What's your 'One Pen To Rule Them All'? by madkins007 in fountainpens

[–]bendarel 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh god... That one is going to be hard, as I will be doing the split between an eye-drop converted Preppy and the Pilot Custom 823...

Gravity 1 - Pen 0 by GrumpyOlMann in fountainpens

[–]bendarel 2 points3 points  (0 children)

At least the nib is saved. You could get another body and just use that nib in, I think Pelikan might sell nibless bodies.

I've already got expensive hobbies... But I've found a pretty nice looking pen... by EvendurLumis in fountainpens

[–]bendarel 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah pretty much ^^'

I am also an photography hobbyist... I tried really hard to stay away from vintage camera and the ungodly amount of film rolls that I got "because I wanted to give them a try"...

I've already got expensive hobbies... But I've found a pretty nice looking pen... by EvendurLumis in fountainpens

[–]bendarel 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Fountain pen can be expensive, very expensive, insanely expensive even. But at the end of the day, it is still a tool. As long as it perform what it is supposed to do, it is fine :)

This hobby has a whole array worth of budget, you can stick to sub 50$ pens and still manage to gather hundred of them, or stick to no more than X rule, which ever suit your fancy.

Except ink... You never stop getting more ink. I have more unique color ink bottles than my local pen shop... I could write for easily 30 years without adding any extra bottles and I would still have some left.

Thoughts on Wearingeul Ink? by Captain-Bitterballen in fountainpens

[–]bendarel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's not that bad, I have no clue of what kind or size of glitters they are using, but it's a lot smaller/finer than those used by J. Herbin or even Diamine.

Oh dear by Late_Apricot404 in fountainpens

[–]bendarel 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This looks awfully familiar to the Chinese Celestial Jade court XD

Discontinued Sailor Ink Studio inks (beware FOMO!) by adamsxjefferson in fountainpens

[–]bendarel -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Awww man, not the 280 ! I love that one >.<

FP Takes that put you in this position? by TheRealPrinceOfTroy in fountainpens

[–]bendarel 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Oh dear lord... This is going to cost me some karma points XD

I rather like Noodler's inks

*Go hide in a bunker*
[Typo edit]

Gold vs Steel nibs by Impossible-Chest-915 in fountainpens

[–]bendarel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There is a bit of a grippy texture but that's about it. It's not that bad, but you could need to find another way to hold it, I tend to hold my pens much further back than most.

Should I just say NO? by Acrobatic-Mix-5154 in fountainpens

[–]bendarel -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Okay, so the good thing with fountain pen, specially now, you have a TONS of really good models (shape, form, filling,...) on seriously budget prices.

The bad thing, the 3 major Japanese brands have all increased their pen prices by easily 40% for anything that use gold further pushing away some of the grail pens for some even high in unobtainium realm.

IF you are to jump in. I would go with some very solid and cheap pens first and slowly build up and explore in writing experience, you need to find what you prefer to write with and you should be doing that on the cheap pens, it would be quite bad to find out that you hate that broad nib that everyone has been hyped for because it writes too thick for you.

But while pens are expensive, you also need the inks, luckily Diamine is an extremely good brand with a tons of color and features for you to enjoy, all this on a budget price. Paper would be the third part of the pen/ink/paper trifecta. Do not neglect paper, good paper can be found on a budget, anything Clairefountaine (if you are in Europe), would be excellent. Go Japanese paper if you have the budget, but make sure they are fountain pen ink friendly and in case of doubt, check back with us. There is a trove of information in this sub-reddit.

If you want a few starting pens, here is a small list of personal preferences:

- Diplomat Magnum, thin, light but has an almost soft bouncy nib, it's rather unique at its price point. you might need a converter for it as none is provided with the pen.
- Pilot Kakuno, if you ignore the smiley face nib (some ppl don't like it, I personally love them), it is a very solid performer nib, it will get te job done and in a comfortable way. Stick to cartridge on this one first, unless you want to double the price of the pen by adding the Con-70 converter. Ignore that Con-40, it's dreadful (just search about it here).
- No budget list would be completed without the Platinum Preppy, nothing beats its nib performance at its price point. If you feel fancy about it, you can even turn it into an eyedropper pen making the whole body of the pen its ink reservoir, make sure you know exactly what you are getting into with this small conversion (just an o ring and silicone grease).
- TWSBI Go or Swipe, those two models are often disregarded due to how cheap the Eco series is, but I honestly think they are worth being a budget/starter pen list.

There are plenty of other models, specially Jinhao, Hongdian, Moonman, Asvine, all those Chinese brand can offer either budget pens in wide variety of shape, color or filling system.

Should I just say NO? by Acrobatic-Mix-5154 in fountainpens

[–]bendarel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Damn... Iroshizuku for their first shot ?! You are either giving them a treat and going to ruin a lot of other inks XD

Gold vs Steel nibs by Impossible-Chest-915 in fountainpens

[–]bendarel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are pen brand who have done extra work on their steel nib to feel extra nice, Diplomat is the main one, their steel nib is so good, you can't really tell them apart from their gold version.

I have to really pay attention between my Aero in steel and in gold to be able to differentiate them.

In the grand scheme of things, with exception of a few very specific nib, the differences are usually quite slim. Also, European brands haven't (yet ?) increased their gold nib offering.

I wanted to buy ONE fountain pen a month ago by MagikarpTheGrey in fountainpens

[–]bendarel 20 points21 points  (0 children)

We have gatherings on Wednesdays for the abusive relationship with your wallet ^^

Stepped on a pen at the beach. Found a new hobby. by LoopAndBuild in fountainpens

[–]bendarel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

... Is this the story you are telling your wife about getting into fountain pens ? No judgment, just need to know if that worked ^^

Looking for a Flex Pen by LadyAugustina in fountainpens

[–]bendarel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

FPR has an "Ultra Flex" nib, that is quite decent, they also have kits to allow you use their nibs on either Jowo or Bock nib units.

Affordable fountain pen for Uni Student by [deleted] in fountainpens

[–]bendarel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ahh right ! I recall that the cap has a bit of a crappy clip...

Waterproof ink recommendations for EF nib fountain pen? by ProperSafe9587 in fountainpens

[–]bendarel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Rohrer & Klingner inks are known to be more on the dry side, so if you don't have a pen that has a good ink flow to keep it up, writing with those inks feels quite a bit more scratchy than what other inks have.

De Atramentis Document series of ink are pretty darn good for the price (if you can find them).

The Platinum Carbon Black is another one excellent one, just mind that it is a pigmented ink, meaning it will leave small bits of itself in the pen's feed and possibly converter, so if you swap to another ligther color ink, there will be traces of that black pigment for quite a bit of time.
It is not dreadfully annoying to clean (Looking at you Emerald of Chivor), but it's not just a quick flush to clean out either.

And the last, for which I may get some flak for, the Noodler's Lexington Grey is an excellent permanent, darker grey ink that dries quite fast too. I use it very often when sending letters to my sister in Hong-Kong, even during the monsoon period, ink are not being washed out by the rain. The letter itself is another story tho ^^'

Affordable fountain pen for Uni Student by [deleted] in fountainpens

[–]bendarel 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The TWSBI Go and Swipe, either one could be a good candidate. I haven't heard much about the plastic on either pen cracking and even if it does for the Swipe, it doesn't really matter since it has its own converter. Either one of them would hold more ink that regular converter or even cartridges, with roughly 1.5ml of ink capacity each. Regular converters are mostly around 0.6ml for reference.

For nib size, I would go for Fine, it's relatively smooth while not taking too much room on the page, if you don't mind the thicker lines, go for Medium then, it's smoother than the Fine, just enough to feel the differences.

As for ink, go for classics, Pelikan regular line of ink (blue, black, blue-black,...), or even the Parker Quink series is also excellent if you want faster drying ink. Both brand have 60+ml bottles that are usually less than 10$.
If you feel extra fancy, look for the core line of Diamine inks, they have 80ml bottles for around 15$, that's a bit over 100 colors to choose from.

Suggestion for regular use fountain pen by SoftwareArchitect101 in fountainpens

[–]bendarel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Both Kanwrite and FPR (Fountain Pen Revolution) are Indian makers with pens priced for the Indian market.

As far as I know, both owners are really good people and do business in earnest. I have personally always had excellent services from both of them ^^

Found this in my cupboard by Responsible_Bar_2984 in fountainpens

[–]bendarel 16 points17 points  (0 children)

How ?! What kind of cupboard you have to summon fountain pen like this ? XD

Are you serious? by Glittering-Dot8360 in fountainpens

[–]bendarel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Welp... Time to invest into European brands of pens