JetPens Forums

[tfish]

hello, new member here to Jet, been a site fan for several years.

not much to say. recently rediscovered mechanical pencils after many years of ignoring them ... though i was big into drafting at college back in the 80s and still have a stack of 2mm leads and holders that would sink a small boat.

anyway, much has changed since then and i'm eagerly rooting around to follow a new obsession.

well met and see you on the boards.

[onelonegunman]

Greetings form the dungeon, tfidh!...

If you would like a new obsession then try my newest... Fountain Pens! After years of having only one neglected fountain pen I now have over 20 and 8 bottles of ink! I really like the Pilot Penmanship and Pilot Plumix, both now sold through JetPens. The Penmanship has an EF nib which i like a lot and the Plumix has a music nib (a flat, broad nib much like a calligraphy nib only thicker) that can be pushed. Each sell for under $8.00 and can use a converter or can easily be converted to an eye dropper pen. No mater how you use them they are good pens for the price.
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Pens are great, but I make too many mistakes so pencils are better.
Pens And Pencils
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[tfish]

funny you should mention fountain pens. i'm a writer, do it longhand, and can't do it with anything but a good fountain pen. current love is the Lamy 2000: F for writing and EF for notes and corrections.

other than the Lamy I probably have about 50 others, ranging from $2 specials up to well over $250, everything from vintage units to cheapo Chinese crap. generally speaking you DO NOT get what you pay for.

if there's one thing i've learned about fountain pens over the years it's that a fountain pen has two parts: the nib+feeder and the body. a good nib+feeder can be found in a pricey body or a cheap body and it's usually the body that determines the final price.

peeps new to fountain pens should not assume that brand, price or appearance have anything at all to do with the writing quality of the final product. the truth is how it feels in your hand and how it lays down ink FOR YOU. it's in the writing, plain and simple.

that said it's pretty hard to go wrong with a Lamy or a Platinum: consistently good gear and unlike so many other brands these guys generally give you your money's worth. still, try (if you can) before you buy. one person's sweet music-in-the-hand is another person's scratchy nail.

last word here i guess is that ink is the secret ingredient when it comes to fountain pens: ink can HUGELY affect the quality of one's writing experience. it's generally well worth the effort to buy a few brands and test them each to see how they work for you.

personally i only use waterproof inks and i only use inks from either Noodler's, Platinum or Sailor. Platinum Carbon is about as good as it gets and it comes in black only. it can be cut with distilled water to any dilution you prefer. i use a 1:1 solution most of the time.

paper also makes a big difference but that's a whole other story.

anyway, enough already. i will have a boo at those Pilots you mentioned. they make a lot of good fountain pens, especially the ones sold to the Japanese market (i get the impression that the Japanese are very discriminating when it comes to their fountain pens).

[onelonegunman]

Cool! I had pretty much the same idea about fountain pens but I lack the experience with them. One day I'm going to have to break down and buy a Lamy Vista in EF and fill it full of Noodler's Black, though I am going to check out the Platinum Carbon.

What I'd like to learn how to do is grind nibs so that I can turn EF nibs into something even finer! I need a pictorial guide showing what a nib looks like with all the parts labeled. I know that I'd need special tools and all but I'd still like to know how it's done!

BTW did you notice that in my first post that i mistyped your handle? I am such a dolt!
_________________
Pens are great, but I make too many mistakes so pencils are better.
Pens And Pencils
The Painted Telephone

[tfish]

yes i had noticed the misspell, no worries.

as to the nib grinding thing i do remember seeing some instructions somewhere on the web ... but have since lost that link. oopsy!

there's a guy who specializes in nib grinding, Richard Binder, and he has a lot of cool info on his site. might even be something you're looking for. his website is richardspens.com and there's an article entitled "Specialty Nibs, Your Key to Exciting Writing" in the "Reference Pages" section that may be of some interest to you.

... found that article on regrinding: "Grinding Your Own Nibs" by Ludwig Tan at http://www.marcuslink.com/pens/nibs.html

[onelonegunman]

Thanks, tfish! I"ll check out the sites!
_________________
Pens are great, but I make too many mistakes so pencils are better.
Pens And Pencils
The Painted Telephone