What pens are we carrying today?

[Shangas]

I am using my 1930 Sheaffer Balance OS lever-filler. Medium nib. This pen is one of the gems of my collection

 

[Chito]

It's not vintage but I've had it for over 15 years now. I use a MontBlanc Meisterstuck Classique.

 

[Davep]

I've got my Conklin Victory Fountain Pen coming.

 

[Fletch]

A nice looking bright stainless, fluted, torpedo-shaped FP, marked Pierre Belvedere, that I picked up in Montreal, and which takes Parker cartridges. One drawback: cap cannot be posted - slides right off.

 

[Spatterdash]

What's the best choice in a new rollerball with a screw-on cap? I'm trying to avoid the finances needed for vintage pen collecting, and I understand the rollerball is a better writer than a cheap ballpoint.

 

[John in Covina]

What's the best choice in a new rollerball with a screw-on cap? I'm trying to avoid the finances needed for vintage pen collecting, and I understand the rollerball is a better writer than a cheap ballpoint.

**********
Actually, there are only a few rollerball cartridge manufacturer's, find one that writes comfortably for you and then look for the the lowest price style with that re-fill type. Unless completely enamored with something, it doesn't pay to spend big on ball points, rollerballs or gel pens. It is the refill that does all the work so an expensive holder is not cost effective.

 

[John in Covina]

A nice looking bright stainless, fluted, torpedo-shaped FP, marked Pierre Belvedere, that I picked up in Montreal, and which takes Parker cartridges. One drawback: cap cannot be posted - slides right off.

two things i hate, a pen that can't be posted with the cap and a pen that is unbalanced when the cap is posted!:rage:

 

[John in Covina]

Just picked up a copper colored Esterbrook LJ model, haven't had time to fiddle with it yet.

 

[Spatterdash]

Good info, thanks.

Well, I guess the best bet in the long run is a fountain. Researching the best new pens and ink brands is next for me, I suppose. Google, here we come.

 

[John in Covina]

Well, I guess the best bet in the long run is a fountain. Researching the best new pens and ink brands is next for me, I suppose. Google, here we come.

***********
Wait!

First, tell us what do you want to spend $
and what are you looking for in a fountain pen.
What will you be using it for.
What do you want it to look like.
NEW or VINTAGE?

There is much to consider and choose from plus some famous pens are not good bargins.

 

[John in Covina]

For Spatterdash and others that haven't seen this, my littl disertation on fountain pens:

Why use that finest of writing instruments, the Fountain Pen?

A fine pen whether a fountain pen, rollerball, gel ink pen or ball point is a refillable pen, which helps with being environmentally sound by having a non-disposable body that utilizes a refill of some sort. The best fountain pens are capable of being filled with ink from a bottle and give you the widest choice of brand and color of ink available today.

Much like your choice of wristwatch or pocket watch, a fine pen may be a work horse pen, plain and unassuming or a pen of great distinction, perhaps a limited edition. Many consider it a form of working jewelry to help accessorize ones personal appearance. As such, a fountain pen helps in making a statement about ones values and sensibilities, from stoic to extravagant. At the top levels of cost, a fine pen is art of the most uncommon sort, whether made in Japanese hand painted Make-ei lacquer, cloisonné enamel, formed and cut precious metal and stones or even as esoteric as hand placed egg shell used to create a scene of snow falling. The beauty of such pens reveals the spirit of handcraftsmanship that old cultures bring to art around the world. These same companies bring new designs with exciting uses of color and materials.

Why use a fountain pen? For many of a nostalgic nature, fountain pens are seen as link back to a time of elegance and sophistication. Even today, fountain pens are still considered to be a superior writing instrument. They remain a singular uncommon luxury employed by writers the world over to consign their thoughts and emotions to paper. Many older writers have returned to a fountain pen, while first timers are draw by the mystique that surrounds the fountain pen. Often the comment is that the writer feels a different connection to penning their thoughts. Many take a bit longer to pen their thoughts, so they seem to be more clearly and deeply expressed when writing with a fountain pen.

The Nib versus the Ball
A fountain pen writes and handles differently than most pens. People that work in offices across the world often have favorites types of pens selected from the constant stream of disposables presented. There are those that favor rollerball pens or one might be a gel ink proponent and some that still like the ordinary ball point. Each writer has their own valid reasons for the selection they favor. Even the ubiquitous ballpoint continues to improve since their inception near the end of WWII. The ballpoint design was a simple concept but was much more difficult to make work than you might suppose to use a rolling ball as a tip that delivered ink to the paper. A number of early ball point pen companies went out of business because of those difficulties. The ball point ink is the culprit where the major physical property to get it to deliver correctly, is that it needs to be a paste like substance. As such ball point ink must be pressed onto the paper and it is all this pressing that leads to writer’s cramp, creating real hand fatigue. Both rollerball and gel ink takes much less pressure to write and flow nicely in comparison, giving the writer a smoother writing experience and even better control, but a fountain pen that is well made and in good condition will have the smoothest of all writing feel, it needs no pressing to write. If the nib touches the paper on its sweet spot it should make a mark, so the writer need only guide the pen. For long term writing or note taking, the fountain pen then remains the best choice.

Many of you have the impression that fountain pens are scratchy! Well it is true, they can be, a cheap pen that is poorly made can be scratchy, but more often scratchy is the result of being poorly handled. A dropped pen or pressing too hard with a fountain pen can damage the nib. Should a fountain pen be dropped, Murphy’s Law says it will invariably land point down, right on that precious nib and in so doing the most damage to the nib. Here we’ll need to give you a little nib info. The nib is that pointy writing end of the fountain pen. It can be made of a variety of materials with steel and gold as the leading metals although exotics like titanium have been used. At the tip is a round piece of metal that is loosely called “Iridium” and is usually a mixture of metals with some from the hard platinum group as is iridium. This dot of very hard metal is the long lasting writing tip. The nib is stamped out, shaped, and the ball of Iridium is welded to the end of the nib. Then this ball is split when the nib is cut in two to form the tines. The iridium tip is shaped and polished to create a smooth sweet spot that makes the pen a smooth writer. That sweet spot is pretty general because of the variety of writing styles. Some people hold their pens almost perpendicular to the paper, some almost down flat, plus the pen maybe turned or tilted in the hand, therefore the sweet spot is designed to give good smooth writing over that fairly wide latitude of angles within the multitude of gripping styles.

Back to that dizzying drop of the pen, often the tines are bent which has the sweet spot now totally out of alignment with the paper. Not to worry, your repair man at the good pen shop knows how to repair this minor disaster. Local pen clubs have knowledgeable amateur restorers that can often straighten the tines to get the iridium tip’s sweet spot back in place. Sometimes the Iridium is damaged and needs reshaping and re-polishing, again look to those repair wizards for help. Nib repair and reshaping is often possible and what looks hopeless can be fixed or if need be replaced. Anyway scratchy is mostly repairable and very rarely seen in new pens. As a matter of fact the new and relatively inexpensive “student’ type pens from the quality manufacturers are in a remarkable class of smoothness in writing. Those countries that still require learning hand writing skills and insist on the use of a fountain pen have made it clear to their pen companies that a well made, inexpensive pen for the students is a patriotic goal to pursue.

Nib adjustments are possible, and even the flow of ink can be personalized to meet your writing pleasure. By the alignment of the tines and the way the nib is aligned to the feed, that black plastic or rubber thingy with those slits that is under the nib, a good pen repair guy can set many pens to give a wet line or a drier line of ink as the writer desires. Medium to wet is preferred by many as the flow can keep up with some of your fastest writing without skipping a beat.

Nibs come in a great array of styles. The shape of the nib will give character to the line and some such as Stub nibs, Music nibs or those in the Oblique styles are related to the Italic family. These are often used as a Signature pen by those that do important contracts. Italic nibs are familiar to those that have taken any calligraphy classes. Here the variation of thick and thin line makes the lettering pleasing to the eye. Regular nibs may be a simple round point that will be anywhere from extra fine to a double broad and then some. These all affect the writing style of the pen and a good pen shop will help you select a pen that compliments both how you hold the pen and even your writing style.

Rare today are nibs that are referred to as “FLEX” which when used in writing, a judicial amount of pressure will force the tines apart to give a thin-thick line from the same pen. This style was used extensively thru the 1920’s and later. You may see it in old letters or hand written family cook books. These flourished writing styles such as Copperplate or Spencerian script gives great expression to the writing often giving the impression of some type of certificate or diploma. Don’t try it with an ordinary nib because they don’t FLEX and you’ll find yourself in need to visit the repairman. Fountain pens and calligraphy do go hand in hand. The fountain pen is the next step from the dip pen as used by artists and calligraphers and was design to make the ink well integral to the pen so dipping was eliminated. It also meant that you would reduce or eliminate blots from any inconsistent flow of ink.

New Versus Vintage in Fountain Pens
Step into a fine pen shop and the array of fountain pens is like and explosion of color, precious metals and design worthy of any art museum. Yet all are designed to take your hand movements and turn them into a line of ink gliding smoothly across the page as a direct extension of you mind. A fountain pen can effortlessly help draw out your deepest thoughts and feelings, so you may connect with emotion and concepts with the ease of a magic wand. Today the selection of new pens is daunting, the number of manufacturers continues to climb and with them the number of designs to choose from.
However, as delightful a torment that can be, there is the world of Vintage Pens, where history collides with your range of selection. In my personal collection I have some 50 vintage fountain pens of various makes, designs and diverse range of original values. I find I am drawn to the early versions of the Parker Duofold with models from the late 1920’s to the early 1930’s both the flat top and the streamlined models. Why? The larger senior models ooze masculinity and the smaller models of which there were many come with exquisite with matching Duofold marked nibs. Once cleaned up and with new ink sacks installed they write superbly even with 70 to 80 years of history in them.

I have several old Waterman pens in black chased hard rubber that have very responsive nibs in the flexible range. Nice writers all and are a delight to write just as they were in the good old days. Those accomplished with flex nib writing use “whole arm movement” not simply writing from the wrist as we do in present day. Whole arm movement is what allowed those sweeping and fluid lines of writing to turn daily writing into what looks like a stock certificate in supreme elegance, often using the style called Spencerian or Copperplate.

Sheaffer came up with the Balance model in the 1930’s and it was the epitome of streamlining. Again an Icon of fountain pens and again one you will find in many collections today. At Wahl and later as Wahl Eversharp famous designers produced some extraordinary pens such as their Skyline model. Few can resist that one with a rakish look and the “clip over the cap” design adds a lot of intrigue to the pen. Wahl was another major company in the golden era. One thing is back then, they used materials that are rarely, if ever, seen today, such as celluloid and even casein, a milk based plastic. The designs were pretty fresh back then and there are colors that seem to be impossible to make today. Many pens of the Great Depression are often inexpensive but use color in a way it had not been used before. It was a different world back then, and pens were actually news worthy items when the innovation was right. Esterbrook is a venerable old brand that is sadly no longer with us. A victim of the 50’s and 60’s ball point pen revolution, Esterbrook is a true work horse pen with easily interchangeable nibs that would allow you to have a different writing style with each different nib. Esterbrook pens where ubiquitous, use by government, business schools and ordinary people that needed a relatively inexpensive pen that was a quality, working fountain pen.

Each vintage pen I own has a history of someone that used it, selected it and maybe even had it fixed a time or two, because a fountain pen was considered a lifetime purchase. It may have written business correspondence, cherished love letters or maybe letter to home by a service man during a great conflict like WWII. Many pens are collectable, some don’t garner much value, but you can find that some really great writers have been stuck in a drawer, half forgotten. So ask relatives and friend if they have any old fountain pens tucked away some where. You may just find a really cool pen to be refurbished and revived to a lifetime of service in your hand.

Paper and Ink
Paper, pen and ink are an inseparable trio pair, the one not much good without the others, certainly. Paper comes in wide variety of qualities and it does make a difference as to how a pen may write. A problem common today is that you may have had a rollerball, ballpoint or gel pen suddenly display difficulties after writing on paper fresh out of the fax, copier or printer. That is because some of these printing systems use chemicals to print the sheet. These chemicals are deposited on the paper and until either dried they have a some what greasy consistency that gets on the ball portion of the pen and interferes with the flow of ink or gel. Once screwed up like that it is seldom possible to rid the pen of the problem. The same can happen with a fountain pen and it happens also when the paper has been coated. Often the coating interferes with the flow of ink until a pen is flushed out and modern cleaning chemistry is brought to bear on the problem. Recycled paper may get similar coatings second hand, as it were, so you should avoid or carefully test the paper for problems. But with truly fine paper, such as those with cotton or linen content tends to work well, so paper from companies like Crane is excellent choices. Strathmore is reported to be good. Fabriano is also, and are more often found as artist paper so a trip to the art supply store is in order even though the sizes tend to be odd for regular writing paper, but we can call that a charming eccentricity. From Italy’s Amalfi coast is Amalfi Amatruda exquisite writing paper. France has some wonderful paper such as G. Lalo and Clairefountaine. Moleskine books are pretty good but watch out for read thru with dark inks. A surprisingly good, inexpensive paper is in the cloth covered journals usually found in the bargain section at Borders books. They have a big J on the front and the covers are in a variety of colors, black, blue, red and tan, these are quite the bargain. Gold Fibre writing pads from Ampad tend to be good too. A good rule is “when you find good paper, stock up, if you can.” Also I suggest the small note cards such as those from Crane, including ‘Thank You’ cards, it makes jotting off a quick note easy and delightful so you may do it in a timely fashion. Better a short note than a long one never sent!

A pen without ink doesn’t do much but ink is a personal choice effecting not only what you write but how you write. Ink is the other half of that marvelous flow system that allows you to write with a fountain pen in what can only be called “a carefully controlled leak.” If you have a balky pen try different inks in it, you can sometimes find one it likes. Many pen manufacturers have their own brand of ink and there are a multitude of makers that are not connected to a pen company such as the lovely J. Herbin, Private Reserve and Noodler’s. The color spectrum of available inks continues to grow so finding that perfect color for your written expressions is easier than ever. Private Reserve even has a mixing kit so that creating a truly personal, custom color can be accomplished with a little experimentation. I like to match ink color to the season such as red and green at Christmas. It is a bit like “flavoring” the writing, as one might use seasoning when cooking. Remember that India inks and drawing inks contain varnish and drying agents that will cause damage to a fountain pen so avoid them and stick with only what says fountain pen ink on the label.

Picking pens for the newbie.
Often people that have bought their pens by the gross at the office supply place will have sticker shock when it comes to purchasing a fountain pen. If you are used to spending under a dollar for a disposable ball point a fountain pen, even at the student level will be a value challenge. A starter pen for those that are toe-dipping into the experience is a “disposable” fountain pen made by PILOT a fine Japanese firm. Google “Pilot Varsity” and you should find some sources for this relatively inexpensive pen that you can use to get used to the feel of a fountain pen and not cry if you lose it either. These are quite nice to get your foot in the door. After that, you can look at some of the Student level pens that are well made and are great starters too. Lamy, a German manufacturer makes 2 pens of similar design call the Safari and the Safari Allstar. These can be found in the 25-35 dollar range and offer fine, medium and broad choices for nibs in most stores plus some other nibs thru the big online outlets. If you can find a Pelikan M75 or the Pelikan GO! Pens these are pretty nice but scarce in the USA. Rotring made a pen called the Core which is very modern but a fine writer and can still be found on the EBay type sites. A step up is the Pilot Knight at about $45 it is a classic fountain pen and every one I have tried is as smooth as glass. All of these have steel nibs and are truly serviceable writers. In vintage you can look for a refurbished Esterbrook. Fountain pens climb rapidly in price and the student level goes to over $100. All of the big makers from Parker, Waterman, Sheaffer, to smaller newer makers like Laban and Taccia have models in this range. At about the $125 level you will begin to find pens that are coming with gold nibs and are the next step up. Here your selection really opens up with a wide variety of makers and designs. As you approach the $200 level you are in the “Real Pen” level, where they will have all of the bells and whistles of filling systems and materials as a standard, but top notch quality pen. As the price climbs from here the difference tends to be size and then more precious materials being used.

As a word of experience, if you are blessed to have a local pen shop of noteworthy brands offered, you should support them with some purchases. Here is where you can test drive some of the pens you fancy or see those marvelous array of colors the modern ink manufacturers have come up with. A good shop may have a pen repair man to take your vintage finds to for refurbishing. Here you may meet like minded people and learn of local clubs to help you in this wonderful hobby.

In conclusion, fountain pen fans feel that the history of the fountain pen makes it the right tool to use while writing letters and post cards, whether aboard the Orient Express, journaling your trip across Africa or just sending that thoughtful “Thank You” note to a friend. While many might not get to go to these foreign and exotic places, using fountain pens in similar tasks brings the exotic to where ever you are and banishes the mundane from your daily writing tasks. With Email and the like many are afraid that handwriting skills will vanish soon and with it some of the close connections that come from a handwritten note. What ever your choice to correspond with, be it fountain pen, dip pen, ballpoint pen, gel or rollerball, know that a hand written note or letter is so often cherished by the receiver. Today is your chance to write to somebody and give them something they will cherish.

Happy Writing!

 

[Spatterdash]

That should be a sticky. Well done.

I am extremely thankful for the info.

 

[Davep]

yes that was a very nice write-up.

I can remember in my early school days being required to have a fountain pen. Have always hated the googy greasy ink of ball point pens.

 

[Shadowex3]

yes that was a very nice write-up.

I can remember in my early school days being required to have a fountain pen. Have always hated the googy greasy ink of ball point pens.

Likewise. I can't stand the pressure or the... jellyness... of your average school-acceptable pen and buying an expensive pen isn't really feasible for the average college student.

In terms of disposables for when you can't afford "real" pens or don't want to risk bringing yours along I think the Bic Uniball Elite is the nicest family I've written with. The ink is basically the same consistency as water without being runny on the page (unless the paper is strange/laminated) and the pen glides extremely smoothly with just enough feedback from the paper's texture to let you know if you're pressing too hard.

 

[Shangas]

Today my pen of choice is my Mentmore Diploma. A plain, simple lever-filler, but it works well.

 

[Schofields]

today was a federal eyedropper, black and brown hard chased rubber.

 

[DeaconKC]

For today, a new writer to fountain pens would have to go a long way to find a better value than the Waterman Phileas. Very reliable, good nibs uses cartridges or converter and readily available. If wanting to spend a little more, the Pelikan 215 series are excellent.

 

[Shangas]

Today's pen is a 1949 Parker '51' Flighter, complete with gold-filled cap-band.

 

[Dixon Cannon]

My Parker 75 Sterling Silver Super Soft Tip

The only problem is, I can carry it, I just can't use it!
It seems that Parker has discontinued the Super Soft
Tip and they are impossible to find. Does anyone know
if there is a suitable replacement refill? Perhaps a Roller-
Ball that is designed to fit this moderl? Lemme' know!

-dixon cannon

 

[Tooch]

I've been carrying a Parker 21 Deluxe that's an amazing writer -- the ink flows as soon as it touches paper, even if it hasn't been used for a few days. I'm refurbishing a Parker "51", which has the potential to displace the 21 for everyday use.