Want to Buy Beginner fountain pen, Calligraphy bits

[jay moussy]

Sudden urge to refresh cursive writing (!)... so now looking for fountain pen and also calligraphy.

Do you have anything suitable to a beginner?

I have a beginner pen in the mail to start with, but I could rescue well-loved bits.

Funny how this brings me back to my traditional technical drafting schooling!

 

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[summicron1]

You can buy a LAMY Safari fountain pen for $30 or so and have a really hard time finding something better no matter how much money you spend.

If you want vintage, look for a Parker 51 but plan on having it serviced, the vintage ones all need a new rubber sac at this point. Service is $50. An excellent source is the guy at www.parker51.com. He also sells.

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

I second the Lamy. You can get them with an italic nib (rightly called a "stub" nib), I find the 1.1mm width to be about right.

https://www.gouletpens.com/ is a good source.

 

[eli griggs]

Try a Hero 616, a Chinese low cost pen that writes very well.

It also sports the Parker Arrow clip and looks like a Parker 51.

They use to be sold in multipacks but beware of counterfeiters, this was a very popular pen on Amazon.com.

 

[jay moussy]

Well, I had done some reading about beginner pens and I have two on the way, not Lamys, but fairly comparable (as I read it), and also a Pilot dip pen, which should be interesting, a throwback to my early school days in France!

Spouse dug up her old Shaeffer Students and it was fun (and easy) getting them going after many years of sitting unused. The fountain pen "glide" is addictive!

Anecdote: my mother was a school teacher in a French village, so, come September it was time for me to help her line up pupils' kits, including the porcelain ink well, metal nib and holder.

Another bit I just learned: there are several cursive styles of handwriting! The rabbit hole is calling....

 

[knj]

My everyday carry pens are an Esterbrook JR and vintage (1934 I believe) Parker Vacumatic. I use Noodler’s Ink Baystate Blue in the Estie. It is the bluest blue I have ever seen. The ink has some notariety but I’ve had no issue with it. The vintage Parker is filled with a classic black ink. I take 30-40 pages of notes per day and sign my name hundreds of times a day. Like you say, the “glide“ is addictive.

 

[guangong]

When I was in grade school our desks had two glass stopper wells. One was filled with ink daily by teacher. The other held water. In early 1940s ballpoint pens were messy and unreliable. I still find writing with a ballpoint awkward. I prefer to do all of my first drafts in longhand, and own pens of various sizes and shapes to give hand a break. A good pen is a wise investment. I still use a Montblanc pen that I bought in the Columbia U bookstore in 1959.
The pen that I use for sketching and drawing is a Japanese Pilot with a flexible nib. I’ve had my current one for 20 years. I also find it useful for Chinese characters. Note: I don’t write fancy calligraphy.

 

[guangong]

My everyday carry pens are an Esterbrook JR and vintage (1934 I believe) Parker Vacumatic. I use Noodler’s Ink Baystate Blue in the Estie. It is the bluest blue I have ever seen. The ink has some notariety but I’ve had no issue with it. The vintage Parker is filled with a classic black ink. I take 30-40 pages of notes per day and sign my name hundreds of times a day. Like you say, the “glide“ is addictive.

Noodles black ink is my favorite because it is the only ink I have found to be 100% water proof, despite what other inks claim.

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

....The rabbit hole is calling....

The Fountain Pen Network

www.fountainpennetwork.com

 

[MattKing]

Us left-handed writers read this thread with horror and trepidation .

 

[jay moussy]

The Fountain Pen Network

www.fountainpennetwork.com

And how would you know that...?

I have to admit I had no idea and enjoy learning about the different historical writing forms. It reminds me a bit of the early "desktop publishing" days, when many folks, like me, got exposure to the beauty of many typefaces, the hand-writing remote cousins.,

 

[eli griggs]

The Esterbrook pens are a great bargain, as are the wartime and post war Waterman, with the military clip.

The English Stainless Parker 45 (Flighter) can still be had in pen, pencil sets and writes nicely with a hooded gold nib.

Don't bother buying any nib that's more than 14k gold, the performance goes down beyond 14k and steel nibs perform about the same as say an 18k gold nib.

Remember you're buying the nib, not the pen, if performance is your goal, not a fashion or status statement.

Sailor pens are beautiful, their nib selection wide and you might want to take a look at their music nibs.

I like Noodles inks too, Heart of Darkness, etc, but there are some nice inks out there to try and you can find inks, partly used, on the Fountain Pen network, as well as pens and some nibs, even papers.

If you want a thin line, try a Shaffer's accounting nib; it also a good drawing nib.

You can remove and replace nibs, sacs, "J" bars without too much difficulty and micro polishing clothes are also used by experienced users to restore bodies.

Beware "crystalized" body resins, they are trashed bodies and only worth the nib.

Cheers

 

[Patrick Robert James]

The best eyedropper I've used is a Kaweko Sport. Holds loads of ink. The TWSBI Eco also holds a lot of ink.

For the best experience though, get a solid gold nib. I like the old Parker Sonnets from 30 years ago for sentimental purposes, but they dry out unfortunately so I don't recommend them. There are modern gold nibs but they are pricey, usually a good hundred more than their steel kin. A lot of old pens had gold nibs though, and sometimes you can get them pretty cheap. I have a Summit with a gold nib for example that didn't cost much. Downside of old pens though is they will need a lot of maintenance or repair. The gold nibs are nice and flexible so you can get a decent amount of line variation, and they write so smooooooooth.

You should try a Zebra nib in a dip pen too. The Zebra nibs are fantasticly flexible albeit scratchy. Only downside though is they don't last very long before they rust. They are meant to be replaceable. A few people have modified fountain pens for Zebra nibs. I gave that a whirl but ultimately found it wasn't worth the time. The nib stays wet in a fountain pen, so you can guess where that leads. Zebra nibs come in 10 packs and are pretty cheap but they aren't very economical in the long run.

Noodler's inks are the best deal going. My favorite black is Borealis. I went searching years ago for a blue that was like the old Sapphire blue from Parker that destoyed pens. It was beautiful. Ended up just mixing two inks from Diamine, Asa and Majestic blue. Inks are an entire rabbit hole unto themselves. So many. You can even make them yourself if you are motivated.

 

[Pieter12]

What planet are we on?

 

[eli griggs]

The one where a 3# cut of shellac is the ideal glue for replacing sacs (latex or silicone) in old fountain pens.

 

[BrianShaw]

Bic Cristal - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Nothing fancy. It works until it runs out of ink.

 

[eli griggs]

Bic Cristal - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Nothing fancy. It works until it runs out of ink.

True, but no one will ever claim it gives the flexible nib service a good fountain pen can give nor change the ink at will.

That Bic is a good car pen though, and I like them well enough.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I bought some Pilot beginner pens from this distributor that has pens from everywhere. The Pilot allows refills from the ink bottles or less messy insertable ink cartridges in various colors.

JetPens - The Best Pens & Stationery From Japan & Beyond

Fine writing instruments, office supplies and art products imported from Japan and Europe. Bestselling brands include Pilot, Uni, and Zebra. Free US domestic shipping for orders over $35!

www.jetpens.com

 

[guangong]

The Esterbrook pens are a great bargain, as are the wartime and post war Waterman, with the military clip.

The English Stainless Parker 45 (Flighter) can still be had in pen, pencil sets and writes nicely with a hooded gold nib.

Don't bother buying any nib that's more than 14k gold, the performance goes down beyond 14k and steel nibs perform about the same as say an 18k gold nib.

Remember you're buying the nib, not the pen, if performance is your goal, not a fashion or status statement.

Sailor pens are beautiful, their nib selection wide and you might want to take a look at their music nibs.

I like Noodles inks too, Heart of Darkness, etc, but there are some nice inks out there to try and you can find inks, partly used, on the Fountain Pen network, as well as pens and some nibs, even papers.

If you want a thin line, try a Shaffer's accounting nib; it also a good drawing nib.

You can remove and replace nibs, sacs, "J" bars without too much difficulty and micro polishing clothes are also used by experienced users to restore bodies.

Beware "crystalized" body resins, they are trashed bodies and only worth the nib.

Cheers

The shape of the pen barrel is very important as regards handling of a pen. Because I do all my drafts using a fountain pen I frequently alternate between large pens, stubby pens, etc. Some pens, like cameras, just don’t feel right; others feel great, just like cameras. Feel is very personal.

 

[guangong]

Us left-handed writers read this thread with horror and trepidation .

You might be left handed, but if you were in 2nd grade with me back then, you might be left handed, but the teacher would see that you were writing with your right hand.
Towards the end of my university teaching days, I had to ask if everybody in class could read script.

 

[BrianShaw]

My brother was “beaten into a right hander” by a nun. His handwriting was incredibly poor but the thoughts were always inspiring.

 

[MattKing]

I can barely hold a pen in my right hand - not much chance of my righting with one in that hand.
So even the nuns would have given up!
The story is that Canada has a higher than average percentage of left handed males. That is most likely due to how advantageous being left handed is for those playing hockey .
One fun fact (??): historically, left handed people score statistically better on IQ tests. Most likely that is because traditional IQ tests rewarded persistence, and if you are still left handed after all the attempts to change you, you are really persistent!

 

[juan]

I have a Parker Duofold from the 20s with a crack through the gold nib. I understand that can be repaired if I don't mind ruining the engraving on the nib, which I don't. Anybody have any experience with someone who can do this repair?

 

[guangong]

I have a Parker Duofold from the 20s with a crack through the gold nib. I understand that can be repaired if I don't mind ruining the engraving on the nib, which I don't. Anybody have any experience with someone who can do this repair?

Pen Hospital in NYC no longer does pen repairs (they rescued my 1959 Montblanc with damaged but no longer replaceable nib in late 1980s), but if you google fountain pen repair you may perhaps find someone.
If you peruse Pen Hospital catalog, you will find that many pens have become prestige items, much like what has become of Leica, and aimed at collectors..

 

[guangong]

Matt, I admire your resistance. My aunt told me that before school I was left handed. I am now ambidextrous.