Pen/Ink/Paper Collecting Thread

Discussion in 'Random Thoughts' started by Dr. Higgs, Feb 22, 2016.

  1. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

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    Closer in terms of line width, not feel
     
  2. FallingObjects

    FallingObjects Pay It Forward

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    Aw, pity there's nothing nearby for you though.

    Hopefully you enjoy the writing experience enough to end up with multiple pens just to try out the differences for yourself!
     
  3. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    The Rhodia and the Pilot Metro arrived today. Thanks @FallingObjects

    I get it now, I get why people spend so much money on this. I need to learn how to use it correctly, because I'm so used to putting pressure on pens. Sometimes using the Metro the ink stops flowing and I get minor resistance with the paper. Going to be a hard thing to change, any videos that can help me out on it?

    The Rhodia is nice paper, maybe I should had ordered another type of notepad for it.

    The Metro looks like a Fine to me, but then again I'm not used to the pressure of it yet. Maybe if I get a nicer Pilot I might do a board. Then again, I do like the Medium of this here. If I had a fine it might be too little link for my liking. It come with a standard converter, but I feel like if I had bottled ink it may not suck up enough ink from the nib to my liking. Dunno.

    I'm...really....digging it. Fun fact: Pilot US HQ is actually where I live (Jacksonville, FL). I gotten the pen and I noticed their HQ address is like close to my old university (University of North Florida). I checked the address and confirmed that their HQ is a block from the student parking lot. That location only focus on making the cheaper pens for the US market, Fountain Pens are made in Japan only. I emailed them to see if they know any pen stores in the area, they said no at this point you have to buy them from them online or Amazon. Bummer. Then I was thinking why Pilot put their HQ where I live. On yeah I remember now: Logistic is huge here, location is right near the major highways, cheap labor cost, cheap business cost, and the port is only about 20 minutes away from HQ.

    Looking at what other pen I could upgrade to in the future. Nope to the Pilot Vanishing Point because the clip is hard installed near the nib. My fingers would find touching the clip when writing to suck.

    Pilot Custom 823 looks nice, dunno if I would like the vacuum system here. I might keep it medium since it's a nice middle ground. Maybe board might just be too much ink for my own taste. Fine might be a little too fast for my taste. Guessing is fun. Also, the Customer 823 appears to guys like me who want a simple but non-BS design. Woo.
     
  4. Taverius

    Taverius Smells like sausages

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    Maybe before buying a more expensive piston filler get a TWSBI to see if you like that type of thing at all.

    Pilot uses the same mechanism as them and the twsbis while not particularly sturdy are functional and cheap.
     
  5. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

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  6. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    Can you link me to some? Was thinking of getting a Pilot Metro Fine to try out in the office. Shit, I could use more Fountain Pens in my life just for basic writing.

    What makes this one better than the vacuum converter that was included with the Metro?

    Thanks for dealing with the n00b you guys.
     
  7. Lyander

    Lyander Official SBAF Equitable Empathizer

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    Might wanna hold off getting a gold nib until after accustoming yourself to writing with less pressure. Just a guess but the skipping you're experiencing could be due to tines spreading from downward force or the nib getting rotated too far off-axis; either could result in damage to gold nibs, as I've learned :)))

    Penmanship tip is don't write with your fingers, write with your whole arm, or at the very least your wrist. It's a massive pain in the dick but if you're really wanting to improve your penmanship classic exercise drills from IAMPETH books.
     
  8. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    Yup. I'm planning down the road. Right now I'm not ready for a 823. What's the point in getting it at the moment when you don't know why it cost much.

    Thanks for the tip, I'm serious in improving my penmanship.
     
  9. Lyander

    Lyander Official SBAF Equitable Empathizer

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    There are loads of online resources, but I'd recommend OpenInkStand and Connie Chen Calligraphy, both on YouTube. It's not the same experience as filling out drill forms, but they both do a good job explaining the basics of penmanship, though they're more focused on calligraphy than general-purpose writing.

    For daily non-calligraphic writing your best bet (I'm sorry) would be to purchase an exercise book and follow it step by step, I think. Can't make any personal recommendations since I've never bought one before (hah!), but the IAMPETH online stuff might come in handy. Look up Palmer Business Writing, that's a good foundational work I think.
     
  10. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

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  11. Taverius

    Taverius Smells like sausages

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  12. Sqveak

    Sqveak Friend

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    Or alternately the TWSBI eco-t:
    https://www.twsbi.com/collections/fountain-pens/products/twsbi-eco-t-clear-fountain-pen

    It's literally an eco with a rounded-triangular grip and cap where the regular eco is tubular-round with a hexagonal cap.
    This style of grip makes it hard to unintentionally roll the pen as you write.
    (Thicker and more comfortable than the triangle grip on LAMY pens.)

    Also if it's for home use I recommend trying the 1.1mm stub on the eco-series.
    Smooth and fun to write with. Awesome for showing off your inks if you get into collecting them.
     
  13. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    Thanks guys. Looks like I will try out the TWSBI Eco-T in Bold and 1.1 stub in the future. I'm curious on those two, so I'll see how it fits with my writing. The price doesn't hurt compared to the vacuum model. I guess the piston filler versions you have to screw off the top, have the ink go in it, and screw it back in?

    I'm going to order the Pilot Metro Fine which I have a feeling it might be better for the office environment. Also the cartridges will be better suited for the office than the ink (considering I share a desk with another co-worker).

    Also I'm going to order this to help with my writing: https://www.amazon.com/dp/088062096...olid=21IN1XLHTXGT2&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

    @Lyer25 did a minor edit here with this post.
     
  14. Lyander

    Lyander Official SBAF Equitable Empathizer

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    Throwaway recommendation for the TWSBI GO, it's a good daily pen, nice and affordable with a triangle grip— the shaped grip is important if you have an atypical one and want to develop a more orthodox pen hold, though I will note that there are two main different types of pen grips recommended for FP writing: One has your middle finger supporting the pen from under, thumb and index finger holding it in place from the top (standard tripod), and one where your index finger rests on the top of the grip, thumb and middle finger supporting from under— second style is more useful for calligraphy because it better allows you to regulate the amount of downward pressure you're exerting, and this could just be me but it's actually easier to do whole-arm motions with that grip.

    This is probably in that Spencerian exercise book you ordered, but one of the more difficult things to get used to at first is to learn to write with less pressure, and hold your pen with less force too— a well-tuned pen will write without pressure, which means you get to write for longer without fatigue. When I'm too lazy to bust out my ink pens I use a standard #2 pencil (not Blackwing or anything fancy, just anything that isn't crap :p) to practise this.
     
  15. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    When I was at school it was compulsory to write with a fountain pen. Not only did that create a large market, but they were more popular in general back then. Every department store and stationery shop had a beautiful display of dozens of pens at different prices.

    My last fountain pen was bought in 1974. It was a Sheaffer, stainless steel body, I think. I lost it within a few months and never bothered with expensive pens again.

    I believe I still have my Parker Quink ink bottle from school days.
     
  16. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    So I ordered the Spencerian Penmanship and the Pilot Metro Fine today. I enjoyed the writing on the Metro Medium a lot, but I have a feeling that the Fine will be better in my office.

    If my theory works out well, the Fine will stay at my shared desk at work (which no one uses a fountain pen) with a pack of black cartridges. If the Fine makes me write faster, then it's better for the office (I don't trust my coworkers with a bottle ink at the desk, cartridges it is). The Medium will stay home.

    In about a week I want to order some pens from TWSBI. I want to try out their Broad and their 1.1stub, this is so I can get a feel of the different nib sizes and see which direction I want to take my writing in. I really like the feel/roundness of the Pilot Metro a lot, maybe too much. It appears the TWSBI Ecos aren't rounded, which I believe is for grip purposes. The regular Ecos for some reason appears to me more? Other than that, I like the prices of the Ecos and they hit the mark for beginners.

    Has anyone compared the Pilot F/M to TWSBI F/M by any chance? I feel even with a Medium nib the Pilot Metro feels slightly small, but no biggie to be honest.

    Also, good beginner inks? Looking for the basic black and a good shade of blue that's isn't too dark or too light. Pilot Iroshizuku bottles looks to be in a good size but sightly pricey compared to the Waterman's. Since I'm writing to write, and not for showing off ink/colors, something that is a general ink that drys faster after writing on a paper would be preferred.

    I feel like I'll be posting more here, mostly due to you guys know your stuff and I'm just starting off.
     
  17. Lyander

    Lyander Official SBAF Equitable Empathizer

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    Japanese pens do finer nibs very well out of the box. TWSBI actually use German nibs, JoWo now I think? They started out with Schmidts but transitioned a few years back. In my experience their factory stubs can need work (baby's bottom), and their nib sizes tend to follow Western conventions more. I think you might have to step one size down going from Pilot to TWSBI.
     
  18. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    Should I also get their Medium Nib as a just for the hell of it? $$$ isn't an issue.
     
  19. Lyander

    Lyander Official SBAF Equitable Empathizer

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    I'm always a try before you buy sorta dude, but if it's the less-pricey FP lines and you're okay with the spend then yeah, might be worth trying! I used to hate broader nibs because my penmanship is tiny as hell, but now I usually keep a stub on me to showcase fancier inks. Medium is always a good test point, you can figure out where to go from there :)
     
  20. Taverius

    Taverius Smells like sausages

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    Of note is that twsbi nit units are available, so you buy just one pen and a bunch of nibs, or have some custom ground - I recommend Mark at nibgrinder.com - and easily swap them in/out, they're just screw-on if you just want to test a bunch of different types of nibs on the cheap.

    That's how I found out that I like naginata togi/blade/chinese calligraphy nibs over pretty much anything else.

    Also if you actually get the Spencerian ornate calligraphy bug, the cheapest place to get something remotely appropriate is fountain pen revolution, they make the closest modern approximation to a flex nib.

    You just buy the nib and one of their cheap indian-made ebonite bodies - check that it fits the right size nib - and you're set.

    Vintage flex is better, but a good one is expensive and you'll cry if you spring them.
     

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