Fountain pen newbie questions

Darkbulb said:
It appears that I will be a fountain pen (and matching ballpoint) owner as of next week sometime as I just picked up this set for about $40 (which seemed fair looking at what these Parker 25s go for...):

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Parker enlisted Kenneth Grange in the early 1970's to design a pen that would be a bit more appealing to the younger demographic.
The pen had a rather long production cycle from 1975 all the way up to the mid 90's.
It came in a number of different colors (mine is the more common blue one) and in four different versions;
- Mk1: Breather hole in the nib and a flat clip screw,
- Mk2: No more breather hole
- Mk3: Dimpled clip screw, and
- Mk4: "Made in England" got changed to "Made in UK"

As can be seen below the fountain pen has a breather hole which means it's an Mk1
And yes, it bothers me a bit that I know that... :)
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Looking forward to seeing what the world of fountain pens is a all about....


Video review, not me, of the Parker 25:
Click to expand...
Excellent choice @Darkbulb - the pens look to be in good order.

I'm afraid, you appear to have fallen down another rabbit hole...

PS - I think your second pen is a rollerball rather than a ballpoint. Refills are still plentiful and the rollerball lays down a lovely wet line.
 
I'm quite old, and I've used a fountain pen since I moved up from a dip pen at school in the early 1950s. As you might imagine, I have a range to use, and I like to use a different one, with different ink, each day.
My present favoured rotation is Italix Parsons Essential, Safari, Pelikan, Kaweco Sport, Lamy and a £10 Parker schoolchilds pen.
As you get into this, you'll probably want to experiment with different nib shapes, widths and "grinds" (a technical pen term). You can then find which best suits your handwriting.
If you can get it, I strongly recommend Diamine inks, which I rate as highly as the much more expensive French and Japanese inks.
Alwych All-Weather notebooks from Scotland are my favourites, along with Rhodia pads.
 
Ferrum said:
I'm quite old, and I've used a fountain pen since I moved up from a dip pen at school in the early 1950s. As you might imagine, I have a range to use, and I like to use a different one, with different ink, each day.
My present favoured rotation is Italix Parsons Essential, Safari, Pelikan, Kaweco Sport, Lamy and a £10 Parker schoolchilds pen.
As you get into this, you'll probably want to experiment with different nib shapes, widths and "grinds" (a technical pen term). You can then find which best suits your handwriting.
If you can get it, I strongly recommend Diamine inks, which I rate as highly as the much more expensive French and Japanese inks.
Alwych All-Weather notebooks from Scotland are my favourites, along with Rhodia pads.
Click to expand...

Funny - the one video I could find about the BanditApple notebooks have a reviewer that uses the Diamine ink (and makes the comment that it's one of his favorite inks). :)
 
Nico1970 said:
PS - I think your second pen is a rollerball rather than a ballpoint. Refills are still plentiful and the rollerball lays down a lovely wet line.
Click to expand...

This is how sad I am - I actually had to google rollerball vs ballpoint - and yes, you're right :)
I see myself creating an account on a pen forum in the weeks ahed... Oy vey....

Oh, and if you got recommendations for a good fine-tipped rollerball refill lemme know :)
 
Just stumbled on this thread. I seem to have tried a few ball point pens over the last few months, due to uni and work. They always seem to clog up and smudge on me, maybe its just my terrible writing style.
Well I may go and try the Lamy Safari and order some of those note pads from Korea.
Having got the invoice through I've noticed that I have ordered weekly, with the intention of ordering lined. Cant see lined paper now, are the samples limited?
Cheers
 
wazza said:
Just stumbled on this thread. I seem to have tried a few ball point pens over the last few months, due to uni and work. They always seem to clog up and smudge on me, maybe its just my terrible writing style.
Well I may go and try the Lamy Safari and order some of those note pads from Korea.
Having got the invoice through I've noticed that I have ordered weekly, with the intention of ordering lined. Cant see lined paper now, are the samples limited?
Cheers
Click to expand...

If you mean the samples from BanditApple id say just shoot Arnie there an email at owner@banditapple.com as he is really great to deal with
 
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