I wish I hadn't found this section.....

Branny

Branny

Messages
60
...... given that I have OCD.

My writing is terrible - truly shocking illegible - so I don't need fountain pens. My writing will always look shite.

But at least it will look shite but feel a bit more classy when using a Pilot V, Lamy Safari and Pilot Metropolitan. All purchased over the last week.

Just need a raft of Inks now too.

I found the dressing room late last year too, five pair of Loake later I have 10 shoes.

Any other sections or threads I should avoid you feckers!?

Cheers
B
 
I'm new here gentlemen but I'm a long-time fountain pen user. I have a handful of TWSBIs I use as emergency pens: one or two in my bag, one or two at home, one or two in the office; filled with whatever colour inks take my fancy. They are wonderfully engineered and have good standard nibs - as I like to see a bit of line variation in my handwriting I tend to prefer their 1.1mm stubs.

Of the current big manufacturers I have a bit of a soft spot for Pelikan, their striated M800 and M1000 are pleasantly old-fashioned and again, fantastically engineered. MontBlanc, Waterman, Parker, Sheaffer, they're all factory-produced and as far as I'm concerned, soulless. Italian pens are far too ornate for my tastes but the supreme pen makers today are the Japanese. Pilot, Platinum and Sailor all make very credible pens with excellent nibs but if you want to ruin yourself have a look at Nakaya.org. These are all hand-made pens - some of them take up to three months to make. And once you've used one, nothing else comes close.

My first Nakaya was a plain red long cigar. It has no clip and it's made of ebonite (rubber wood) and finished with urushi which is a natural tree-sap. The pen is an exquisite example of beautiful simplicity. When you order a pen from Nakaya they take details of your handwriting style and will cut the nib to suit you. Alternatively one can order them from a US site nibs.com. The owner there, a man named John Mottishaw, is acknowledged as one of the great nib-meisters (does this sound nerdish, or what?) but he really can cut a nib to perform exactly the way you want it to.

As for inks, I've lost count of how many bottles I have. Iroshizuku Asa-gao is as close to the perfect blue as I've found. Noodler's Liberty's Elysium is another, very different. With a broad nib Diamine's Majestic Blue dries (slowly) with a faint red sheen - good if you want your words to carry a bit of extra weight.

Any questions on inks or fountain pens I'm more than happy to answer.
 
Hello and welcome Paul.

I'm surprised to see your list of 'soulless' pen brands. I own and write regularly with most of the ones you mention and love them.
They respond to my style of writing and give terrific feedback and I wouldn't be without them.

The Japanese brands you refer to are indeed excellent and the Nakayas are no exception but let's face it Paul the prices are out of many people's reach.
Maybe one day, who knows but Ive got so may pens at present Its going to be a while before I buy another one.

One small point on the ebonite if I may. Its a rubber compound , not a rubber wood.

Great to have a new member aboard and I look forward to your FP words of wisdom in the future.
Regards, beejay
 
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