Fountain pen appreciation

[Tango]

Yes, I keep looking at the Pelikans. I actually like them more than the MB's. Luckily, my MB was a gift on a consulting gig....not sure I could rationalize their current prices. Many great choices on the market today. I keep a few Lamy Safaris around also. They're great for the money.

 

[ZG47]

Yes, I keep looking at the Pelikans. I actually like them more than the MB's. Luckily, my MB was a gift on a consulting gig....not sure I could rationalize their current prices. Many great choices on the market today. I keep a few Lamy Safaris around also. They're great for the money.

Lamy Safari is my middle level pen. I still have a couple of Parker Vectors lying around BUT my favourite fountain pen is my Lamy 2000 with Cycolac (ABS plastic) body. N.B. Cycolac is the same material as the Steyr Mannlicher SSG 69 stock.

 

[rookhawk]

Quick question.

I arguably know how to write my name or a letter in cursive. Alternatively, I know how to write in caligraphy at a rate of one invitation per hour.

How the hell are you guys using a nibbed fountain pen in everyday life? You cannot write in cursive with them without busting the nibs on the upstrokes. What am I missing here? Hell, my calligraphy signature takes five minutes to sign whereas the rollerball equivalent is done in 2 seconds.

 

[Alistair]

Lamy Safari is my middle level pen. I still have a couple of Parker Vectors lying around BUT my favourite fountain pen is my Lamy 2000 with Cycolac (ABS plastic) body. N.B. Cycolac is the same material as the Steyr Mannlicher SSG 69 stock.

I have a 2000 as well. Lovely pens and I do like the timeless Bauhaus design philosophy.

Very much a workhorse, although they don't do well with flights, lots of ink splatter in the cap. Great nib though, and good for meeting notes with the hooded design and the pull cap. Easy to disassemble and clean as well.

Safari, I don't mind, but it's still very much a primary school pen in Europe. I expect I learnt how to write in cursive with one, but I haven't had one in a long time.

 

[mdwest]

I’ve got several lamy safaris… they’re hard to beat for the money… definitely an excellent daily use pen…

 

[Alistair]

Quick question.

I arguably know how to write my name or a letter in cursive. Alternatively, I know how to write in caligraphy at a rate of one invitation per hour.

How the hell are you guys using a nibbed fountain pen in everyday life? You cannot write in cursive with them without busting the nibs on the upstrokes. What am I missing here? Hell, my calligraphy signature takes five minutes to sign whereas the rollerball equivalent is done in 2 seconds.

The beauty of a fountain pen, is that it requires absolutely no pressure beyond its own weight to write. Relax the hand, lower the angle, let it glide. It's built for cursive, just let it do its thing. If you're destroying nibs or digging into the page on upstrokes then you're pressing far too hard.

That's the main selling point for me. The idea of doing my 4 hour uni exams writing 15-20 pages with a ballpoint sounds misearabl. Hand cramp all the way. With a fountain pen, no issues at all.

 

[mdwest]

Quick question.

I arguably know how to write my name or a letter in cursive. Alternatively, I know how to write in caligraphy at a rate of one invitation per hour.

How the hell are you guys using a nibbed fountain pen in everyday life? You cannot write in cursive with them without busting the nibs on the upstrokes. What am I missing here? Hell, my calligraphy signature takes five minutes to sign whereas the rollerball equivalent is done in 2 seconds.

It’s hard for me visualize or understand how you’re busting nibs on upstrokes.. I write and sign with a variety of fountain pens regularly snd have never done that..

Maybe it has something to do with the angle or the amount of pressure being applied?

My biggest challenge is I’m a lefty… I’m selective about ink and need it to be quick drying.. otherwise I have a bad habit of dragging my hand across wet ink and smearing everything (as well as earning myself sn ink stained hand for the rest of the day)…

I find Mont Blanc well ink to work pretty good and lamy ink is also pretty good..

Waterman branded ink is terrible for me..

 

[jpr9954]

Yes, I keep looking at the Pelikans. I actually like them more than the MB's. Luckily, my MB was a gift on a consulting gig....not sure I could rationalize their current prices. Many great choices on the market today. I keep a few Lamy Safaris around also. They're great for the money.

One of my favorite daily pens is a Pelikan 205 with a fine nib. Mine is a transparent blue demonstrator.

 

[rookhawk]

It’s hard for me visualize or understand how you’re busting nibs on upstrokes.. I write and sign with a variety of fountain pens regularly snd have never done that..

Maybe it has something to do with the angle or the amount of pressure being applied?

My biggest challenge is I’m a lefty… I’m selective about ink and need it to be quick drying.. otherwise I have a bad habit of dragging my hand across wet ink and smearing everything (as well as earning myself sn ink stained hand for the rest of the day)…

I find Mont Blanc well ink to work pretty good and lamy ink is also pretty good..

Waterman branded ink is terrible for me..

When I learned caligraphy, it was emphatic that you always draw the nib down or across. I followed that rule. Trying to pull a wide nibbed pen upwards just ruins the nib.

Put another way, for caligraphy, you need to remove your nib from the paper many, many times. Whereas with a rollerball, ball point, marker, or pencil you can do cursive where the writing device never leaves the paper. The former takes an eternity to complete, but looks beautiful. The latter looks only as good as your penmanship (mine looks like barf).

So I'm not understanding how I can take a nibbed fountain pen and not destroy it trying to drag it all over the page, splitting the nib in seconds?

 

[Alistair]

When I learned caligraphy, it was emphatic that you always draw the nib down or across. I followed that rule. Trying to pull a wide nibbed pen upwards just ruins the nib.

Put another way, for caligraphy, you need to remove your nib from the paper many, many times. Whereas with a rollerball, ball point, marker, or pencil you can do cursive where the writing device never leaves the paper. The former takes an eternity to complete, but looks beautiful. The latter looks only as good as your penmanship (mine looks like barf).

So I'm not understanding how I can take a nibbed fountain pen and not destroy it trying to drag it all over the page, splitting the nib in seconds?

You can't do cursive drawing only down or across. you can't really do calligraphy either. If you're doing copperplate calligraphy, then the pen shouldn't leave the page from start of the word to the end and obviously that requires upstrokes. Gothic is obviously different, as is foundational, or black letter.

For cursive, you shouldn't need to 'pull' a fountain pen any direction. You aren't trying to spread the tines, you don't need pressure, you're not looking for line variation. If it takes effort to move you're pressing too hard..

On the downstroke, slide down the page with the hand, letting the pen slide over the paper. On the upstroke, slide up the page with the hand, letting the pen slide over the paper.

If you must, use the fingers to move the pen instead of the wrist, but again, no pressure, purely guiding the nib where it needs to go and letting it skim over the surface.

If you have a flexible gold nib and happen to press a little harder on the downstroke then you'll get a degree of line variation, but this isn't necessary, and if it does happen, it should occur 'accidentally'.

 

[ZG47]

I have a 2000 as well. Lovely pens and I do like the timeless Bauhaus design philosophy.

Very much a workhorse, although they don't do well with flights, lots of ink splatter in the cap. Great nib though, and good for meeting notes with the hooded design and the pull cap. Easy to disassemble and clean as well.

Safari, I don't mind, but it's still very much a primary school pen in Europe. I expect I learnt how to write in cursive with one, but I haven't had one in a long time.

The Safari is a good practice pen when I haven’t used a fountain pen in several weeks. If I am doing a lot of demolition, concrete form work or building large timber retaining walls, I tend to leave off fountain pen use until my muscles and tendons have loosened up a bit. The Safari is also a good pen for someone to try when deciding whether or not to return to fountain pen use. Horses for courses!

 

[Alistair]

The Safari is a good practice pen when I haven’t used a fountain pen in several weeks. If I am doing a lot of demolition, concrete form work or building large timber retaining walls, I tend to leave off fountain pen use until my muscles and tendons have loosened up a bit. The Safari is also a good pen for someone to try when deciding whether or not to return to fountain pen use. Horses for courses!

I have nothing against them at all. In fact, I rather like them.

Solid workhorses, reasonable price, great writers, reliable, well made. Very popular in the US fountain pen community.

Just not what I tend to reach for or purchase at this point in my life.

I think fountain pens generally are more of a 'novelty' in the US than they are back home, so the old, reliable, favorites have more appeal over here than they do to me who used one all through primary.

Not sure where NZ stands on that topic though.

 

[ZG47]

When I learned caligraphy, it was emphatic that you always draw the nib down or across. I followed that rule. Trying to pull a wide nibbed pen upwards just ruins the nib.

Put another way, for caligraphy, you need to remove your nib from the paper many, many times. Whereas with a rollerball, ball point, marker, or pencil you can do cursive where the writing device never leaves the paper. The former takes an eternity to complete, but looks beautiful. The latter looks only as good as your penmanship (mine looks like barf).

So I'm not understanding how I can take a nibbed fountain pen and not destroy it trying to drag it all over the page, splitting the nib in seconds?

@rookhawk It depends upon nib design and quality. Many years ago, the local Parker pen repair man made me up a Parker 45 fountain pen with an Italic nib. That was a special nib which had rounded edges, just like a medium nib. It allowed me to write in italic and cursive styles without the nib splitting OR cutting up the writing paper. A bit like the difference between the longer forcing cones of a high quality shotgun versus the very short forcing cones of a bottom end shotgun. If you prefer to talk about interchangeable shotgun choke tubes: it is the difference between a proper long tube with knurled end and gradual forcing cone OR the very short choke tubes with key-slots that were created for Sears and Roebuck to meet a price point.
Ring up Goulets or one of their competitors and ask for something that suits your style of writing. It is the nib shape/quality and ink feed that matter most and NOT the brand name that is frequently an excuse for extortion. Cross have habitually been the greedy bastards of the fountain/ball pen sector but Parker has been emulating them for a decade or two with ridiculous refill prices.

 

[Ryan]

I've gained a few and lost a few in the past 20+ years.
Current crew is a Lamy Safari, a Conklin Duragraph and a pair of Conklin All Americans. All useful, but I will admit, that Safari is close to bullet proof for a fountain pen. Each has converters and I have a few bottles of ink from Waterman and Noodler's. Enough to keep me going for decades.

 

[Nyati]

Quick question.

I arguably know how to write my name or a letter in cursive. Alternatively, I know how to write in caligraphy at a rate of one invitation per hour.

How the hell are you guys using a nibbed fountain pen in everyday life? You cannot write in cursive with them without busting the nibs on the upstrokes. What am I missing here? Hell, my calligraphy signature takes five minutes to sign whereas the rollerball equivalent is done in 2 seconds.

I have used fountain pens since I was around 11, and that was decades ago.

I dont´t know a thing about calligraphy, to me it is just my writing instrument, I don´t use ballpens, or rollers.

So I think it´s just a question of practice.