quote:

Originally posted by P-220:
Love fountain pens and until a few years ago, was an avid collector.

Parker Vacumatics were my favorite, followed by Parker 51's.

Then I shifted my focus to the Duofolds from the 1990's, when they were still made in the US. I have all of the Blacks, Blue Marbled, Pearl marbled, Orange.

I still have my Dad's Parker 75's. and My Grandfather's Conklin Nozacs.

My daily writer is a Parker 180, not a super expensive pen, but a very thin pen, that fits me and writes quite well.

There are so many great pens, both vintage and new to choose from.

A Yard-o-Led Grand Viceroy is a pen IO plan to buy when I retire.

I use Parker ink and have not traveled down the ink rabbit hole, I hear it is deep.

***Not sure where you are in MI, but the Columbus Pen show is coming up in December and my experience has been amazing at this show, both as a buyer and seller. IMO, it is worth visiting, if you after not too far away.***

Thanks for telling me about the Columbus pen show, but I probably won't attend, as of right now this is a rabbit hole that I have no intentions of jumping down.

Enjoying this post. Bought a Pelikan years ago.

When I was in engineering school drafting was a required subject. Mostly pencil on paper, with cornstarch sprinkled on the paper to prevent the T-square and ruler from smearing the drawing.

But also pen and ink on velum. The pen was a Koh-I-Noor filled with opaque India ink. Its nib was a fine cylindrical tube of SS or tungsten carbide.

To clear clogs, there was a weight in the ink chamber attached to a very fine SS wire that extended into the nib. Shaking the pen vertically restored the ink flow.

A good drafting set had several such pens with nibs of different diameters. The end of each pen cap was colored per the nib diameter. And yes, a pocket clip for the engineer nerd.

I also used a Koh-I-Noor for general writing. Still have at least one around here somewhere.

Warhorse let me clue you in.
Ever watch an olympic diver on the spring board?
Two short walks, then a heft step, board is now bending, second pump step, medium height has been obtained, you still have to land once more and drive the board before you are fully airborne. You are somewhere between these last two steps.

Board is flexed and you are in the air, my friend you are already committed, you ARE going to get wet.

Pen show or not, you will be surfing the internet in a few weeks saying "well its only $79" then a few months later is "only 199" then you are off to the races. Bound only by uncommon good sense, a lack of credit, or a suddenly fully informed spousal unit, the habit may or may not turn to addiction.

No shame in admitting you're an addict.
I am Tim and I am a pen addict.

quote:

Originally posted by Timdogg6:
Warhorse let me clue you in.
Ever watch an olympic diver on the spring board?
Two short walks, then a heft step, board is now bending, second pump step, medium height has been obtained, you still have to land once more and drive the board before you are fully airborne. You are somewhere between these last two steps.

Board is flexed and you are in the air, my friend you are already committed, you ARE going to get wet.

Pen show or not, you will be surfing the internet in a few weeks saying "well its only $79" then a few months later is "only 199" then you are off to the races. Bound only by uncommon good sense, a lack of credit, or a suddenly fully informed spousal unit, the habit may or may not turn to addiction.

No shame in admitting you're an addict.
I am Tim and I am a pen addict.

I hope you are wrong, but I fear you may be spot on...

I've dabbled over the years, cheap, pricey, plastic, gold, Waterman, Mont Blanc, Pilot. The one I grab to write a check with is still a Lamy Safari. Quirky, feels good, and as smooth as pens costing hundreds more.

^^^^^

quote:

The one I grab to write a check

I wrote one check in 2025. None since.

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
^^^^^

quote:

The one I grab to write a check

I wrote one check in 2025. None since.

Still write a few. Couple local charities, volunteer FD, ambulance, and the like.

Couldn’t get this thread out of my head. As I said above, I’ve dabbled over the years, however, I’ve also been down the rabbit hole a time or two as well.

One thing of note is that once in the rabbit hole, it divides into multiple paths; obviously pens themselves, with what nib (SS, Iridium, 14K, 21K, etc.), paper (80gsm,90gsm,100gsm, coated, non-coated, dotted, lined, etc.), organization (boxes, display cases, wallets, etc.). Then there’s ink, a rabbit hole of its own (standard inks, shading inks, dual shading inks, shimmer inks, sheening inks, etc.)

Paper tip: You can spend a fortune on quality paper but just for practice, head to Wally World and grab some Pen & Gear Personal Notebooks. The paper is heavyweight enough to prevent bleed through and feathering and they cost $1.16 each. Perfectly sufficient for practice use. Made in Vietnam.

But most importantly…set a budget and Have Fun!

Oh and…I haven’t thought about buying a new pen in years and then this thread pops up. My new Sailor 1911L just arrived. So much for budget.




Warhorse, I hold you completely and utterly responsible for opening the hole again and think it is only right that you get that credit card out and dive in too!

quote:

Originally posted by Greymann:
In elementary school we were required to use Sheaffer Cartridge / School Pens (Early 1960s).

.

Memories, we were not required but it was "the thing to use" back in Elementary through High School, the cartridges were prone to leaking if you were not careful, some ended up with the blue stain in a pocket when they forgot to put the cap on first.

Last one I had was Montblanc, then moved to rollerball, much smoother and my handwriting improved somewhat. Still leaves me room for improvement.

Those are some beautiful collections depicted.

quote:

Originally posted by pace40:
Warhorse, I hold you completely and utterly responsible for opening the hole again and think it is only right that you get that credit card out and dive in too!

Mea culpa!
Congrats on your new pen, I've heard a lot of good things about those.
Since I started on this kick, I have bought my three cheapest pens two Preppies and the Zebra. So far the Lamy AL-STAR is my most expensive at $28.

quote:

Originally posted by Warhorse:

Mea culpa!

Absolutely no mea culpa necessary. In fact, I need to thank you. Sat down with some pens and 6-8 different inks last night. Before I knew it, it was 4 hours later. 4 hours of the most relaxing evening I've had in a long time. I had forgotten the effect of getting lost in pen and ink. So...thank you!

I admire your sensibility in pen selection but insert a word of caution. If you'd like to keep your pen buying to reasonable costs, do not ever try a pen with a gold nib.

quote:

Originally posted by pace40:
I admire your sensibility in pen selection but insert a word of caution. If you'd like to keep your pen buying to reasonable costs, do not ever try a pen with a gold nib.

I decided to ink dabble a little myself, Amazon is bringing me a bottle of Noodlers "bulletproof" black waterproof today, and a bottle of Diamine green tomorrow. I recycled the ink from the two Preppies back into the Pilot ink bottle and rinsed out all the leftover ink with water and soap, left them out while disassembled to dry.

Noodler's is a good, dark ink, and is inexpensive but just be sure if you use Noodler's (or other pigment-based inks) that you clean the pen thoroughly after using it (never use ammonia, alcohol or acetone) - certified pen cleaner or warm water and diluted dish soap), and never let it sit for long and dry out. Pilot's Iroshizuku, Sailor's Shikiori, Manyo or Yurameku, and Pelikan's Edelstein dye-based inks are kinder to expensive pens.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I'm a bit of a Iroshizuku snob myself. Love the bottles and haven't found a bad ink in the line. Wish I had the 2021 and 2024 discontinued flavors, but I missed them. They're going for $250 a pop on the secondary market now if you can find them. I'll probably hit the Philly Pen Show in January and see what I can find.

quote:

Originally posted by Doc H.:
Noodler's is a good, dark ink, and is inexpensive but just be sure if you use Noodler's (or other pigment-based inks) that you clean the pen thoroughly after using it
<snip>

^^^^^
Above, I mentioned a Koh-I-Noor filled with opaque India ink. Its nib was a fine cylindrical tube of SS or tungsten carbide. And a built-in mechanism to clear clogs. No need to clean the pen after using it.

Just a clean black line though. No “expressiveness”.

I am very fond of fountain pens. You are right, it can be a rabbit hole.

Buy more inks, instead of pens. A bottle of ink costs from $5 to $25 - much cheaper than a lot of pens.

Amazon is having a problem delivering my Noodler's black ink, last email says it will be delivered on or before October 31. I do like the Diamine Ultra Green.