Does anyone use Fountain Pens?

Oh wow thats great, I hope I have the website out by then, did you check out the photo

what photo?

Oh Im sorry I mean the video and subscribe and wait for more videos

I write exclusively in fountain pens, but I have more fun with collecting different inks in terms of it being a hobby. I have 3 Noodler’s Ahabs, 2 Noodler’s nib creepers, and a Lamy Al-Star to write with, but I kinda want an italic nibbed pen at some point.

Yeah just some cheapo I got at staples. Sheaffer M, 1.5 mm. I want a thinner one this thing runs out of ink so fast.

Well I will keep yall posted on my online pen store

That fountain pen sucks so bad, lol. It was my first pen too, and it writes more like a marker than anything

Pick up a large bottle of Noodler’s ink, the 4.5 oz ones. Certain inks come with a free fountain pen. It will either be a platinum preppy or the Noodler’s nib creeper depending on the ink. Imo, the nib creeper is the best budget pen you can get, but my girlfriend loves the preppy so much, she went and bought more of them on their own. Plus the preppy is $4 on its own, and writes decently, especially considering the price.

If you want to spend a bit more on a SUPER solid everyday writer, the Lamy Safari just can’t be beaten. I liked it so much, I went and bought the aluminum version, the Al-Star. I personally prefer the fine point, but the medium nib writes nice and wet, and it feels like writing with butter on hot glass.

cool I will look into it. :slight_smile:

Yep, I like them. 
The only complaint I’ve seen on the Safari is the forced grip style but they are nice pens and the student pen in Germany.  I like the TWSBI pens too, the 580 (older 540) are great writers and hold a lot of ink as does the VAC 700, Mini, etc.  The Kaweco Classic Sport ($25) pocket pen is a really smooth writer too, especially the bold 24k plated nib.  The bold has some nice shading even without flex.
If you want to have some fun pick up some Esterbrook pens off ebay and restore them.  Easy to do, usually just need a new sac and some plastic polish to get them looking and working like new.  The Parker Vacumatic’s are also nice restored and plentiful.
The Ahab’s, Conrad’s, etc. are nice Noodler’s pens too.  You’ll learn a bit about them to tune them to your preference which was Nathan’s whole point, but worth it imho.  Some of the inks on the other hand can be a burden due to the properties, but many are just fine and you can get Bulletproof!

If you want to learn different styles of cursive and lettering this is a good resource…
http://www.iampeth.com/lessons

Michael Sull has a nice book on cursive too…
http://www.spencerian.com/
Review here:  http://fpgeeks.com/2011/10/american-cursive-handwriting-by-michael-sull-349-pages-now-available/

For me, the grip section on the safari style pens helps me keep the pen from rotating, and my fingers rest right on the flat parts with a normal grip anyway. But I also enjoy round sections, I just am not a huge fan of thinner pens. I tolerate the nib creepers because they are free and write well.

Yeah, the Noodler’s pens you have to actually but are great for learning nib tuning. It’s a huge pain if you just want the pen to work, but if you want the perfect flex to flow ratio, it’s amazing, I love my Ahabs.

I’ve been thinking about restoring some pens, but I’m lazy lol. Like I said, the hobby aspect of fountain pens is more on the ink side for me, I love having different inks

Yeah people seem to love or hate the safari grip. I’m ok with it but that’s really the only complaint on them I’ve ever read. I like a larger pen myself having larger hands.

I’ve got several Ahab’s and even done some ‘angel wing’ modifications on some nibs. It gives a much easier flex for the nib but you really need to open up vents and carve out the center on the feed to keep it flowing well. Pretty simple with a file or dremel tool. Just take your time since Noodler’s doesn’t sale nibs alone. Here’s a link if you’re interested… Noodler´s Ahab - Ease My Flex Mod - Fountain Pen Reviews - The Fountain Pen Network

The restoration takes a little time but it’s worth it when you bring something 70 to 100 years old back to a fine looking and working condition and it writes great.

I’m the same way with ink. Always looking for that spectacular well performing color! Have you tried Majestic Blue by Diamine? It has a nice red sheen in the blue in the right light. Nice ink properties too.

I’m impressed so many have mentioned the Noodlers pens (Ahab, Konrad & nib creeper). I have a couple Ahabs and Konrads, but find the nib creeper too thin for my taste. It’s nice when you find people interested in two of your hobbies.

You all probably know about fountainpennetwork.com, it is a very friendly online community dedicated to fountain pens. My screen name over there is also “French”

Hey guys I’m shopping for a fountain pen for my dads birthday? Do you have and suggestions? Trying to keep it under $30 cause I’m also buying him a bottle of ink too.
From what I have heard from my dad when I was talking to him it sounds like he wants something with a piston converter and a nib that makes a signature look nice on printer paper.

actually, I have bought nibs and feeds by themselves, I’ve messed up my share of them just tinkering. I may do that mod to the broken Ahab I keep at home (my first Ahab that was a 1st gen and it was already old when I bought it, so the body was weakened and it cracked at the threads, which wouldn’t have been a problem is the converter didn’t break also ::slight_smile: but that’s just a 1:1000000 story)

I actually haven’t, but that sounds amazing! I actually have a thing for Diamine inks, my all time favorite ink is their Ox Blood! I write in that color almost every day, and I also enjoy the Conway Stewart colors they make, though the only bottle I could find was St. Blazey (favorite color is red if you can’t tell)
I am a fan of Montblanc inks also, I use Johnathon Swift in my Al-Star, Leonardo is quickly becoming my 2nd favorite ink color though, it’s a gorgeous red-brown, and I have a bottle of their standard black that performs really well on standard notebook paper. Have you tried the J Herbin 1670 inks? The rouge hematite and blue (don’t remember the name) are beautiful on paper, and my girlfriend actually bought a bottle of the blue, but they have this almost glitter-like stuff in them, to add the metallic sheen, that likes to clog my feeds if I don’t constantly use them.

You had to get me started on ink lol

Noodler’s Ahab, best pen made for $25.

okay thanks! now since I’m shopping i remember my dad saying something about having a parker pen as his first fountain pen? what are your opinions on them? they look really solid but i cant tell if they have converters or not to be a piston pen

As far as I remember, you should be able to tell if it’s a piston filler or a cartridge converter operated filling system on them. It should actually tell you on the webstore you are looking into. Like here, http://www.gouletpens.com/pkr1892552/p/PKR1892552 , at goulet pens, this one tells you that its a cartridge converter pen, and that the converter needs to be purchased separately

Thanks! I’m thinking I’m going to spend a little more on a fountain pen now just so my dad can feel nostalgic about his first fountain pen.

Awesome 8)

I like their Red Dragon a lot which is close to Ox Blood. The reds look good on the Rhodia ivory paper which is an off white cream/tan color. Noodler’s Qin Shi Huang is a black light reactive red. It will clog up feeds a bit too if it sits for a while like JH Hematite with the gold sheen. I like the shading with Noodler’s Apache Sunset in the Ahab’s! Yep, ink is a book in itself!

Whats the difference between flex nibs, normal, and italics?