Fountain Pens.

[Mack The Knife]

xl_target: I cannot even recall the last time a pen leaked in my pocket or elsewhere. However, I have heard similar stories and understand your reluctance to use them.

Do you recall which fountain pen it was?

Added in 9 minutes 57 seconds:
Atul,

If the fountain pen you use is similar to that in the pics below, it is a Parker Frontier. Your's needn't have a gold clip.

I was referring to IFG member Safarigent as Safariwallah.

MB stands for Mont Blanc.

Lamy and Mont Blanc are two German manufacturers of writing instruments.

[aadhaulya]

Mack TK,

Thanks for the clarification. But my pen is not tapered as shown by you, it is a straight cylindrical body (diameter same through out) and it has black plastic type end caps at both the ends. It is not some high end pen and costs about Rs 500 or so.

Atul

[Mack The Knife]

Ah! I think you are describing a Parker Vector.

Pens do not have to be at the higher end of the price spectrum to be good.

I have had Camlins costing Rs.2.00 that would give the big boys a bloody nose when it came to writing or reliability.

[aadhaulya]

Yes, now that you mention the name I recall that it is a Vector. You have a good knowledge of pens, and you must be a collector I presume. Would love to see your collection.

Atul

[AnandNair]

Had a nice little collection of scheffers, Rotring and waterman, Gave em all away in a fit of large heartness . Now rekindled when i got hold of old model Hero pens have a bunch of em now. currently experimenting with Reynolds and Jinhao. n the Jinhaos, with a bit of nib tune writes as good as my old Rotrings.

[Mack The Knife]

Atul, I am no collector and consider myself a neophyte.

If you want to truly see a collection, you will have to go to Bombay or look up Hari317's post on the Fountain Pen Network.

Not only does he have fountain pens by the trunk load but his knowledge on the subject is truly breath taking.

Added in 1 minute 53 seconds:
Anand, good on you for sharing and getting back into FPs.

[aadhaulya]

Looks like we also have a large fan base of fountain pens here.

AnandNair,

Now what is this nib tune and how do you do it??

Atul

[ankur_ank007]

Just out of curiosity...

1) Who amongst you uses one on a regular basis?

2) Which fountain pen/s do you use on a regular basis?

3) Which inks do you use?

4) Are you a fountain pen user, colllector or both?

1. I am a regular user of a fountain pen.
2. Mont Blanc and Rudy Kellner
3. Parker Quink
4. Both

I am a fan of fountain pens aince I was in school. From class 3rd to 8th we were only allowed to use fountain pens.
I have stuck to Rudy Kellner as I frequently loose pens and I cant affrord to loose MBs and Schiefers every now and then....

[xl_target]

xl_target: I cannot even recall the last time a pen leaked in my pocket or otherwise. However, I have heard similar stories and understand your reluctance to use them.

Do you recall which fountain pen it was?

Man, that was back in the early 1980's. I'm not sure I remember exactly what it was.

I think it was one of those fountain pens with the lever in the side. You dipped it into the ink pot and opened and closed the lever and that filled it up. I'm sure it wasn't anything very expensive.

To be frank, I've even had a ball point pen leak all over on me. The early ones could be cantankerous sometimes.
In college, we still did our drafting with pen and pencil. This was in 1982 and 1983.

[Mack The Knife]

Ankur, hadn't heard of a Rudi Kellner until you mentioned it. Looked it up on Google. How do you rate it?

xl_target, now that you mention it, I do recall leaky ball points. I have even had my boys come home from school with blue stains on their uniforms and they use gel pens. Removing the washable royal blue ink we had to use in school was a breeze compared to gel pen inks.

[Mack The Knife]

Added in 15 minutes 53 seconds:
An earlier group pic of my other remaining Lamys.

Barring those in the central group and the two horizontal pens, the rest are all fountain pens. Al Stars to the left and Safaris and Vista to the right.

The brushed steel pen in the central group is a Lamy Studio fountain pen. Taken on trial from Inder. Fantastic gold nib, good balance, good flow but the darned section of polished steel was just too slippery for me and so it went back to Inder.

[Mack The Knife]

I never had a Soviet fountain pen. So, when Vikram asked me what he could get me from Georgia, I told him I'd like some Soviet FPs from his local flea market. He got me two Soviet and two Chinese fountain pens.

As expected the previous owners had not bothered cleaning their pens.

Some earlier pics of the four fountain pens and one of the Soviets being dismantled and cleaned.

[Mack The Knife]

An earlier pic of a Collier in antique marbled finish from the Edison Pen Co.

[Mack The Knife]

A Parker 51 Vacumatic (1946).

It was a Christmas gift to myself. Stolen in the post.

Seller's pics attached.

[Mack The Knife]

Three black ebonite Gama fountain pens from Gem Pen Company, Chennai. Bought from ASA Pens, Chennai.

The two larger and similarly sized FPs are the Hawk and Brahmaputra. The smaller of the three is the Revolution.

I have switched the nibs on all three.

The Hawk has a No. 6 montone stainless steel nib made by Bock (Germany) for Conklin (U.S.A.). This fountain pen is filled with an eye dropper or syringe.

The Brahmaputra is similar to the Hawk in size. I have switched the nib and feed to a No. 6 2-tone nib made by JoWo (Germany). It also has a Schmidt converter but can also be used with standard international ink cartridges. If you need more ink capacity, the converter or cartridge can be removed and the barrel filled with an eye dropper.

The Revolution is smaller but functionally similar to the Brahmaputra. Switched the nib to a No.6 monotone JoWo stainless steel nib.

All three fountain pens are large.