Fountain Pens.

[Mack The Knife]

A write up on inks. Essential reading.

http://www.richardspens.com/?page=ref/care/inks.htm

[brihacharan]

A write up on inks. Essential reading.
http://www.richardspens.com/?page=ref/care/inks.htm

Hi Mack,
Thanks for sharing the link on"Inks"...a virtual treasure trove on writing mediums
I wonder if any of our local / national Ink manufacturers are aware of this?
BTW - just a wild thought....Lubricants have something called the "Flow Index"....Do Inks have a similar yardstick?
Briha

[Mack The Knife]

I cannot say for certain but I am willing to bet, a small amount , that our reputed ink manufacturers are au fait on the subject.

Apropos a "flow index" for fountain pen inks, I don't know if there is one.

Do read Richard Binders other articles and sign up for his monthly newsletter.

[ckkalyan]

RHINO

Pen and ink rendering....
I have been looking for some of my old sketches. This is the only one I have been able to find yet.

Woo Hoo - that is one amazing sketch, copied or not - excellent penmanship, Mack The Knife! Strangely, I think I know that particular Rhino very well - it is just there; I simply can't recall from where for the moment. Too many books of yore!

Apologies about the delay in posting images of my pens. And I would love to try posting a few cursive lines as well...it has been so, so long. My confidence level is at it's nadir. So much so that I have been printing 'All Caps' for many many years now, with any pen or even pencil?!

There was a time when my dad made me write two pages of copy each, in three languages, every single day...he was a Doc so I guess I understand where his motivation came from.

[Mack The Knife]

I cannot recall the pic I sketched the rhino from either.

Printing in capitals appears to be common amongst Americans. However, you can get cracking with cursive using a pencil before inking up a fountain pen. If possible, use a softer lead like B or 2B.

[sa_ali]

Here are the pics from my collection.

Not in the best of conditions

[Mack The Knife]

Thanks for the pics, sa_ali. You have some very good fountain pens.

Is the Montblanc a fountain pen or roller ball?

Rs.2,200/- for a Parker Sonnet is a steal!

The 'black Parker' looks like a Parker 45. Production of the 45 started in 1960, so this would make yours 55 years old, assuming it was from the first year of production.

What a shame your Parker 61 is broken. It has a unique filling system that used capillary action rather than any mechanical system for filling.

Your Sterling silver Parker is a Parker 75 in Cicele finish.

Can you post pics of the Sheaffer nibs and which of these do you use?

[Sakobav]

So with some advise from Mack Brija Kshitji others here and then some research, I made a trip to Fountain Hospital pen shop and Kinokuniya japanese paper store(they sell Platinum, Sailor, Pilot and some other pens starting with name N, very limited collection)

http://www.kinokuniya.com/us/index.php/fho003

At fountain hospital pen hospital, I tried looking for Lamy Pilot and other pens, these chaps by far have the most high end pen collection and it can be intimidating for first timers but staff do try to help. Its a store more for collectors and collection doesnt include too many models less than $30 but still a great place to visit. They have pens from Aurora Omas and other high end brands . Refer the pictures below

http://www.fountainpenhospital.com/

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IMG_1307.JPG

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Sad thing is there arent too many stores IN NYC selling fountain pens, There used to be Joons Pens store, but they closed years ago. I had picked up my waterman Carene on store closing sale there. There are only few stores I could find, two are listed above and another is Alltman Luggage who also sell Pens. Buying pen without writing probably isnt best option for novices.

I from my trips bought Lamy Safari Medium nib from Fountain pen hospital ( including cartridges and converter), Pilot Metropolitan Medium Nib ( comes with Converter and Cartridge, writes decently fine) and Preppy Platinum EF Nib ( later two from Kinokuniya ), EF Nib was a mistake, I was too busy trying out Sailors Platinum and Pilots. Anyway pictures of these three are attached beow, I like Lamy Safari the best. Will try to find Faber castell next

Added in 23 minutes 23 seconds:
Nice collection SA_Ali, Brija ji, Xl et al great handwriting, Even I am enjoying writing my notes with fountain pen..Cheers

[Mack The Knife]

Navi,

The pens begining with a N were most probably from Nakaya and Namiki. They are sub-brands of Platinum and Pilot, respectively. Did you try the Tomoe River paper at Kinokuniya?

Were you not allowed to test your fountain pens at FPH? Anyway, since they are around the corner from your office, drop in and have them check for tine dis-alignment on your Metropolitan and Preppy. They are pen repairers and will know what to do should the tines need to be aligned.

If the tine alignment proves to be good, then you are mistaking nib feedback for scratchiness. Fountain pens must be written with light pressure. Don't bear down on the nib as you would with ball points or roller balls. Paper quality also has a bearing on how a nib feels, as does the pens flow rate and the ink being used.

At the risk of repeating myself again, please bear in mind that most Japanese nibs write one size smaller than their Western countreparts. This is why you Metropolitan with a medium nib has a line thickness akin to a Western fine or even thinner. The EF nib on your Preppy is akin to a Western Ultra Extra Fine. Whilst there are a few exceptions, the finer the nib's point, the more feedback you are going to feel.

Fountain Pen day is on 6th November, so keep a look out for discounts.

Thanks for the pics and enjoy writing with your FPs.

Added in 4 minutes 31 seconds:
Funny you should mention Auroras. I have a vintage Aurora 88 (late 1940's), winging it's way to me.

It will be my first Italian fountain pen.

Adding the seller's pics below.

[Mack The Knife]

Seek and ye shall find....

[brihacharan]

Funny you should mention Auroras. I have a vintage Aurora 88 (late 1940's), winging it's way to me. It will be my first Italian fountain pen.
Adding the seller's pics below.

Complimenti Senhor
Eagerly waiting to see the pics!
Briha

[Mack The Knife]

Grazie signore tipo.

[mundaire]

The prices they have on their website is pretty much what the Lamys go for today. There are multiple online retailers and also many other shops and stationery stores that sell them at about the same prices. As for the nibs, they cost about half of what a Lamy safari cost with the nib.
Eg. The safari with a broad nib+converter+free cartridge costs 1800 bucks while the nib alone costs 900! So it makes sense to pick up the pen rather than just the nib.

*if you are able to source either the pens or the nibs at prices substantially lower than the above, please share, i'd like to benefit too

IIRC bought mine back in 2009 (with the converter+free cartridge) for less than 900 bucks, MRP on box was ₹ 975/-. However, it did not come in one of those nice boxes as have been posted here. Either the prices have simply doubled in the past 6 years or the fancy box costs as much as the pen!

Over the weekend I was able to locate the original packing (with MRP sticker) posting the photo here:

lamy_safari_m.jpg

Name of importer is mentioned as Linc Pens & Plastics Limited, Mumbai.

Cheers!
Abhijeet

[kshitij]

If the price hike is because of the box, mines up for sale. I would like another pen instead of a box, thank you

On a serious note, have been using the safari and the platinum preppy as my daily writers for the last two weeks. While the safari works flawlessly, the preppy acts up time and again. Its main problem being that it wont start writing immediately after it is taken out of the pocket, i assume this is because it sits upright in the shirt pocket and the ink settles at the bottom of the cartridge(just guessing here). Another problem is that once it starts writing, the ink colour is dark to start with but then progressively gets lighter. Again my guess it that this is because of the ball bearing they have in the cartridge which maybe causing the ink to flow unevenly. Will replace the cartridge with a converter soon and see if this changes.

[Mack The Knife]

Abhijeet: I have had Lamy Safaris come in four type of boxes. Will post the pics later. When Lamy first came to India, I used to buy from Linc Pens directly - prelimnary order by phone followed by a letter and cheque. William Penn is just taking the proverbial.

Kshitij: That steel ball is to break the surface tension between the ink and plastic cartridge wall. Let us know how it behaves when you switch to a convertor.