advertisement


sensibly priced fountain pen

I use a Cross Pure Chrome pen it's nice and solid, writes well and uses a pump refill - you can get them for about £50-£60.

mat
 
Ages ago when I did have to write I used a 0.5 Rotring Variant draftsman's pen. A little prone to leaking, but such a nice thing to use and a cool thing to pull out in a meeting or wherever - in any office 'pen-off' it won hands down! I can't remember where I discovered them as I'm certainly not a draftsman, but I bought my first one back as a teenager, I think I just liked the looks. I've still got it. I've got a metal Rotring pencil too, which is a truly beautiful thing.
 
I will be described as a pen snob, but I can't write with biros and suchlike, have to have a fountain pen. My day to day pen is a £15 lamy that often leaks. I like cross but with cartridges, not bottled ink. I suggest you research the cost of the cartridges, they can be expensive.
If you ever venture to the Trafford centre, there is a shop called "The pen shop" http://www.penshop.co.uk/store-locator/ maybe there's a shop near you.
It's worth handling your preferred choice for weight and size, some are too thin or too chunky.
 
I have the World's worst handwriting. This is a real disappointment to me as I have much to write, that the World needs to read.

Don't know if being left handed is a contributory factor, but I have never found a fountain pen I really liked. They are all marginally better than ball points, but I tend to do best with fine/med ballwriters and assorted felts.

I'm minded of an essay wot I writ at uni. There were no computers, so we hand wrote all of our assignments. On the back of my essay, the lecturer made a number of points in red ball point. I suppose he was right about most of it.

However, the last comment had me foxed. Try as I might, I couldn't decipher wot he had writ.

Weeks later, I collared him and asked him to interpret wot he had writ.

He was happy to do so and translated his scrawl as. 'I find your handwriting rather difficult to read'.

:)

Mull
 
I had a look at some pens at Write Impressions, the shop nearby. The Lamy at ~$40 was actually very nice for the money, but I'd like to see a few other pens before making a decision. Unfortunately, the more upscale pens at that shop looked to be aimed at the lolly-loaded executive. Call me biased, but as soon as Swarovski crystals adorn a pen it's going after a very different market than the one I'm interested in.

A bit of googling turned up Phidon Pens Limited, a shop in a neighbouring town that looks to cater more to pen nerds than tacky executives.

http://penanddesign.blogspot.ca/2012/12/fp-hotspot-phidon-pens.html

I'll check them out next weekend to see if there's anything spiffy around 100 clams. I think this is one of those purchases that requires a dem, but thanks for the suggestions, dudes.

Joe
 
Joe, One of the smaller Pelikans, such as an M200 or even the baby M150 could be all you need, for now.

However, a 60s hep cat would maybe go for something like a Parker 51, or still in production, Gerd Alfred Müller's design classic, the Lamy 2000:

images


Made of some groovy new (for 1966) fibreglass resin, with a platinum-plated gold nib, it's a sweet pen.


Oh, and you'll be needing some ink, of course. Diamine midnight and Noodler's bulletproof black for me just now. I'd have you down as a Noodler's man.
 
I use fountain pens all the time, hate biros. Used to use fine liners but swmbo grabs them and squashes the nibs after a single use, so an alternative had to be found that was exclusive to me.
I use two Parker 45s at the office, one fine and one medium, stainless steel bodies and cartridge fillers so I can swap quickly and cleanly while on the go. I did use to use an ink bottle bottle but it can cause problems if you need to refill quickly. The bottle just sits on my desktop pen holder for show now. On the go (out and about, as I cover 5 offices)I have a black bodied 45 and a black gel pen as back up. At home I have a Cross and a Mont Blanc which I keep at home as thet are rather nice and expensive. For general use at home I have a Smiths own make fountain pen in stainless steel again. I keep it in my Mulberry (now there's another thread)
 
If you try out a few Lamys you realise that fountain pens work according to the flat earth turntable philosophy; the deck is more important than the cart, and the pen body is more important than the nib.

I found that after numerous other fountain pens, a Lamy CP1 has the perfect weight and sleek minimal style. I stopped spending much money on pens because I always lose them, so this Lamy is perfect. I think in visual design, it is what you asked for; the Rega RP3 of pens, and the Lamy nib, on a good body, is surprisingly decent. I find it smoother than the other options from Waterman, Parker, Schaeffer, Cross etc for under £70 or so.

Ultimately you need to decide whether you prioritise smooth action, speed, precision etc, so you need to try them out.
 
Joe, best thing to do is just pop down to a decent pen shop and try a few. It really is that simple. I've got plenty of fountain pens and the one I enjoy using the most is an old Shaeffer which is probably the least valuable. Cartridges are probably better/easier if using on the move; ink pot probably best if pen is staying at home or in the office.

You'll need to think about ink colours etc, writing is a fundamental part of communication, if you choose to write or sign in ink then that becomes part of your character, and the colour you use is a similar form of personal expression.
 
Joe P said:
The Lamy at ~$40 was actually very nice for the money, but I'd like to see a few other pens before making a decision.
Click to expand...

Just saw your post here. Just to qualify, there are many different Lamys and they all write in a completely different way whilst using the same nib design. Weighting and diameter are crucial. For my hand the CP1 is perfect, but I also don't think it's entirely subjective; some are just weighted better than others.
 
All you have to do is watch a bit of daytime TV.
It won't be long before some old 'TV Personality' who is well past his/her sell by date appears and offers you a free Parker just for enquiring about Life Insurance, or Stair Lifts, or 'walk in' baths, or something to make cleaning your gutters a doddle, or something.

Mull :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top