May 2011 Monthly Chat - Fountain Pens

Discussion in 'The Chatterbox' started by ChemErik, May 2, 2011.

  1. ChemErik

    ChemErik Mr. Personality

    It seems something mysterious draws traditional wet shaving and fountain pens together. Many wet shavers like fountain pens and many fountain pen enthusiasts like wet shaving. So what about you?

    Do you own any fountain pens? If so what are they (if you own more than a dozen, descriptions of each pen aren't necessary)?

    Which came first for you, fountain pens or wet shaving?

    What are you favorite products (pen, ink, paper, etc)?

    Since I'm first:

    I own the following pens:
    1) A Parker 51 in Midnight Blue, f nib.
    2) A Cross Century II Chrome, m nib.
    3) A broken Sheaffer Snorkle f nib I'm planning to repair eventually

    Not much of a collection, but I'm really more a user than collector. I'm thinking of adding another inexpensive fine point to use exclusively for red ink.

    I was a wet shaver first, which is where I first heard of fountain pens still being used. Picked up the Cross and later the Parker in a trade for a couple DE razors. The Snorkle was an antique store find for really cheap.

    My favorite pen is the Parker 51. Not the prettiest, but is amazing from a functional standpoint. Favorite inks are Private Reserve and J. Herbin (strangely very different inks). I'm not so picky about paper where any premium, fountain pen friendly paper is fine by me. I most often write on Bagasse as it's inexpensive and easy to pick up at Staples.
     
  2. Etoyoc

    Etoyoc Backwards

    Well, I don't have a lot of time this morning.. but I will try to come back to this thread through the month.

    I started wet shaving first. About a year later, I started using fountain pens.

    I have way too many pens; however, my favorite pens are TWSBI Diamond 530 pens. I have two of them and almost always have one inked and in my shirt pocket. I also like Lamy Safari and Al-Stars, Reform 1745w, Wality 69TL, and Kaweco sports. I have a large number of other pens, but at any time I have at least one of the above inked at my desk at home or at my desk at work.

    I have a lot of Noodlers, Diamine, and J. Herbin inks. Inked at the moment I have Noodler's Habanero, Noodler's Nikita, J. Herbin Sapphire Blue, Diamine Syrah, J. Herbin Lierre Sauvage, and Lamy Blue.

    I usually work with a F nib. I have a lot of EF nibs as well as M nibs.

    Paper? I usually have either a Clairefontaine or Rhodia pad in my pocket. Otherwise most of my writing is either on copy paper or Norcom composition notebooks. Oh yeah, there are those Bagasse pads at Staples that were mentioned above.

    I have been a member of the Ink Drop over at FPN that is run by Goulet pens since the ink drop started. I am now overrun with samples. So I am thinking about canceling that membership. But the May samples just shipped and there may be something in there that I really want to try!
     
  3. Billr

    Billr Mix Master Mighty White!

    This is going to be fun reading for me. I have long wanted to collect fountain pens, I just have never taken the time to sit down and find out what pens are good for collecting and which pens are good for daily use or even what all is involved with a fountain pen. I first became interested many years ago when i inherited some old clocks from my uncles clock collection when he passed away. When my aunt packaged up the clocks I also received a large part of his tools that he used to repair the clocks. Very nice set of vintage tools. Inside one of the tool boxes was a Diamond Point FP. I have kept it with some of my favorite "special" ball point pens. (the ones I use only to sign Birthday/holiday cards or write periodic notes or letters to my wife)

    So I will be watching this thread with a great deal of interest! (I better take a dose of anti pen AD medication - I have always been a pen junkie) I hope to find out some good pointers on getting started.
     
  4. Williams Warrior

    Williams Warrior Well-Known Member

    I too have just started the education process for fountain pens. A google search led me to Staples and they carry disposable fountain pens for $3.49 each, that operate like an ordinary ball point. They're not supposed to leak and I think I'll get one of those to see if I like using that style of pen for daily use.
     
  5. stingraysrock

    stingraysrock PIF'd away his custom title

    Happy Monday From Florida!

    I started wet shaving first. I have been at the shaving now for one year. While sifting through TSD I became aware that a lot of us use fountain pens so I looked into it. BG bought me a Lamy AL-Star (purple of course) as a gift and I have been very happy with it.

    The Lamy came with an EF at my request, but I soon found that it was too fine for me; it wrote very scratchy no matter what paper I used. BG and I were in Asheville, NC recently and stopped into a pen shop and I tried the M nib and decided that I needed an M for the Lamy. Etoyoc / Justin and Basil set up a three-way swap for some nibs with me getting an M from Basil and me sending the EF to Justin. Basil also sent me some sealing wax and I am currently searching for a stingray stamp to use with the wax.

    I started with Parker Quink in blue because that was all I could find locally, plus my work decided it was pretty cool that I was using a fountain pen so they bought the ink for me through the office supply guy. I have since moved on to Noodler's Ink specifically the Purple Wampum (of course) and I also bought an F and 1.5 Italic nib for $8.00 each from Swisher Pens.

    I don't use any special paper, but I can feel a difference between one kind of paper and another. The pen writes smoother on letterhead and vehicle titles than it does on copy paper and another difference can be felt when writing in a composition book. The difference used to be more noticeable between the papers when I was just using the EF nib, but since switching to the M nib I can still feel a difference, just not as severe.

    I have not quite picked up any serious AD's yet with the pens...yet.
     
  6. Reformation Student

    Reformation Student New Member

    I have owned a few over the years. Waterman Phileas was a good pen but I didn't like it's weight too much. It was a little light for me. A friend gave me a bag of old fountain pens his grandfather had collected and in it was a 1940 Parker Vacumatic. I had it repaired and used it until the diaphragm broke a year ago. I have the stuff to repair it except a certain tool to take the rear assembly off to replace the diaphragm. Just never got around to doing it.

    For Christmas, my sister bought me an A.T. Cross ATX fountain pen which I love. I had to have the nib replaced because Cross pens write a broad line so a medium Cross tends to be more like a traditional broad. I switched it for an Extra-Fine nib. It's my EDC fountain pen now but someday I'll get that vacumatic fixed.

    I've used fountain pens long before wetshaving. As for ink, I've settled on Noodler's Legal Lapis.

    I check antique stores occasionally for pens I can repair but most of them are just junk and not worth the time compared to the price I'd have to get to resell them.

    I don't like writing on copy paper, but just about anything else proves acceptable.

    Aside from that, I always carry a black metal Fisher Space Pen for those times when either I need to write on carbonless paper, glossy paper or when someone asks to borrow a pen.
     
  7. fishcrow

    fishcrow Birdman of TSD

    My fountain pen collection numbers 100. I have both vintage and modern. Vintage includes Waterman, Parker, Sheaffer, Parker and a few third tier pens. Modern include Sheaffer, Parker, Waterman the bulk of my modern pens are Chinese made.
    A majority my nibs are fine. My oldest pen is 1908 Waterman. I recently had a 30's Morrison repaired. I have 18 bottles of ink mainly Noodler's and J Herbin.
    I do all my writing with a fountain pen.

    Fountain pens came before wet shaving.
     
  8. Shawna

    Shawna 1000 Music Tag Bonus Points Awarded!

    Fountain pens came first ... but never as a collector. I used the cartridge type because I so wanted to learn calligraphy. Well, we can just say that never happened.

    Fast forward to Jeff's birthday last year .. I bought him the Lamy and EF at his "request". I figured it would be too fine and catch the paper, but to each their own ;).

    FF again to Asheville, we were walking around the store (Oragami Ink), which was fabulous, and Jeff hands me a glass pen. I was enthralled and couldn't get enough of it. I didn't have to dip it at all for the little note I jotted down. I'm in love with a pen I will not be able to use. :( My line of work require black, ball-point ink and will accept nothing else. So, I picked up a sparkly Jean-Pierre Lepine PINK leather pen; black and ball-point, natch. :D
     
  9. Etoyoc

    Etoyoc Backwards

    If there are any of you in the Chicago area, the Chicago pen show will be this weekend.

    http://www.chicagopenshow.com/

    I haven't decided if I really want to go or not. Between the cost of gas, tolls, entrance, parking, and meals I don't know if there will be enough left in my wallet to make the trip worth while.
     
  10. rodd

    rodd Knotty Boy

    I use fountain pens daily now. Bong got me into them a while back, and since then, they are pretty much all I use. I have a bunch of pens at home, but my daily use pens at work are Kaweko Sports, and Waterman Phileas Demonstrators. I have been primarily using Private Reserve inks.
     
  11. Etoyoc

    Etoyoc Backwards

    My Kaweco Sports have been seeing neglect. But here in a few weeks, they will be with me almost all summer.

    In my case, I wouldn't squarely put the blame for fountain pens on Bong, but he certainly helped. Dom was also very influential in that process.
     
  12. sol92258

    sol92258 I have no earthly idea

    All you blasted people just like me, getting me hooked onto hobbies just like you.....:happy102

    I started traditional, DE, brush and soap wet-shaving first, about 3.5 years ago, and gaining interest in fountain pens about a year or so ago.

    My first FP was a Pilot Plumix....okay, okay, not exactly officially a fountain pen, but technically it is :D.
    I got it because I thought it looked cool, used cartridges (wasn't ready/still not for bottled ink), and it was right there in Target :rolleyes:.
    I was looking for the Pilot Varsity pens, had been for several weeks at that point, but never found any locally (until last week, at Hobby Lobby), so I ended up taking a risk and ordering online...12 pack.
    Love 'em, they're one of my daily use pens (besides the Sharpie retractable pens, and the Inka I keep on my keychain).

    Then around Christmas I ordered a Pilot Knight, can either use bottled ink with its included bladder, and, more importantly (for me, at this time) can use ink cartridges. Better still, it uses the same cartridges as my Plumixes (that's right, I got a second one, one for black and one for blue :D).

    I got my Knight just in time to break it in a little before I got to use it to sign off on my sister's marriage license after I officiated her wedding, that was kinda cool.

    I'm not neck deep in FP's yet, so I don't have any preferences to speak of when it comes to inks, papers, nibs, lighting, mood music, or spatulas, but I do enjoy reading from y'all's experience, so keep it up and don't let me down :D
     
  13. dougr

    dougr Well-Known Member

    I have over a dozen decent pens and a lot of them are ballpoints with a few rollerballs and fountain ink pens. Most are Cross, Monte Blank, Waterman, and one Schaeffer snorkle from 1962 that I only used a couple of times way back then. They need to be gathered in one place except for the ones that I use all of the time. There are several Parker Ball Points that I have had for over 40 years and still use them occasionally. Mostly, I use the pens that I pick up in the hotel room when I travel. They write great and are light weight, slim, and easy to carry in my pocket. If someone "borrows" them, I'm not bummed out when they are not returned.
     
  14. sol92258

    sol92258 I have no earthly idea

    Went to my "local" (closest one, anyway) yesterday to look for this paper, but failed to find it
     
  15. Etoyoc

    Etoyoc Backwards

    It isn't labeled as bagasse. I use their legal pads that have the Sustainable Earth logo
     
  16. swarden43

    swarden43 "It's your shave. Enjoy it your way."©

    I've been meaning to get here and post for a while...

    I started with fountain pens probably back in 2005. I've always hated stick pens, so I carried a Parker ballpoint. While at the King of Prussia Mall, I found Paradise Pen. I went in looking for something a bit nicer than the Parker and saw the fountain pens. Although I didn't buy one there, it did get me started into fountain pens. My first was a Parker Vector I picked up at the BX for $5.

    Then AD kicked in. I started reading about 'em, going to pen shows, and joining forums. I have over two dozen pens. My modern collection includes Lamys, Pelikans, Pilot, Parker, Waterman, Retro 51. My vintage collection is mostly Parkers - 51s, 21, 61, 45, Duofold, Vacumatics.

    From the modern I really like the Lamy. From the vintage, I'm a 51 fan.

    Parker Quick and Aurora Black are my inks of choice.

    I got started into wet shaving from a pen forum. Someone mentioned wet shaving in the equivalent to our CHATTERBOX forum. I asked for more info and they directed my to SMF. From there I found TSD.

    And there you have it.
     
  17. sol92258

    sol92258 I have no earthly idea

    Ahh! Crap a Dog, I saw that, and almost thought that could be it, but kept going I just had that word in my head that I was looking for (was kinda in a hurry), so I kept going.

    Also, on that note, I figured I'd have a little trouble remembering that word (why I didn't put it in Evernote before then is beyond me), but I was able to remember the mnemonic I made for it pretty well....it's probably pretty easy to figure it out, too.....:rolleyes::cool:
     
  18. Billr

    Billr Mix Master Mighty White!

    I am really enjoying this thread. What pen would you recommend for a starter pen? I had my wife look for one for me at Office Max the other day. I wanted one of the Sheaffer disposable pens. She cam home with one of the Sheaffer calligraphy pens with the Medium tip. Are these even the same as a regular writing pen? Am I letting my newb show much? Where can I go to find out more?
     
  19. sol92258

    sol92258 I have no earthly idea

    Being a FP noob myself, I'd recommend the Pilot Varsity, it's a disposable fountain pen, I ordered mine from Amazon, but I've since seen them at Staples and craft stores
     
  20. Etoyoc

    Etoyoc Backwards

    do NOT... I repeat.. DO NOT buy a Zebra V-301 if you find one. They are just coming out and look like a good pen at a great price. They are simply terrible. I am trying to tack a SE blade to mine to even get it to write a sentence without skipping or drying up.

    The Sheaffer Caligraphy pen can write, it is just an itallic nib. It is what I first owned.
     

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