The Stationery/Pen Thread

Yeah, I paid $10 extra to get my initials engraved on it, as well, so more like $70, but still, it was one of those things where I wasn't particularly looking for it, but the deal was too good to pass up. Now I just gotta make sure I never lose it again. :/

Noodler's Nikita Red is the most gorgeous red fountain pen ink I've ever seen. It's the reddest red in Redville. And it's water-resistant. Yay!

I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who really likes browsing stationary/pens, even though I don't really need anymore. ^^; I can't help myself buying new pens despite the fact that all the ones I already have (mostly) still work.

You can never have too many pens. Really. What kind do you like?

I'll mention the Pilot Precise v5 again as my favorite day-to-day pen.

I love those too except in the V7.

I would really love to run an online pen store, but I think that segment's pretty crowded already.

I got myself an imperial blue Lamy Studio fountain pen the other day, because it's so damn sleek. Seems to write pretty well, too. I put some Noodlers "La Coleuer Royal" in it, but while it's a nice colour, it's a little too purple, I think. I think Midnight Blue might be better.

I also got a Guanleming 2001 (because it was $5), which my daughter has enjoyed playing with, and a Jinhao Celluloid, also in Blue. It's gaudy as fuck, and puts out as much ink as a brush. Still fun, though.

Oh man, I've got one of there around somewhere-- the initial import version, when they were still branding it as the Namiki Vanishing point. It's completely matte black, and a bit slimmer than the later Pilot version. My main beef with it was that the ink evaporated noticeably faster than from my main fountain pen, a Sheaffer Targa-- the Namiki was more comfortable in the hand, though. Maybe they eventually improved the airtightness of the trapdoor mechanism, or maybe mine degraded over time? I don't know.

Oooh. I've got a different brand-- a Lyra Calypso I bought online. (Actually, I've got two extras stashed away.) I absolutely love it-- the ink evaporation rate is nearly zero, and I've even got a cartridge converter that lets it direct-fill from a bottle.

I don't use any of my pens much anymore, though-- just not doing as much handwriting in general :(

Mine dries up a bit if I don't use it every couple of days, unlike my Lamys which can go for a week or more without drying out. I've got it inked now, and it's in the normal journal rotation so that it gets used regularly.

For $5 it's worth trying, so I ordered one plus the converter.

I'm sorry you don't get the chance to handwrite all that much. Maybe start a journal? It's nice to put pen to paper and babble about whatever while I enjoy the act of writing.

A friend and I started exchanging letters as a way to practice handwriting. We already talk via instant messaging pretty regularly, but we both wanted to practice our penmanship and we both kind of like getting letters. She got busy and we haven't written in a while, but it worked well for us, if you have any friends you think might be up for it.

Bob damn it. I got a Lamy Al-Star rollerball cheap, and it is lovely, but the line it puts down is medium/broad. DO NOT LIKE. So I'm trying to fix it up to take Pilot G2 refills instead. The refill fits, but is a bit too short. I'll dig up something hard to stick in the barrel to take up the extra space. If it doesn't work I'm sending the pen back. Why oh why can't Lamy make extra fine or fine refills? Bastards.

It worked! I just jammed a bit of folded-over cardboard inside the barrel, and now the pen is great. Yay. I wonder if I could fit a Pilot Precise v5 refill. Hmmm.

I kept handwritten journals for years, but at some point fell out of the habit and never really got back into it-- to some extent, it's been replaced by blogging :b though there's also the associated issue that apparently I hold my pens/pencils The Wrong Way; when I was still handwriting regularly, I had calluses built up to compensate, but now I don't.

It would be nice if they made the Lyra Calypso in fine point, but the medium point seems okay as long as the ink/paper you use doesn't wick outward.

I love the Pilot rollerballs (black ink, extra-fine point) so much that I buy them by the box and carry one with me at all times. This includes to my office job, where I most certainly do not have to supply my own pens. But I do anyway.

Arise, zombie thread!

I hate that I have all the stationery shit I could ever need, because when I get in the mood to shop I can't find anything I can justify. There are ridiculously expensive pretty things I like (this folio for example) but it's such a colossal waste of money that I would never buy one even if I had the cash. I mean, $220 for a goddamn notebook? I like Circa notebooks, but Jeebus Aitch Horsepucky.

I was thinking about buying a Fisher space pen, but I already have pens that will fit in my pocket so I can't really justify that either. This is a good thing -- I'm not exactly rolling in dough, so I don't need to be buying office-y shit, but it's just so much fun to shop for that stuff. Oh well.

Vesper! Here is the place to tell us (okay, me) what you think of your new Lamy. (If you try it and hate it, Quat and I will forgive you. Heh.) And balut, I will be interested to hear what you wind up putting in your Moleskine. Personally, I think you should try your hand at bad poetry. Limericks, perhaps. Those are always classy. (For the record, I tend to only journal when I'm stressed, and that's what I use my Moleskine for. When I die, someone will go through my notebooks and think "wow he whined a lot." I really ought to journal about happy things too...)

Actually, I'm tempted to fill the first several pages with sketches of Great Old Ones, with captions written in this font:


Also, liner notes that increase in panicked intensity.

I got a really nice pen recently from my wife. It was supposed to be a Christmas present but she forgot to tell me that it was being sent to me at work so I opened it thinking it was something I'd ordered for myself. It has a piston cartridge that fills it with my very, very nice Toffee Brown ink.

Dude. If you do that, post pictures. That would be a work of fucking art, I tell you.

And IainC, nice pen. I'm a sucker for a good brown ink. That's a gold nib; is it semi-flex?

Yeah, the pen is this one if you want to see better pictures of it.

49 Euros isn't bad for a 22k semi-flex nib. Congrats! Looks like a solid pen.

I deserve brownie points. I read a 55-page thread on fountain pens (at 25 posts per page) over the course of the day, and I didn't buy anything because of it. Woo!

Perhaps I can tempt you with Pilot Varsity Disposable Fountain Pens?

(Disposable isn't ideal but these are damned convenient and pretty nice - although . . . ).

I have owned a Varsity before! It was a good writer, but I prefer fine nibs and that one's a medium.

This is my first (and only, currently) fountain pen. I really do like it, even though it's a bit wide for my tastes.

The nib, or the pen width?

The nib.

How do you feel about the barrel width/length?

There's not a grip on it so it kinda feels like writing with a sharpie sometimes. I'm used to writing with mechanical pencils though so that might be part of it. The length is fine though.

*takes notes, because you never know....*

Random questions regarding my awesome new Lamy pen:
1) Should the converter be filled via the nib in the ink bottle, or just holding the converter in the bottle?
2) I've read stuff about priming pens (pushing ink through nib before first use). Necessary?

First, before you fill the pen: stick the nib in some warm water with a tiny drop of dishwashing liquid stirred into it. Swish it around for a minute. The hold a paper towel to the nib until it stops leaking water. Lamy tests all its nibs before shipping, so sometimes there's a bit of ink residue left. Actually, it's always a good idea to clean a new pen before you fill it, although I frequently don't because I'm an impatient bastard. :)

Anyway, to fill: Put the converter in the pen, twist the piston all the way down, stick the pen nib in the ink, then SLOWLY twist the piston back up. It make take a couple of tries before it fills.

Nope, but I suggest putting the tip of the nib on a piece of paper towel first to get the ink started.

Tip: you may want to put on latex gloves first, unless you don't mind having a couple of ink stains on your hands for a few hours. :D

Ok I messed up then. :) I didn't clean the nib at all, and I filled the converter directly not via the nib. I've been having some issues of poor ink flow especially on upstrokes, so maybe this is why.

Easy enough to fix. Take the ink in the converter out. (Twist piston over open bottle.) Follow my suggestions. Try writing again. :D

However, once the pen is full and I'm refilling with the same ink, I generally pop the converter out and refill that. Less mess.

I have been a very bad pen owner. The problem is that I want to write with ALL THE COLORS, so I fill like a dozen pens with different inks and use them all in rotation -- for about 5 days. Then most of them dry up.

So I am being smart today. I am cleaning and putting away all but a couple of pens. It's so hard not to go, "ooh, but I like this color too, and this one,and..." Sigh. But I don't write much with pen and paper in a day, so I don't need that many pens inked. I need some self-discipline.

I have found the world's most hilariously ugly pen.

So my wife wants to get me a gift, and I'm thinking of getting a new fountain pen, namely this Lamy Safari Al-Star, Extra-Fine:

My criteria are:
1. Not terribly expensive.
2. Preferably not all plastic.
3. Fine or extra-fine nib.
4. Something I can throw a converter into to use with my bottle ink.

SwitchKnitter, any thoughts on this particular pen? Any better/comparable models you'd recommend?