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Dear all, I've found some time to wonder about flair in writing, usually called flex, which I concur with others here that is to be distinguished from the gargantuan difference in stroke width some people are after, and which I follow Bo Bo Olson in calling superflex. I got a 1929-1930 Lady Duofold serviced in mid-June and at approximately the same time I found a cheap pre-2016 Parker IM which I got. Both pens have seen regular use since then and now I am confident that they have adjusted to me, or I to them more likely, or probably both with more of the latter. Both pens now are wetter than they were when I first got them, with the Duofold already having been on the wet side. The IM can still railroad a bit on fast written vertical downstrokes when the ink nears its end and it still gives me hard starts if left unused for two to two-and-a-half days. Maybe that's just the result of a longer section of the feed being exposed to the air compared to other Parkers with similar nib-feed assortments. In the process of getting wetter, I noticed that the Duofold does give some wider downstrokes than a manifold nib, without effort other than regular writing on my part. Since I already knew that the Duofold nib does spread its tines without effort, but the IM doesn't do so, I decided to see if there are any noticeable differences between the two. There are, but they are not so pronounced. Here are follow some pictures. Apologies for the lack of focus; it's due to the mobile camera and that's rather old. The protagonists The Duofold was sold as Fine/Medium, which is an accurate description of appearances. To check for sure one has to remove the nib from the section. I haven't done that. Now it writes regularly as a medium almost always. It can write extra fine inverted. The IM came as an M. Below are some samples. The paper is a regular ruled notebook of A4 size on which my Parkers behave from very well (IM) to excellent (IM and all others) without exception - I think they were designed to perform no-matter-what on cheap paper. The paper lines are about 1 cm apart from each other. The ink is Waterman Serenity Blue for both pens. The first and third lines are the Duofold. As you can see, it gives some flair noticeable in the downstroke of the gamma (γ) in "Υγρό μελάνι", which is Greek for "wet ink" and in the vertical downstroke of the D in the bottom "Duofold". The verticals in lines 3 & 4 are after -still for comfortable for the wrist- pressure was applied. The Duofold appears to reach a 2.5x to 3x stroke thickness. Below there is some flair in a calligraphic-style f -which I have learnt to use but don't. The Duofold is writing the top line. Pressure applied to both samples. The amount of pressure was enough to leave marks on the white page below the one I was writing on. Speed is a bit slower than I usually write. Below is a sample of writing without any pressure applied to either sample. The sentence does not tell any facts about the paper, I just had to write something. The Duofold is at the top once more, giving obviously thinner lines in the final words. The speed is my normal relaxed one as when I'm not in a hurry to catch up with what I'm thinking... Overall: -The Duofold with the springy gold nib is totally comparable to the manifold steel IM's nib in terms of actual output in my writing. -Does the Duofold have a noticeable flair in the lines it leaves behind? Yes, which is a pleasant thing to behold when there's a body of text in front of you rather than a sentence or two. -Does the IM lag behind in the aesthetics department in the stuff it produces? It's not possible to claim that -yes passionate flex affictionado, I'm looking at you!- even though the only "flair" it leaves behind is due to the ink spreading on the paper when you push or to the less ink being put down when you don't push. -Does the Duofold require effort to produce this flair? Not at all. It happens automatically in regular writing with the natural higher pressure downstrokes usually receive when putting them on paper. -Is this flair uniform or pronounced? As I handle the pen, it tends to be uniform. By what you see here -which isn't perfect by a long shot- how would you characterise the Duofold's behaviour? Regular flex? Semi-flex? Illusion-of-flex? I'd appreciate all of your thoughts on the topic. Antonis.

I was surfing around, looking for a nice Parker fountain pen for a reasonable price (I really love Sonnets and Duofolds too, but they are too expensive for my budget unfortunately). I ended up finding I found two IM's which I really like and I'm debating a bit over whether choosing this one in case I got a new Parker fountain pen (I have 45 and Jotter pencils and Jotter pens so far). (Also looked at Vector and Premier, but I like IM the best so far.) I'm curious for your opinions about it, like how practical and comfortable it is, if it's good for longer writing and maybe some not-so-professional calligraphic writing (for example for Christmas greetings) and so on. I attach two pictures of the ones I like the most so far The blue one is a Parker IM metal fountain pen and the green one says Parker IM Premium Vacumatic Emerald Pearl CT.

Hi all..I'd like to get someone a FP as a gift but I can't decide between Parker IM & Frontier. Firstly, I choose Parker specifically as it's rather widely available at my place compared to other brands, plus I quite like the simple yet not too plasticky look of their pens. My budget is ~$30. From my search, I've narrowed down to 2 options: IM & Frontier. Between the two, I much prefer the design & look of the IM but many reviews suggested the Frontier as a good, reliable starter pen for someone new to FP. Or maybe IM just lacks reviews as I couldn't find as many as Frontier's. Some commented the small nib of the IM, but I'm not sure how does that really affect writing performance. Usage wise, it won't be for heavy writing. Hence, I'm looking for something that works just nice as a gift, yet practical for some light writing. Thanks in advance for your views!

Just for the sake of "Pelikan education": I have this IM --that's how I ordered it-- nib that is only marked as "I". Is that the standard? I wonder why it doesn't show an "M" BTW: It's a wonderful writer! Here is the nib: http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i82/anangeli/PENS/PELIKANS/Pelikan%20Italic%20nib_zpsbmkrpvqc.jpg

Hi all. Thought I'd post my fledgling Parker collection - it's mostly vintage(ish) with a few new ones that I've found at a good price. I'm looking to complete the set of UK Duofolds in blue - I can't get enough of them. I've also included a scan of the paper so you can see why I love Quink blue black, red and green so much. Anyway, sorry not sorry for the self indulgent post! http://i.imgur.com/e5EYPX4.jpg

I have a Parker IM. I dropped it a while ago, and the cap now will not stay on. I believe that the sleeve inside the cap that produces the distinct click sound has broken. How would I fix this?

Hi, fountain pen newbie here! Please could someone tell me the difference (except for finish) between the Parker IM and IM Premium pens? The two I am looking at in particular are: http://www.parkerpen.com/en-US/im-premium-matt-black-fountain-pen---medium-stainless-steel-nib and http://www.parkerpen.com/en-US/shop-online/im-black-fountain-pen---medium-stainless-steel-nib These are both the same price on Amazon so I want to know what makes the Premium premium! Many thanks in advance, Tom