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Hi there to all, A few weeks ago I bought a Cartier Vendome fountain pen which is unused.I did not know that it was difficult to find cartridges for these pens. I'm still looking for some cartridges. Luckily a friend of mine had three cartridges. The pen was his father and it was lost or stolen, but he would still have some cartridges. Anyhow It was three cartridges. I got them and I try to install one of them, but it doesn't get punched. I tried it many times and push it very good, but the ball does not come lose. If I take the cartridge system in my hand in push the cartridge all the way up, then I see some space at the bottom. I don't know there should be placed something there, or is this normal? Does anyone have any experience with Cartier Vendome fountain pens on this matter? Cheers to all, Byte

I have an older Pilot Elite Pocket pen with a posting nib. I tried a universal short Montblanc cartridge, but it just poured ink out of the nib. What cartridges will fit in this pen?

So what basically happened is that the blue end (which is pierced to allow ink to flow) got detached from the cartridge. When i took out the cartridge, the end stayed. What I tried is to soak that part in water, and use a wood screw to get it out. It doesnt work. How can I get this out? Its stuck quite tightly I think. My pen is Parker Beta Neo CT Fountain pen.

I bought this package of Mb Permanent Blue probably in 2014. Sticker says best before Nov15. I'm finally using them, just emptied one cartridge, and noticed...a message? The number 45 written inside the cartridge. I examined the other cartridges (see photo). The three on the left are unopened. All different numbers. Can anyone explain why these numbers were written inside the cartridges? And what they mean?

Here's my scans of Monteverde Brown both bottle and cartridge. I was excited when I got the carts as the packaging had "copyright 2010" on it, possibly the original formula but in testing it sure seems to be the same as the bottled ink. With the bottle ink, I had bad problem with hard starts and really bad skipping on block letters with first 2 pens I tried, a Kaweco Sport M and a Hemisphere M (wasn't as bad with cursive's long, continuous strokes). Had same problem with Jinhao Safari M so tried a Luxor Vector and it worked perfectly there. But I left the Jinhao sit overnight and when I tried it the next day, the hard stops and skipping were gone, so probably didn't let ink feed completely on 1st 2 pens. Tried a Baoer 801 F after the Vector and was surprised when a big drop of ink fell on paper during a pause while writing! I saw that if I just held the pen, nib down, a drop of ink would form fairly quickly (maybe 1 1/2 mins?) on the end of the feed and then drop onto the paper unless I started writing before it fell. The ink can really be described as "gushing" on that Baoer, laying down a then but very wet line. That 's the 1st time I've encountered ink dripping from a pen like that. Carts arrived and I flushed the Jinhao and put one in it; for the bottle ink, I kept the Vector and added a Pelikano M, a pretty wet writer with a broad line. The Jinhao is also fairly wet, though not like the Baoer was. On cheap memo book paper, all 3 pens performed well, not too wet as the paper absorbed quickly. Color was like the 3 bears - Vector F a nice medium shade, Jinhao a little darker and Pelikano definitely darker. That matched the line width - Vector thin, Jinhao a smidge thicker, Pelikano thick. Feathering on the memo was really minimal, only the Jinhao showed an ever-so-slighty fuzziness. I've added a new test book for trying out inks, a Strathmore Sketch pad; it has thick, very white paper with a "fine tooth surface" and is actually intended for dry media. I like it because it is so white and doesn't absorb the ink so readily; I've come to realize how much the absorbency of cheap paper, especially the little memo books I was using, can affect the color I'm seeing and that the hard white surface of the Strathmore pad gives me a better idea of what the ink should look like. The difference between the three pens was even more pronounced on the Strathmore. The Vector's line seems a little thinner while the Jinhao's seems a little heavier. Ink glistens as it's laying down, indicating the wetness. Most surprising is the color, though; now the Jinhao line is darker than the Pelikano. Results on the scan are closer to the memo paper than to the sketch pad in that regard. Some shading is also noticeable on the Strathmore, most obviously on the Pelikano but some on the Vector, as well. Overall, I like this particular color of brown. I would call it medium-dark brown that's not too light or too dark, it's not reddish or orange-ish, it's not really yellow-ish, either, it's just a nice brown. It's very wet - watery, I guess you'd call it, so you might have to try it in a few pens before you find one it works well in. By the same token, there's lots of good browns in this range from other manufacturers so there's no particular reason to chose this one over others unless you like this particular shade, like I did when I saw Sandy1's review. Price on ebay runs $14-15 (incl ship) for a generous 90ml bottle. I stumbled on a bargain (spurring me to buy), $5 +$4 ship. The cartridges, I paid $4.45 for 3 6-packs w/ free shipping; that works out to 19 cents each - can't beat that. So, without further ado, onto the scans. Scans seem reasonably accurate. My thanks to Sandy1 for both the original review and the encouragement to post one myself.

Recently I was going through the youtube there I saw a fountain pen never heard off....the name is Parker Folio Fountain Pen. Any update regarding this pen?

Although I found and bought a couple of Pelikan's five-packs of a long international royal blue to empty myself, I'd like to fill the other colors into cleaner empty "carts". I've searched threads here, eBay, and Amazon. (The search algorithms misunderstand the goal but wading through a bunch of results I see that this may never be possible...) I like my own bottled-ink choices. Just hope to use them with fewer refill breaks. Thanks, in advance...

Hurry! Offer ends soon! There's a packet of Monteverde Neon Orange ink carts with one missing. These fit Lamy Safari and Lamy Nexx. They really do glow under black light for all your psychedelic needs! Krishna ink bottles: Myrtle, a burgundy pink with shimmer on the bottom. Shake shake shake and get your shimmer and exercise routine all in one! Empty. Is it brown? Gray? Black? Your guess is as good as mine, but it is SATURATED, for all your really elusive deep dark color expressions. Shamrock, an intense saturated shamrocky green. Just in time for next year's St. Patrick's Day! Plus, if you act now, a special surprise will be included! . Reply here to be in the running. Shipping is free, but substantial restrictions apply....as in CONUS only. Good luck! Hey...there's a shamrock! 🍀

Hi, I have a Pilot Super 60 that needs cartidges or a converter. I tried the Pilot Namiki cartridges that fit in my Pilot Elite, an original tab filler from a Super 100, and a CON-40 converter, none of them fit, they are all too 'fat' to fit into the receptacle on the section. The opening for the cartridge/converter is approximately 6.7 mm inside diameter. The Namiki cartridges, CON-40 and tab filler are all about 7.1 mm in diameter. Does anyone have suggestions for cartidges or (preferred) a converter that will fit this pen? Thanks, Kent P.S. I also need a clutch/trim ring for the section for a Pilot Super 100. I took mime apart to replace the cartridge and the ring came off and went down the drain. So the cap doesn't stay on any longer. It is the ring that fits between the section and the barrel that I lost. the first picture below is of the section of the Super 60, the second picture I am pointing to the missing ring on the Super 100.

I have this Waterman fountain pen. Here it is capped. Here is is uncapped. Here it is in a close up of the section/nib/feed. I probably need to ask about how to fix this one in the Repair forum, but I'd like to know what it's called. The nib is attached to the feed in an unconventional way. Sorry the photographs are crummy and done with such different lighting. I am not a photographer. Thanks for any help.

So this lovely Estie that I was given has been clogged and I have not been able to get it to write for a number of months. It had been leaking a little bit (which I ascribed to my inexperience with eyedropper-filling a used cartouche), and I had put a bit of silicone grease around the places where the body connects to the nib unit. Then I couldn't get it to write at all. Usually, when I am doing my pen maintenance, I will fiddle with it a bit. Yesterday, on a lark, I placed its nib on a paper towel that I had just used to blot up a bit of ginger tea. Although I had previously tried capillary action, for some reason this time the ink began to flow again. I don't know if it was the ginger, time or something else, but I am quite grateful to have this pen working again as it is a pleasure to use and had been very reliable.

Hi, I have just acquired an Esterbrook in a job lot of old pens and would like to bring it into use. It currently has an empty old Esterbrook cartridge fitted. Can anyone advise what cartridges will fit? It is much longer than the 'common' cartridges you see around. Also from an environmental perspective is there a filler e.g. pistion filler I can use? Not sure what model, but if I can work out how I will post a picture in this part of the forum. Just been looking at Esterbrook.net and think it is a CX-100 model with a red barrel :-) Many thanks, Julian

Inspired by a Goulet blog and instructional video, I've discovered a new way to clean Waterman fountain pens which use converters or cartridges. I've always flushed the pen by filling and rinsing, filling and rinsing, etc., with a converter. The new way is to remove the converter or cartridge, then use running water to flush out the nib and feed, and fill and rinse the converter by itself. I've got a bulb syringe on order. However, I've immediately run into a problem. After doing this flushing, if I insert an ink cartridge and start writing, the writing is very faint. It takes a lot of writing before the writing darkens to a usable level. Dipping the pen in ink makes very little difference. Any suggestions on how to speed up the process of getting my writing to be dark enough? Relevant details: Waterman Expert GT and Waterman Phileas pens, Waterman Intense Black and Serenity Blue 75mm cartridges. The Phileas is about 10 years old, the Expert ir 6 months old. I use a variety of inks.

I bought some Lamy blue/black cartridges and I have been using them in a Safari & a Nexx. The issue is that they seem to weep ink where they push-fit onto the 'pip'. I tried wrapping the cartridge with paper, so there's some kind of a seal around the end of the section. The paper was impregnated with blue/black ink when I just looked, but there was nothing in the barrel. I would have tried the cartridges in my Yiren 566 but the damn thing has an EF nib. The cartridges have the 'LAMY' mark and are in a box with a Lamy name. Has anyone else had any issue with the fit of the Lamy cartridges? The poor fit made me think they might be counterfeit. I have some Lamy Blue cartridges, but I have only fitted one you my Yiren 566 demonstrator, not to a genuine Lamy pen. My actual Lamy branded pens are a Safari & a Nexx. The b/b cartridges weeped on both pens. I quite like the Lamy blue/black ink. I don't know whether it is non-gall or not.

Hello: I recently purchase a platinum gold honest fountain pen. It is very nice looking and very old. Unfortunately, I can find no ink cartridge or converter to the nib section The current platinum cartridges or converter do not fit. Can anyone help? See picture of nib section.

I figured there are so many pros on here, and tinkerers, this has probably been done. Any feedback on long term use of the Kaweco short standard international cartridge jammed onto the feed. The fit was nice and tight and the flow started right away. May be sacrilegious but I was jonesing to use it again with nary a correct cartridge or converter at hand. Thoughts?

I admit I do not use this pen the way it deserves to be and so I am moving it on to an appreciative FPN user IN THE UK ONLY. Sorry to raise my voice. Transatlantic postage is stupid expensive. The pen is from a Group Buy. It is entirely of polished black ebonite. It should have a Schmidt K5 converter, but the red rubber seal washer inside the converter failed. It has a Jinhao converter in there now. The pen has a 3 in 1 ink feed but i'd suggest you had a specific nib unit for that role as a Bock 250 nib unit writes very wet with 2.5ml of ink in the barrel. The pen has a Fine & Extra-Fine Bock 250 nib unit included. I am passing the pen on because my preference is towards Eyedropper pens with basic ebonite feeds for easy cleaning.

Hi all, today I was in my local branch of the UK chain of discount stores ‘Home Bargains’. I chanced to walk past their stationery section, where my eye lit upon a sales pack that contained a cartridge-fill fountain pen and two cartridges, for the price of 59p For those of you who do not live in the UK, that bricks-and-mortar store price of £0.59 includes my country's sales tax of 20%. At today's exchange rate, £0.59 = 0.69€ = $0.77. As a ‘purchasing power’ comparison, at the time of typing this the price of a 2-pint bottle of whole milk in my local supermarket is 80p. The ‘huge’ investment outlay gets you a "MADE IN CHINA" transparent plastic pen that has a completely-unmarked nib (which I assume is steel and ‘medium’), and also two cartridges of ink that the packaging describes as black. The cartridges are slightly shorter than standard ‘Short International’ cartridges (I measured them at 34mm long, whereas an SIC is 38mm long), but their nipples look like they might be the same size as those on a SIC. The pen's grip section looks as though it might be slightly too-small for my paws (I am 6'1" tall), but I am certainly curious enough about it to ‘risk’ the sum of 59p to find out Bon; after I have run some dish-cleaning water through it to remove any manufacturing residue, I shall run one of its cartridges through it, and then some Waterman ‘Serenity Blue’ for comparison, and a SIC of ‘WH Smith’ branded black ink too. Once I have collected and collated all this ‘data’, I shall post a review of it on the relevant board here. After all, I wouldn't want to inadvertently be the cause of any FPN user ‘wasting’ their hard-earned 59p on one of these if it turns out that the thing doesn't write very well Cheers, M. [Repeatedly edited to correct FFE's ]

I really like Kaweco Liliput pocket pens – they are simple, robust and beautifully machined fountain pens. However, the Liliput’s small size mandates that ink cartridges need to used instead of a cartridge converter. I became frustrated with what I perceived as ink starvation when writing for extended periods of time with the pen, so I decided to look into this phenomenon in more detail. The picture below shows a cross-section view of the interface between the ink cartridge and the Kaweco (Bock) 060 nib. This 060 nib is used on all Kaweco fountain pens, except the Elite and Supra models. It shows that the plastic ball that originally sealed the ink cartridge sits nicely on top of the feed tube when the pen is orientated upright – which is the opposite of what’s desirable from an ink flow perspective. The feed tube length for the Kaweco (Bock) 250 nib (used on the Elite and Supra pens) extends about twice as far into the ink cartridge, so the mechanism for the plastic ball to obstruct the feed tube is largely mitigated for this design. My solution to this perceived problem is to prevent the plastic ball from being pushed into the cartridge. I use crimp pliers (i.e. smooth jaws) to squeeze the cartridge and eject the plastic ball from a new ink cartridge. Its a bit messy, but only needs to done when a replacement cartridge is required. I empty the cartridge and dry it out – then fill it with my favorite (Monblanc permanent blue) ink using a 0.2ml disposable transfer pipette. A photo of a (truly) empty ink cartridge and pipette is shown below. The 0.2ml pipette is small enough to be inserted into the ink cartridge, and represents a very compact and inexpensive approach to fill cartridges. I reuse the pipettes numerous times, so I have a lifetime supply from the minimum quantity of 200 that I bought from Amazon for about $20. If you find that you’ve experienced similar ink flow problems with your Kaweco cartridge pens, you may wish to consider the above approach to hacking the Kaweco cartridge interface.

Hello everyone! I have recently fallen in love with the Parker-Eversharp 10,000 Word Pen, which I think is so odd-looking it's beautiful -- it's like the Edsel of pens! At any rate, I wondered if the claim was true, and how to test it. I obtained some original cartridges, and then was so excited at the fact that I could buy some of the original Quink with Solv-X. The chemist in me is still fascinated by what Solv-X could actually be. I have one pen that came to me with cartridge attached and still with fluid, useable ink. It's just incredible to me that a product like ink could last so many decades, and still be useful and beautiful. "Does not dry in the pen" indeed -- one claim proved true from the outset! Anyone else with "historic ink" they like to use? Given this festive time of year, and the ability to count words quickly with a computer program, I selected 10,000 words of Dickens's _A Christmas Carol_ (all of Stave One, a little of Stave Three, and all of Stave Five) and decided to write a "love letter to Christmas," as it were. The pen was ready, the Quink took some filtering and dilution (with discovery of an incredibly pretty crystal! Solv-X? or just pigment?), and I set aside paper and time. Several beautiful nights teary-eyed at the beauty of Dickens's writing later, I had written 10,000 words with the namesake pen, and I still had more than 1/4 cartridge of ink left. Photos provided to prove all this, naturally-- I'm certain my micrographic printing helped, but also I think Dickens's writing has a disproportionate number of Very Long Words, so perhaps that balanced toward the other side of actual writing line length. (Pages are written double-sided) Merry Christmas to all, and God Bless Us, Every One! Matt

Hi, I picked this up recently in amongst a load of other pens - having difficulty in tying down the model/date. In style (nib, barrel and cap) it appears a good match with the Imperial II Touchdowns of ca.1962. However its a cartridge filler and i haven't found any reference to Sheaffer marketing such a pen. Is there anyone out there who can enlighten me? With the conical nib it makes for a fine writer (even finer with the nib reversed). Thanks PS. I did find a reference to the Imperial models being reintroduced in 1969 with a cartridge filler option, but these had a new style cap with a white dot - I suppose its possible that over the years simply an old style cap has been paired up with a 1969 Imperial CT model.

This is my first formal fountain pen review. Today's subject is the Venvstas D'art. https://www.venvstas.com/dart This is a custom plastic lacquered fountain pen in an irregular geometric form. From the website, the description is; Hexagonal irregular section 12mm/15mm - 5mm ink feed, length 155mm closed, 143mm open. Cap do not post. Weight 15g loaded. Links to all photos are here https://photos.app.goo.gl/3ZjY3wF8wyvfP6pU8 The nib is a bit of a nail and feels a lot like using a ballpoint pen. You don't have to adjust the pressure too much so this makes it a very suitable beginner's fountain pen. I grip the pen normally and the irregular shapes aligns with my finger placement. I didn't have to contort or hold it any different. The pen was comfortable for long writing sessions. The nib and feed keeps the pen wet for fast writing without any issue. The ink also doesn't dry up for extended 4-5 days sitting idle in the pen cap. Overall, a solid fountain pen and a bit of a conversational starter with its unique shape. edit: trying to upload pictures, but it keeps failing will save this post as a place marker for now

My husband has purchased a Montblanc Mozart in Bordeaux for me as a birthday gift. (YAY!) I know in advance because he picked it out and then had me approve, since he doesn't know a lot about fountain pens. He sure made a good call on this one! This is my first experience with a Montblanc, and I'm quite excited. I won't get to write with it until September, but I want to be prepared with the right ink cartridges. I assume that I could just go with Montblanc cartridges, but I'd like to know the right size so I can use other brands as well. The posts I've seen on this topic have been a bit contradictory - some say standard international, and some say short international. Can a Mozart owner/user chime in to confirm which is the right size? I have heard mixed reviews on using converters for this pen, so for the time being at least I am going to use cartridges. Caroline