- Joined
- Tuesday November 20, 2012
- Location
- Out of off of Chorley
Oh no! Where does the pen leak from? Have you tried flushing it out or soaking it overnight etc....I also dug out a Parker Frontier I've had for a while, but it still leaks like crazy so I might have to bin it.
Good fun
Ugh, I've fallen down the fountain pen rabbit hole a little bit.
After the Pilot Metropolitan I have also bought:
Schneider ID
Parker 25 (I firmly blame @Darkbulb for this)
Dollar 717i (which was stupid cheap but writes pretty well)
Platignum Varsity Pressmatic (eBay bargain)
Plus a load of Diamine inks in various colours.
The Scheider ID is so big it doesn't fit into the Diamine bottles unfortunately
I also dug out a Parker Frontier I've had for a while, but it still leaks like crazy so I might have to bin it.
Good fun
It leaks from around where the feed comes out of the handle. Gets ink all over the rubber grip bit and then because that is black I don't see it and get it all over my fingers. I've had a quick read online and it sounds like that isn't uncommon.Oh no! Where does the pen leak from? Have you tried flushing it out or soaking it overnight etc.
The 25 is a really nice piece of engineering isn't it, it feels so good and everything fits together really nicely.How do you like the Parker 25?
Oh and you should just us on fountainpennetwork.com - 100,000 crazy fountain pen and paper 'enthusiasts'At any time over 4.000 people online.
The 25 is a really nice piece of engineering isn't it, it feels so good and everything fits together really nicely.
I'm soaking the nib at the moment as when I put some ink in it was writing really dry. I think there is some very dry old ink there but we shall see. I might need to bend the nib a bit to improve the flow if that doesn't work.
Been following this thread.
What would you recommend for someone who wants to start off with a none cartridge pen. Cartridges and converters seem like a halfway house to me. I'd be in it for the bottled inks.
I've looked at the TWSBI diamond 580.
Anything else recommended for up to £50?
You'll probably get as many suggestions as there are pens - but it seems like the Lamy Safari pen is the fountain pen equivalence of EJ DE89 in that it's the most commonly recommended fountain pen to start out with.
Note - I actually don't have one myself just regurgitating what seems to be a very common recommendation
It's about $30-40 or at some rock bottom price of $18 w/ free shipping at jetpen
Here's a review
Been following this thread.
What would you recommend for someone who wants to start off with a none cartridge pen. Cartridges and converters seem like a halfway house to me. I'd be in it for the bottled inks.
I've looked at the TWSBI diamond 580.
Anything else recommended for up to £50?
Very sound advice.Going the non-cartridge or non-converter route severely limits your choice to piston filled, eye-droppers or ink sacs/bladders.
Piston filled pens tend to be more expensive. As a first piston-filled pen I would recommend a TWSBI Eco for around £30. I think the TWSBI 580 is a lot of cash for a first pen. Mine (Eco) wrote smoothly and consistently from the start, feels great and its quality is way above its price point. Nibs seem to be a bit wider than average so I would choose a Fine nib.
Another choice would be Fountain Point Revolution, pens made in India for very low prices and decent quality. I have their Jaipur piston-filled pen and it writes really very well. Quality is not up to TWSBI standard but it's a $18 pen. I also have their Serwex 77TR eye-dropper pen which retails at $6. This is a very simple pen which can be loaded with ink from a syringe, maybe messy for a beginner but very simple once you've had a go. This pen also writes very well.
So there are lots of choices at the cheap end to experiment with.
There's a wealth ofAnd best el cheapo pens? India: already mentioned. China: ?
I would have thought that most pen questions have at some point been covered or discussed in The Fountain Pen Network, so it's probably worth a dig around there.Anyone with a link to FAQ or similar covering the good and the bad and the downright ugly things a newbie can do when introduced to a fountain pen?
Some, but not all, Parker pens have date codes. Further information here.Are there any pens with production year codes ala Gillette so hunt for a vintage birth year model would be possible?
Going the non-cartridge or non-converter route severely limits your choice to piston filled, eye-droppers or ink sacs/bladders.
Piston filled pens tend to be more expensive. As a first piston-filled pen I would recommend a TWSBI Eco for around £30. I think the TWSBI 580 is a lot of cash for a first pen. Mine (Eco) wrote smoothly and consistently from the start, feels great and its quality is way above its price point. Nibs seem to be a bit wider than average so I would choose a Fine nib.
Another choice would be Fountain Point Revolution, pens made in India for very low prices and decent quality. I have their Jaipur piston-filled pen and it writes really very well. Quality is not up to TWSBI standard but it's a $18 pen. I also have their Serwex 77TR eye-dropper pen which retails at $6. This is a very simple pen which can be loaded with ink from a syringe, maybe messy for a beginner but very simple once you've had a go. This pen also writes very well.
So there are lots of choices at the cheap end to experiment with.
Very sound advice.
I have had, and still have, several piston-fillers and ink-sacs, especially older Mont Blancs and Watermans, which perform well. However, piston fillers can go wrong, and when they do, it is usually an expensive process to have them repaired; if indeed a repair is possible. The same applies to ink sacs.
These aren't likely to be major considerations when the pen is in a lower price bracket.
Converters have one drawback that I occasionally encounter, which is they come loose within the pen if the fit is not the best. The same can happen with cartridges, to a lesser degree.
Converters have one enormous advantage for me. Piston pens have usually to be immersed over the entire nib to be filled correctly from a bottle. I buy mostly Diamine ink, and, with one or two exceptions, purchase the 30ml sizes to try new colours and to ensure that I have ink that will be used up whilst fresh ( I have a box full of larger bottles of different inks which have gone off or dried out long before running out). Converters also need the nib immersed to fill them, and, depending on the pen and nib length, this cannot be done when the level is lowered in a 30ml bottle, or indeed a larger 80ml size. The solution, for me, is to use cheap plastic syringes to suck up ink and then inject it into the converter when it's out of the pen. I also find it a less inky process than having to clean up the cap threads, drops, spillages etc.
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