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I have a Homo Sapiens Bronze Age with a broad nib that I love. Am now being tempted by a Magma and was considering the 1.3 stub nib - this would be recent production. What I am interested in are actual experiences (again more recent production) with the nib. How was it out of the box? How well does it write? Are the edges sharper and more prone to catch than other similar stub nibs? Any comparison to their broad nib would be appreciated as well. FYI - I own a number of stub nibs including many 1.1's and a 1.5. But these are steel nibs (Jowo & Bock). Many thanks in advance for your insight!

Hey there, I was inspired by similar posts on this forum to start this discussion. Note that I never intend to defame or insult the store, or any party involved it's just a rant. Hope you guys don't mind sharing your experiences as I found this to be therapeutic. Hopefully we can get it out of our system and perhaps get a good laugh out of it. Sorry for the long post and the writing is not my finest work. I was deciding on a gold nib FP and hoped for a recommendation on which next level pen to get so I checked out a supposedly highly reputable FP store in my area which shall not be named. I was looking to try out a Pilot Custom 74 and Platinum 3776 B nib to get a feel of the pens, how they write and purchase it if I'm very satisfied. I looked around the store before stopping at the Pilot display and asked the staff for help which he obliged. I could tell he was eyeing me with suspicion and was convinced I'm merely window shopping. I asked to have a look at a transparent Custom 74 with B nib and when I asked to try writing with it, he refused unless I paid for the pen first and proceeded to give a lecture on "preserving the new-ness of fountain pens" and it would be like buying a car where test driving would devalue it. I was dumbfounded by this man's logic thinking who in their right mind buys a car without testing it out first. Instead I asked if 14k nibs is indeed thicker than steel nibs he rebuked and told me to find out online while insisting that the Custom 74 has a steel nib. I corrected him that it was rhodium-plated which gave it a silvery look but he wasn't having it and took out some Sailor 1911 with gold-plated nibs insisting that's what gold nibs look like. He then attempted to promote the 1911 and Pro Gear since I was interested in gold nibs. The last straw was when I took out a Lamy B nib writing sample to compare with the 1911 display plate which has EF to Music nib thickness, he commented "wow I never thought Lamy stubs are that thick". I left the store immediately and did the most sensible thing; left a two star rating out of kindness and a 'written' review on google. It's a pity I'll miss out on what the store has to offer but I definitely won't miss that clueless man working there.

Ugh. I spent a half a freaking hour typing out a description and "review" here, clearly elucidating my concerns with the product and teeming with the needless and frankly pretentious verbosity such a review necessarily entails, only to have it whisked away by my browser so kindly deciding to close on me without notice. So screw it. Damn it all. If this be the decision of the Internet Gods this day, what is a humble mortal like me to argue? Maybe the opposite of verbosity is more suited. So without further adieu: pouch; problems leather look good feel nice -> sleek design simple & pleasing should have known problem in advance: issue object-fundamental 3 slots, width adequate, length highly problematic unclippable, unable to secure pens much room for pens to slide small pens esp. rattle, jerk, break? pouch not meant for transporting pens regularly? rather for storage? help is padding adequate for to make compensating movement-pens? should I not use for transport small, valuable vintage writingsticks? pics otherplace available many; upload picsmine if request Isn't English wonderful? Anyway, in other words, I'm very worried that if I use this case as I intended to, which is to carry pens around as an everyday travel case, will I end up damaging the pens? Many of mine are very small indeed, and if I just throw this case in a bag and carry them around in it, there would be a lot of potential for them to slide about. Should I have gotten a more traditional pouch? Has anyone used this case successfully? Or in further words: pls respond

Here's what happened- It was 12:30 am, on Saturday night. I was browsing fountain pens online, and drooling over them as I have been for a while. I come across this kerala based website that sells vintage pens online. So I eagerly looked through their contents and was quite impressed with what they carried (Parker 21,51,45, vintage shaeffers, etc.) and also the prices. So I decided to order something. I was eyeing the Parkers, but the good colours were out of stock, and also, I wanted to check their legitimacy before putting too much money on the line, (I am a student living in a budget afterall). So I started looking at the cheaper options. I contacted their customer service WhatsApp number and asked if they delivered to my location. I came across a Indian made Pilot, with their #2 nib for a very reasonable price (it was teal in colour, really liked that). I decided to place the order. I received an email with their UPI id and payment information. I made the payment. However, I checked my order page on their website, and it said that my payment hasn't been confirmed and the order is on hold. Concerned, I reached out again to their '24 hour customer service' number, as mentioned and raised my issue. He blatantly refused to answer my question, and informed me that sales questions are not answered weekends, and told me to contact them on monday-saturday after 10 am. I chose to put my faith in him and waited. Today however, seeing that my order was still ' on hold' I reached out to the number again, this time it was Monday, and it was around 3:45 PM. An interesting thing happened. He lashed out and texted, and I quote "Give me your upi ID - You placed an order on weekend, that too in mid night , and keep bugging us - We are on a vacation since it's a holiday in Kerala for two days - So get the payment back to your upi or paytm -I will cancel order form my end" He had never informed me about any holidays, or their office being closed, or anything of that sort. More over they advertise their customer service to be '24 hours'. I had no problem in being patient, I would've totally understood if they were in a vacation or had some other issues even, but without information, how am I supposed to know whats going on? Was this kind of service given to me because I ordered a relatively inexpensive pen? Or is the customer service supposed to treat the customers as a nuisance? Honestly, I just wanted to buy some nice vintage pens from this new source I found. But for the first time in my fountain pen journey, I've experienced such an attitude. I would still recommend them to others, maybe if you order something expensive, they'd treat you well. But I'll surely warn them about how 'antikcart.com' treats their customers like pest. As for me, I'm never ordering anything from there. This was by far, the worst experience I've had involving fountain pens. Regards, AnuragTukan 15/4/19

* Note to Admin: I've posted this in the sub-forum that I thought was the most appropriate. Please move this if you feel another sub-forum would be more appropriate.* TL:DR Version: If you love Fountain Pens and think you are either getting in or already in the hobby, for better or for worse, read on! As I have spent some time in this hobby, I’ve realized a few things. For better or worse, sharing these here in the hope that others may identify with these and they may serve as a (kind of) pointer to people just getting into this hobby. Please bear in mind that these are my opinions and others may disagree. I welcome all your thoughts on this so long as you disagree without being disagreeable. Keep it Fun. It’s just a hobby. Don’t get too bogged down and serious about stuff. It isn’t worth getting stressed out over. Have a List. This is a list of pens you want to buy. You could even have a different list for different price brackets – in fact, I recommend this. The aim should be to buy pens only on the list(s). Anything not on the list should be purchased only if the answer to ‘Should I buy this pen?’ is a resounding YES. Understand that there’s no such thing as ‘The Best’. What may be the best pen for someone or even a lot of people may just not work for you. And something that everyone roundly criticizes might turn out to be your dream pen. Also, as they say, in many cases, the best pen is the one you might have on hand – and this could very well be a Jinhao! Learn to separate opinion from fact. A few years ago, I was so consumed by what everyone said about a particular pen that I stopped evaluating them as per my need. This led to a lot of grief till I realized not to take something as gospel just because someone on the Internet said so. Just because one has a lot of pens in their collection or can afford expensive pens does not mean they know a lot about pens. Doesn’t work like that. Be part of the community. This complements the above point and has its own advantages. The amount of information floating in the fountain pen community is tremendous and talking to people with the same interest will really help. Try and be part of local pen meets. Every major city has some sort of an active pen community that usually meets every so often. One of the interesting thing about pen meets is that you might get to see and check out pens you have never considered earlier. If you are a beginner to the community, start with exploring the Fountain Pen Network Forum online and try and attend the Pelikan Hub that happens in September in most major cities across the world. Remember that more expensive is not necessarily better. This is a tough thing for many to digest, but just because you spent more money does not always mean you are getting a better pen. Be wary of hype. Sometimes, the Fountain Pen community goes into a frenzy and generates a lot of hype about a particular model of pen/ink/paper/something else. Be wary of this. Think on your own and wait for the frenzy to die down. Believe me, it will die down. Stick to your budget. Even if you are just starting out, consider the pens on your list, make a budget, and start saving ruthlessly. Never, ever get into debt because of this or any other hobby. The trick is to buy pens with your ‘fun money’, which is the money left over after you’ve paid all your bills and taken care of all your commitments. If you don’t have any fun money, walk away and come back when you do. Go out and try the pens. Nothing beats actually going out and trying the pen if you can. Good sources to try the pens you are thinking of buying are brick and mortar pen shops, pen shows, or local pen meets. Barring specialist pen shops run by passionate pen lovers, sometimes the sales people at pen shops may not be the best guides, but many sellers at pen shows are extremely knowledgeable. Be prepared to spend time and energy. While it is mostly easy to go online or to a pen shop and buy pens, many of the offbeat pens, custom pens, or out of production pens are not available so easily. Be prepared to work hard, do a lot of research, be an active part of the community, spread the word among like-minded enthusiasts about the pens you are looking to acquire and above all, be patient. Don’t look at pens as an investment. They are not an investment. Period. Even the rarest of pens do not appreciate in value with any sort of consistency and the market is subject to its own whims and fancies. If you want an investment that appreciates, talk to a financial planner. Don’t get into fixed way of thinking. When you start getting beyond the beginner stages of the hobby, you may get into a boxed way of thinking with fixed ideas about which pens you like or what nibs suit you or whatever. Get out of the box and explore a bit. You’ll be surprised. Don’t be a snob. People who have spent a lot of years in this hobby start to behave like snobs at one point. Very few people can escape this stage and I myself have been guilty of this. Like I said in the beginning, this should be about fun and acting like a snob is not fun. Conversely, if you are just starting in the hobby, ignore the snobs. Pens need maintenance. Lots of it. All pens need to be cleaned and maintained regularly, so be prepared to spend a lot of time on this. There’s no escaping this. Learn some basic pen and nib tuning. Or find someone who is accessible and ready to do this for you. Pens should work out of the box, and most do. But Fountain pens are a cranky proposition, so a lot of pens will need to be worked on before they write well. Especially new pens.Pro Tip: 9 out of 10 issues with new pens are resolved by one or all of the following Thoroughly cleaning the pen Disassembling the nib and feed and putting them back after a thorough cleaning Thoroughly flossing the nib tines Using an ink and paper with known characteristicsHope you find this useful. Cheers!

I own a Waterman L'Etalon ballpoint, which I love. And I want to complement it with the fountain pen: I love the elegant, sophisticated yet simple look of it and I love its solid weight. However, looking around the internet, they don't come cheap - to my standards. I am a fountain pen noob, so before spending an inordinate amount of money on a pen, I would like to experience somehow if I like the fountain pen experience in the first place. Can you guys give me a hint as to where to start? Does a supermarket pen provide a similar writing experience as does a luxury pen? Are there any others ways to help me avoid this being an expensive gamble? I know of no place in my neighbourhood where I can test a pen, especially not a vintage pen. Thanks a lot for your input!

There are a lot of people asking about whether it's okay or not to use other cartridges for Lamy, but the answers are all about opinions from people who doesn't have experience. I thought it'd be nice if there was a forum dedicated for everyone sharing their experiences (I tried to find one before deciding to make this), good or bad, regarding this. Sharing pics of your handwriting with the pen (w/ the brand -- cartridge) is better

I have a Sheaffer Star Trek: the Experience..Las Vegas Hilton. It's a lovely hefty feeling pen, chunky, suits my hand. Could anyone tell me which converter( available in the U.k if possible ) fits it, please? LLAP Alex