo #6, and I may go to Fountain Pen Nibs in Spain for one of their gold flex nibs with ebonite feed.

The Gripmaster exercises have restored a lot of hand strength. This is perhaps because, rather than just Gripmaster-exercising, I have added a psychological element viz. imagining that hand wringing the necks of certain politicians. A terrific incentive.

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Edit:
The Pilot is a converter/cartridge pen, but the Leonardo is a piston-filler. Like some of the Montblanc pens, it is possible to disassemble the filler mechanism by unscrewing it from the pen body, using a Leonardo miniature pin-spanner; which comes at the not-so-miniature price of about £30 plus. A small job in the workshop to make one, I rather think.
 
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J Herbin poussierre de lune a beautiful wet purple. My go to ink..... fully recommended. Drying time about 10 secs

(I'm not on commission, just saying).

Enjoy whatever you use....
I, too, like the Herbin inks. The only disadvantage is that the bottles are such that it becomes difficult to fill from them when the level drops. That includes all sorts of propping and angling stratagems, but for eyedroppers and converters, the hypo filler does the trick.

That said, the violets and browns are gorgeous, and run well in flex pens.
 
I, too, like the Herbin inks. The only disadvantage is that the bottles are such that it becomes difficult to fill from them when the level drops. That includes all sorts of propping and angling stratagems, but for eyedroppers and converters, the hypo filler does the trick.

That said, the violets and browns are gorgeous, and run well in flex pens.
True enough, they are rather fiddly....
 
Jinhao, inspired by the early Duofold design:

jinhao10.jpg


It's a decent pen alright. I've got the original English Centennials in both sizes and this FP feels pretty much similar.
However, the nib is obviously much cheaper. It writes smoothly but it's not very flexible and still too thin to my liking.
Anyway, I wanted something that resembles the iconic looks and actually writes but without all the hassle with restoration :)
 
I, too, like the Herbin inks. The only disadvantage is that the bottles are such that it becomes difficult to fill from them when the level drops. That includes all sorts of propping and angling stratagems, but for eyedroppers and converters, the hypo filler does the trick.

That said, the violets and browns are gorgeous, and run well in flex pens.
I agree, the bottles are difficult to manage as the ink decreases. The colour's are fantastic though.

Best regards

Mark
 
Here's another pen in my search for good modern flex pens. This is a 615 LE pen from The Good Blue. The maker is in London, and these pens are machined in the UK. The nibs and feeds are specially made, and this has a fine flex nib with wet polymer feed.

Various editions have had brass grips and caps and bodies in different coloured aluminiums. This is different as the grip is stainless steel. All are made in small numbers, have a launch day and time, and sell out rapidly.

The only thing I'm not sure about is whether, being a converter and very wet, it will need frequent refilling. 9D81AF14-B7E7-4128-8CAB-07DEE2CCEC1E.jpeg
 
It goes through a converter full of ink, which in this case is Noodler's "Monkey Hanger" and very wet, in short order. The thread between grip and body is coarse, so eyedropping isn't a possibility, even with lashings of silicone grease.
 
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