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Thanks for accepting me. Newbie trying to find my way around. Picked up some cheap pens from China. Pen shop about 50 miles away, if it is still in operation. Will have to try and visit one day. Haven't noticed anything in flea markets or antique stores.

I've been collecting fountain pens for a little while now (couple months) and I've been going crazy for them. Started out with a Metro in F, was kinda unhappy with the fineness and capacity and ink leaking into the cap (still a great pen) and eventually upgraded to a TWSBI 580AL, anodized to Rose, in F. I like the Jowo nibs much more than the Pilot nibs - lot more smoother and broader. Now, I have a LAMY AL-STAR in Charged Green on the way (caught it on the 50% sale and it was already another 50% off, so I ended up getting it for roughly $13 all in.) I own a few inks, Noodler's Purple Wampum and Walnut, but I don't use them because they're ill-behaved in my 580AL on cheap paper. It's a shame too, they're pretty. I also have a bottle of Rohrer & Klingner's Scabiosa, which is absolutely wonderful and works on any paper, even getting a lot of shading out of it. Beautiful lilac.

Hi! My first fountain pen was a gift-- a nice little piston-fill Pelikan. I used it heavily at first but I ended up storing it for more than a decade. European nibs are wider than I like, and piston-fills are a pain to deal with. The first pen I bought for myself was a Lamy Safari; it was a very pretty blue. It's a perfectly decent pen with a grip that I don't find ergonomic at all. I made the jump to nicer pens a couple of years ago and fell for Pilot in a big way. I started with a fine-nib Pilot Metropolitan, loved the pen, then branched out to a Custom Heritage 91 in soft-fine. It's still my favorite pen. I ended up getting two more Metropolitans for work, and a Prera because it's almost the same size as the Stargazer (which is gorgeous but on second thought, not a good fit for me-- so I'm glad I started with a cheaper pocket pen). I splurged on a fine-nib CH91 in tsuki-yo color because the blue is so pretty...I just wish that version came in extra-fine. I'm not a collector; at this point I just want to use the pens I've got. I should probably find a new home for the ones I'm not using...

Bonjour / Hello , I'm a young french student who wish to learn how to improve his penmanship. I don't really know anything about this art except that looking at some samples here on this forum has a very pleasant effect on my mind. I've decided that I would like to master the Spencerian style and I've just bought on Amazon the books by Mott Media (picture 1). I however have some questions regarding the pen i should use to start. Since I've never used a dip pen in my life, i don't know if it would be better to start the copybooks i've just bought with one (if yes, which one?) or if i should better use a pencil, ballpoint pen, or my fountain pen. I owed a parker fountain pen but i don't know anything about the size of its nibs .. (picture 2) Would someone be kind enough to answer my questions ? Or to give me the ressources to check for beginners on this topic ? Have a nice day, Valentin

Hello everyone! I am new here.I live in Romania and I'm in my last year of high school. hobbies: foreign languages, movies, reading, travelling. Fountain pens brought us all together. I have been using them since primary school and as a leftie I found them to be the most confortable writting instrument. I like M and B nibs. I started with cheap FP bought from supermarket and now I have a few budget FP that I really love: Parker Jotter, Picasso 606 and X-pen Silhouette. I am saving up money to get a Parker Sonnet or Pelikan M200. Found a fun thing: TEACH YOUR KIDS PHOTOGRAPHY ABOUT FOUNTAIN PENS AND THEY’LL NEVER HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO BUY DRUGS

Hello from Sacramento! I re-discovered fountain pens about nine months ago, stumbling upon Pilot Metropolitans on huge discount at the UC Davis bookstore. I bought all they had, which was a sign of things to come. For a few months, I acquired Plumix and Preppys and Varsitys semi-compulsively before discovering eBay and Jinhaos and the like. Later came Indian and Pakistani pens, still purchased as if they were going to be banned next week. My tastes have evolved slightly, but I still prefer the low-price end of the pool. A couple of Conklin Stylographs are my priciest pens, and probably represent the current frontier of my spending comfort. I would, though, love to figure out which "nice" pen is right for me. I suspect Pelikan would be a contender. I attended the SF Pen show and had a great time. I was really impressed by the ink testing stations and the work of the SF Pen Posse. I picked up a TWSBI Eco, a gently used Faber-Castell Loom, and a really lovely Esterbrook "Dollar" pen. I think the J series pens are my kind of thing, but I want to study a bit more before I jump into that marketplace. I know very little about quality pens and even less about navigating on FPN. I often end up here after googling a question, but still haven't figured out how to make the most of the network and really participate. Thanks in advance for your patience with misplaced posts and clumsy replies. I continue to be taken by the kindness of "pen people."

Hi all! Thanks for an awesome forum with great tone and veritable wealth of information. Bought a fountain pen for my 10y.o. son recently in an effort to help him improve his handwriting - he's a leftie with ligament laxity. So far his Lamy Nexx with LH nib plus advice from me re grip and paper positioning has worked well step 1 accomplished. Step 2 is working on consistently sized strokes with a tiny bit of angle (80 degrees). In the meantime, I felt it was only fair that I spend time improving my own. Which is scrappy. So I chose Spencerian, downloaded the antique pdfs from iampeth, and have spent way too many hours in the last week practicing instead of university study. And researching nibs, inks, mods... You name it. It became addictive very quickly. Lol. Especially after my Konrad arrived. Fun, looks good, great to play with the nib/feed and gain confidence with fountain pen parts, helped me determine I *really* like flex, but alas the hand cramps - vintage nib hunt here I come! Or pterodactyl's EMF mod. If I get brave enough. Anyway, thanks for a wonderful forum.

Hey all! I'm quite new, have done some research, but am still learning what questions to ask and how. So I'm having a difficult time finding what I imagine to be some very simple answers. For starters, I think the pen dries out quickly, but, maybe it doesn't? If I set the pen down, with the cap off, for a minute it seems to die and take forever to revive link to image: https://db.tt/cW57vMBa Second, I'd like to try out some nibs, but something has given me the feeling that the prevalent 060 series Kaweco nibs are not for the AL sport? What kinds of nibs can I use? I've had zero luck discerning this via searches and reviews. Is there a cheapish way to try out some nibs? Or some certain classes of nib that can be tried to help hone-in on the right nib? Thirdly, is there a recommended converter for the AL sport? I know there is the tiny squeeze converter, and I've heard varying rumors on the viability of a Monteverde option. I'd really love to get some Ebony Purple to try, but not until I obtain a converter. Fourthly, thanks for your time and help. Sorry for asking such simple questions, but my Google fu is weak.

Hello! Not new to pens, but new to the forum life. I'm looking forward to getting to know everybody and some great pen talk!

So my dad got into fountain pens, and the first thing I did was of course steal all of them. He bought me the two I'm using now so I can't recall the brand, but I have a flex nib and a narrow nib. They're good quality and durable thankfully- I'm the only one in my high school who uses fountain pens and people are constantly asking to borrow them, I worry myself sick watching them hold the pen upside down or perpendicular to the paper! Anyway, I'm brand new to this website, and am admittedly mostly here because I have some birthday money to blow, and what sixteen year old wouldn't promptly spend it on noodlers ink? I know there are a lot of newbies looking for help currently, but I"ll gladly take any advice or general tips, I've been casually using fountain pens since 15 and would like to get more serious about them. My main question, however, is whether or not it's worth it to get more than the standard blue and black and red ink (I do have anti feather and two shades of blue) when I'm in high school and would only be able to use colors for out of class activities (darn you public school- stifiling my creativity!), and which colors or styles of ink are known for being the most beautiful/usable on walmart college ruled paper. Right now I'm flirting with noodlers ink, but there's just so much variety!

Happy be here. New member. Big fan. Was sad when the site was down. Got hooked and bit by the fountain pen recently and have put together a decent collection over a few months by reading everything I can find--including on this forum--and watching YouTube. Shout out to Stephen Brown. Thanks for all who contribute; intend to be one of them now. Thanks to all. Great community forum. Take care.

Hi there, FPN! I'm still fairly new to the game, have used only a LAMY Safari with LAMY cartridges so far. Looking forward to recieving my first order from Goulet and really starting to enjoy fountain pens in all their glory! I recently bought a used Parker 61 (i think) and am looking to expand my collection. The Parker needs some work, I just posted about it over in the Parker forum. I love using fountain pens to journal, and have recently moved to doing all of my hand-writing with a fountain pen. I have used Moleskines in the past, but I'm currently using Ecosystem lined journals. I'm in IT by trade, but I have a love for fountain pens, typewriters, and old fashioned things. Here's a photo of my collection - LAMY Safari in Charcoal, EF Nib & Parker 61 in red? burgandy? in need of some love. https://www.dropbox.com/s/n305akkkq3ji8ye/2013-11-26%2012.22.24.jpg Thanks for dropping by! Everyone on here seems so lovely and kind.