Pen Advice

antdad

antdad

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10,991
I was thinking about this for my sister's birthday, she is a complete pen nazi but writes with crap.

Bottom of the page, fem colour, ink coverter, med nib etc seems to fit the bill.

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I notice some say piston converter instead of just converter. There's a difference I presume?
 
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I'm scanning the web to see if I can find something better for you Tony
there are few options in this price tag, like the Lamy Studio, but as it's been a few months since I last searched on this I now have to have a new look
the Lamy 2000 is a very very good pen but its darn expensive in the UK
 
there are some Watermans or Pelicans (Hero, etc.) but it's not familiar territory for me, never written with those, perhaps others may assist

also important is what does your sister write with now?

would be nice if you could get her a nice bottle of ink as well, they're not expensive and it is a very nice complement to the pen
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Thanks for that, my budget is around the £50 mark and I'll get her a bottle of ink too otherwise she'll never use it.

She writes with the latest triple bladed rollerball but she always comments on how nicely my pen writes, it's only a Rotring but I've had it for years.
 
Writing with a fountain pen is a totally different experience (as compared to writing with a ball pen or roller).
You can feel that even when you try out the low-priced Lamy Safari.
People who like writing and the good/quality paper + fountain pen experience find endless satisfaction even with a low-end pen.

Does she like calligraphy? would she enjoy thin and broad nibs at the same time? or will she use it in the 'office' or in more formal situations?
If this pen is to be used privately, i.e. at home, or if she is a freelancer, it could be a Lamy Al-Star or Safari Limited Edition - then you could buy her a couple of nibs (fine/med/broad/italics/oblique at 4 quid each) so that she can change them, play a bit, see what she likes, feel the real difference in using and (if you like) messing with an fp, changing ink, etc.

Alternatively, you can go and buy her a Lamy Studio, which I suppose is similar to the one you had you eyed originally.
The Heroes, low-end Watermans and Pelicans I really don't know them, and have no clue on how much they cost.

A vintage is always a very good and admittedly a much better choice, but I cannot really comment on prices, etc. as I don't know the market and also do not know if you would be willing to buy smt like that for your sister.

All in all, try to find out more from her, if you can. Prep (remember shaving) is as important as execution. The person you are presenting the gift to will always remember the gesture for this reason as well. Then buy something she can also change if she would like something different (but she won't if you manage to get some 'inside' info in advance). You can also try Andy's pens <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.andys-pens.ukhome.net/forsale.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.andys-pens.ukhome.net/forsale.shtml</a><!-- m --> or give him a call, he should be able to help.

Another site here where you can see different colours of ink, pens and nib sizes.
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Good luck and let us know what you got for her.
 
Quick OT hi-jack here but I've been using a cheap diary all year and my nice heavy Parker bleeds through; I'm thinking about moving up to a nice Moleskine diary but have heard the paper is quite thin. Anyone know owt about this? I need a page-per-day diary with nice thick paper. Ta.
 
What I've heard and read a number of times is that Moleskine paper is not consistent, offers sometimes too good, other times too bad results and it bleeds through quite a bit with fountain pens, so beware.

I have Moleskines but for some reason I always write on them with simple Faber Castell 9000 pencils (B - 4B).

The general consensus is that Clairefontaine and Rhodia paper is much much better and more consistent. I have some notebooks and jotter books from both brands and especially the Clairefontaine 90gsm is very good.
 
Rev-O said:
Quick OT hi-jack here but I've been using a cheap diary all year and my nice heavy Parker bleeds through; I'm thinking about moving up to a nice Moleskine diary but have heard the paper is quite thin. Anyone know owt about this? I need a page-per-day diary with nice thick paper. Ta.
Click to expand...
I use the Moleskine notebooks all the time, it does bleed a bit on the notebooks (using a Montblanc Meisterstuck), but I think the diaries are a bit thicker paper. If they are the same, I'd look for something else.

FB.
 
antdad said:
I notice some say piston converter instead of just converter. There's a difference I presume?
Click to expand...

Yeah, at least with Parkers, you can have a screw piston or you can have the squeezy sack thing. Of the 2, i prefer the piston as the sack can perish (especially if you are looking vintage), If you do go with a vintage that has a sack, you should test the sack with some warm water to clean it out and check for leaks.
 
some more nice pics (not mine)

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very good choice in my honest opinion, including getting her some paper/notebook, which I had thought about recommending

just keep in mind that Lamy has some inconsistency in their nibs, few times you may get a "M" nib and it behaves more like an "F", or an "F" that writes more like an "EF"
of course they're pretty cheap to change but this is good to know in advance
I have few of them and a couple of nibs are in the above category while others have proved to be excellent performers

your sister should 'clean' (or flush?) the pen before inking it, the pen will most likely have some trace of blue ink from factory testing of the nib
therefore as soon as she puts the converter on, she should make sure the pen has no trace of coloured ink inside
then she can immerse it in the new ink bottle she will have received from you and fill it with the clean and new ink

this is what I mean - simple and effective:
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I made the mistake once of inserting a brand new Lamy, straight out of the box (I had not cleaned it) into a bottle of Noodlers Firefly (underline fluorescent yellow) and the blue ink traces from the pen 'contaminated' the (brand new) ink in the bottle... never again
 
N_Architect said:
some more nice pics (not mine)

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Click to expand...

now i want a duofold more than ever
 
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