Fountain Pens - Page 24

On December 25 2014 15:17 opterown wrote:
hey guys, sorry for the random bump, but i'm currently shopping for graduation gifts for some of my friends. one of them has just received a waterman perspective from his sister, which i think is his first pen.

i was looking to get an appropriate ink for him to use along with it? something fairly versatile and not too out-there. he'll probably use it mostly at home for fancier uses or at hospital when writing in records (so something that dries fast and doesn't smudge/fade might be good). thanks!

On December 25 2014 19:29 Firebolt145 wrote:

If he's writing in hospital records you may be restricted in what colours you can buy him. In the UK for example doctors are only allowed to write in black in notes. I don't know what it's like in Australia but I wouldn't be surprised if they have similar rules.

On December 25 2014 19:14 evanthebouncy! wrote:
why is this fountain pen such a big deal?
when I was in China I had several, each of them worth about... 1 dollar each
it was the norm, everyone had one and it's a pain in the ass to refill it and we had accidents of spilled ink
I fail to see why this is such a "fancy" item when it is such a commodity

but just fyi since I've used them for so long. Do get the blue/blue-black ink over the black ink. The black inks tend to cog unless it is made of high quality.

meh might as well list several quirks of these things:

1) If you leave them out they dry and becomes cogged. soak in hot water
2) you can write it backwards for a thinner stroke, in fact, rotate the pen and experiment with different angles for diff thickness
3) do not ever fling it as you would a ball-pt pen, it will spill ink all over
4) the ink is slightly sweet-ish if you were to ever taste it, i have on several occasions trying to uncog a pen
5) if the pen is leaking, i.e. a huge bead of ink starts to form by the ink intake, unscrew the back side to equalize pressure
6) some prefer to put the pen cap on the back of the pen when using the pen. it makes the pen heavier to wield, and it may scratch the paint on the pen body. so do so with some caution
7) ink bleeds on paper more easily than oil-based content of a cheap ball-pen. make sure you have a higher density paper unless you like tie-dye shirts look

On December 25 2014 19:30 evanthebouncy! wrote:
As far as comforts are concerned, the softer touch and such...
I think it's all bullshit.

I used to write a lot with fountain pen back in the days. Essays of 800 words in Chinese. At the end your hand do hurt if you write for that much. In the end I think it's a matter of how to hold and use the pen that matters on your hand fatigue. I've been using uni-ball for a long time now, and I think there is little to no difference on the level of fatigue.

All in all, honestly speaking, from 10+ years of using these things since elementary school, unless you are into calligraphy (which is a big deal in China and there are dedicated fountain-pen calligraphy along side the traditional brush calligraphy), I would settle with a good ball-point pen. The only thing a fountain pen has it going for is the ability to vary the thickness of the strokes, which is crucial if you want to make good looking symbols and glyph. In terms of ease of gliding, a good, nice flowing uniball feels exactly the same, except lacking the abilities to vary the stroke thickness.

and if you are using it as a luxury / once-in-awhile item, it is the most horrible thing ever. It needs to be used constantly to make sure it is well moisturized and not dried out. If you are not using it for a week, you want to expel the extra inks and wash it so it doesn't cog. also, unless you use it a lot, the pen-tip will be slightly uneven. It doesn't matter what quality of fountain pen you buy, a good fountain pen becomes good with repeated use and age, so the tip is grinded smooth from rubbing against the paper. If you use it only once in awhile the pen will not become compliant to the point of maximum comfort.

in conclusion I would recommend it for those who intend to actually use it on a regular basis. it is a huge hassle to maintain, and a bigger hassle if you use it sparingly.

On December 25 2014 19:43 evanthebouncy! wrote:
@5: I've seen the cartridge based pen. I was referring to the pen where you actually have a jar of ink and you have to suck the ink through the front of the pen. Sometime it happens so that the temperature is cold, and when you grip the pen it heats the air inside and it compress the ink sac.

Man I realize I'm sounding like some old dude dissuading bunch of hipster kids from going retro. I'm sorry.

On December 25 2014 19:44 Firebolt145 wrote:

I appreciate you're sharing your thoughts but given you started your previous post saying that your fountain pens were all one dollar ones I wonder whether you've just had a long experience with cheap shitty fountain pens. Modern pens do not need you to use it constantly; I can leave some of my pens partially inked for weeks and then use them and they'd start up normally.

With the nib taking time to be grinded, yes that's true, but most good fountain pens start off very smooth from the start.

There's no denying that a ball point pen is easier, cheaper, and cleaner to use than a fountain pen. But after using fountain pens for a few years there's no way I would go back to ball points.

On December 25 2014 19:29 Firebolt145 wrote:

If he's writing in hospital records you may be restricted in what colours you can buy him. In the UK for example doctors are only allowed to write in black in notes. I don't know what it's like in Australia but I wouldn't be surprised if they have similar rules.

On December 26 2014 01:18 opterown wrote:

yup technically it's just black afaik here but I've definitely seen some blue pens used haha. i think i settled on noodler's black and 54th mass, a blue-black colour. so much stuff available!

On December 25 2014 19:30 evanthebouncy! wrote:
As far as comforts are concerned, the softer touch and such...
I think it's all bullshit.

I used to write a lot with fountain pen back in the days. Essays of 800 words in Chinese. At the end your hand do hurt if you write for that much. In the end I think it's a matter of how to hold and use the pen that matters on your hand fatigue. I've been using uni-ball for a long time now, and I think there is little to no difference on the level of fatigue.

All in all, honestly speaking, from 10+ years of using these things since elementary school, unless you are into calligraphy (which is a big deal in China and there are dedicated fountain-pen calligraphy along side the traditional brush calligraphy), I would settle with a good ball-point pen. The only thing a fountain pen has it going for is the ability to vary the thickness of the strokes, which is crucial if you want to make good looking symbols and glyph. In terms of ease of gliding, a good, nice flowing uniball feels exactly the same, except lacking the abilities to vary the stroke thickness.

and if you are using it as a luxury / once-in-awhile item, it is the most horrible thing ever. It needs to be used constantly to make sure it is well moisturized and not dried out. If you are not using it for a week, you want to expel the extra inks and wash it so it doesn't cog. also, unless you use it a lot, the pen-tip will be slightly uneven. It doesn't matter what quality of fountain pen you buy, a good fountain pen becomes good with repeated use and age, so the tip is grinded smooth from rubbing against the paper. If you use it only once in awhile the pen will not become compliant to the point of maximum comfort.

in conclusion I would recommend it for those who intend to actually use it on a regular basis. it is a huge hassle to maintain, and a bigger hassle if you use it sparingly.