The Fountain Pen Thread

Al-star is my all time favourite. Did you get a medium or broad nib? I prefer broad.

I'm actually using a Lamy push down ball point at the moment as the lack of writing over lock down has meant all of my fountain pens have dried up.
 
Semple said:
See i found gel better for that. I agree biro's are terrible for writing as they require quite a bit of force to "scratch" into the page, whereas gel just flows with very little force required. Gel can smudge a bit if you're not careful though.
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Yeah, gel pens are pretty nice tbh.. and rather less fuss.

I do wonder if the biro issue was why we had to use fountain pens at school? I remember going from junior school (using pencils) to secondary school and right away we had to all go to WH Smiths or Woolworths that summer and get parker pens and some ink cartridges as we were no longer going to use pencils and biros were not allowed.

(Didn't take long of course to figure out that you could flick ink all over the shirt of the person sitting in front of you in class.)
 
dLockers said:
Al-star is my all time favourite. Did you get a medium or broad nib? I prefer broad.
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I went with the fine nib. My original Lamy has medium nib and I felt it was feathering a bit on the notepads I use for work.

I've also got an F nib on the Ideos but I have a 1.1 stub nib on the way along with two more Diamine inks, Imperial Purple and Sherwood Green.
 
dowie said:
Yeah, gel pens are pretty nice tbh.. and rather less fuss.

I do wonder if the biro issue was why we had to use fountain pens at school? I remember going from junior school (using pencils) to secondary school and right away we had to all go to WH Smiths or Woolworths that summer and get parker pens and some ink cartridges as we were no longer going to use pencils and biros were not allowed.

(Didn't take long of course to figure out that you could flick ink all over the shirt of the person sitting in front of you in class.)
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:cry::cry::cry: I remember those days at school, used to be able to flick ink on the wall the opposite side of the classroom. But yeah I never quite understood the reasoning - I guess ink is generally a bit nicer than biro, but can make a right mess.

Frankly I would have said it should only be used during English lessons, all other subjects and biro or pencil would suffice.
 
Semple said:
:cry::cry::cry: I remember those days at school, used to be able to flick ink on the wall the opposite side of the classroom. But yeah I never quite understood the reasoning - I guess ink is generally a bit nicer than biro, but can make a right mess.

Frankly I would have said it should only be used during English lessons, all other subjects and biro or pencil would suffice.
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It is like the old saying. The Americans spent millions on making a pen work in zero gravity. The Russians used pencils.
 
Cromulent said:
It is like the old saying. The Americans spent millions on making a pen work in zero gravity. The Russians used pencils.
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1. Normal ball point pens work in zero G, the lack of gravity isn't enough to overcome the surface tension so the ink still pulls in to the ball
2. You REALLY don't want errant (electrically conductive) graphite splinters floating around in zero G and getting in to your instruments

:p
 
TrojanWhore said:
1. Normal ball point pens work in zero G, the lack of gravity isn't enough to overcome the surface tension so the ink still pulls in to the ball
2. You REALLY don't want errant (electrically conductive) graphite splinters floating around in zero G and getting in to your instruments

:p
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Don't let truth get in the way of a good internet story please!
 
@Feek you may be right about the wax ones, also an interesting read about the Fisher pen, cheers for posting!
(I didn't realise they'd ever used graphite pencils tbh, thought the issues would be fairly obvious)
 
I use a Mont Blanc 147 for making cards, signing etc. I use a Koweco Brass with a medium nib for notes, and a chinese copy of that with a fine nib on occasion too.
My writing was terrible when I started, but I've actually /practiced/ to make it better, and after a few minutes a day for a few days it got significantly better. It's clearly not fantastic, but it's usable!

I think people receiving a handwritten letter by hand appreciate it a hell of a lot more.
jeDvwTQ.jpg
 
bazzabear said:
I bought this as a cheap extra pen to put a different colour ink in:
https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07Y8L9JQ1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And was rather surprised to find it quickly became my favourite to write with.

It is also the pen I put my red ink with glitter (yes, I know :o ) in - and it seems to block up a lot less frequently than any other pen I've used that ink in.
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Looks nice for what I'd want (just a nice to write with pen for the odd time I need to not use the computer). One of the reviews said the nib's scratchy across the paper though. Did you find that? I like a smooth writing experience. What size nib did you order?
 
TrojanWhore said:
1. Normal ball point pens work in zero G, the lack of gravity isn't enough to overcome the surface tension so the ink still pulls in to the ball
2. You REALLY don't want errant (electrically conductive) graphite splinters floating around in zero G and getting in to your instruments

:p
Click to expand...

Ball points still won't work upside down here on earth though gravity certainly wins out there :P At least for the common or garden variety of biro. Pencils work underwater too if you can find a surface they'll adhere to.
 
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Rainmaker said:
Looks nice for what I'd want (just a nice to write with pen for the odd time I need to not use the computer). One of the reviews said the nib's scratchy across the paper though. Did you find that? I like a smooth writing experience. What size nib did you order?
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Sorry for the delay - I was on holiday. I got the fine nib. I find it writes perfectly smoothly. The only time I have an issue with it is when the nib gets a bit blocked - and as I said, I've had that happen with every pen I've used this ink with.
 
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