fountain pen taboos - don't enter if you're easily offended

[David V]

Interesting to see the comments posted here about Parker 51's being dry and scratchy. My 51 is my goto pen. It borders on too wet if I am writing on cheap paper, and starts perfectly every time, unlike all of my other non-Parker pens. My only gripe about the 51 is about the body design. It is rather plain looking compared to my Vacs and my Esterbrooks, and the sloped hood makes it so my fingers want to slide right off sometimes. I think my 36 Vac is the most comfortable to hold, but its semiflex fine nib is a bit tricky to write with (particularly in a hurry). In any case, the 51 is designed to lay down a lot of ink quickly. If you find yours to be too dry, I would think it needs a good thorough cleaning (hood off even) and/or maybe a nib adjustment. The only times my 51 writes dry or uneven are when I have inadvertantly rotated the pen and gone up on the side of the nib or am running out of ink. I have yet to find a more reliable pen.

[79spitfire]

The Rotring Core is (for me) un-comfortable, and strange looking, I could live with looks, if it were more comfy to use.

 

My Pelikan Future is a pile, the fine nib is the size of a paint brush! I'm not sure I want to shell out the "big bucks" when one of their "cheap" ($23???) pens is so not usable for me.

[Jagdeep]

Why on earth would one buy those huge pens with metal designs all over them... making them impossible to hold.?

 

 

 

A pen should fit well in the had, have the correct traction and have impeccable ink flow.

Like my well seasond 1965 Parker 21.

My new Waterman Expert Urben can't hold a light to it.(Incedently, it's back in the shop after 3 weeks as the ink flow is poor)

[kazoolaw]

Anyone who insults the Pilot Custom 823 has to fight me.

 

It's hard to argue with boring.

 

gary

[79spitfire]

Anyone who insults the Pilot Custom 823 has to fight me.

 

It's hard to argue with boring.

 

gary

*snicker* (I LIKE Pilot pens BTW)

 

nice "zinnger" though... :ltcapd:

[kazoolaw]

 

 

nice "zinnger" though... :ltcapd:

 

I knew you had a sense of humor.

It is a nice pen, but I like my Onotos better.

gary

[Martius]

Anyone who insults the Pilot Custom 823 has to fight me.

 

It's hard to argue with boring.

 

gary

 

Hey now - it's not the 823's fault it's daddy was the 149.

 

Well done though - haha.

Edited July 8, 2010 by Martius

[Bo Bo Olson]

Anyone who insults the Pilot Custom 823 has to fight me.

 

It's hard to argue with boring.

 

gary

 

Hey now - it's not the 823's fault it's daddy was the 149.

 

Well done though - haha.

 

Grand Daddy was Sheaffer New Balance.

[The Royal Pen]

A taboo??

 

I had a really bad experiance with a certain ink cartrige that I put into one of my few cartridge pens. Oh! What a stupid mistake on my part!

 

It puked, through the nib, and dried up over night, leaving a black thick blob of ink on the beautiful gold-plated nib.

 

The ink was Speedball, and the first time using this cartridge in a cartridge pen.

Edited July 8, 2010 by The Royal Pen

[freehand]

I can't count how many shopkeepers who sell a variety of pens have told me that Mont Blancs are poorly engineered, sloppily made, and propelled by glossy adverts and snobbery. I've never owned one, so there's no personal thing attached. But it is striking how many ground-level pen pros seem to hate Mont Blancs.

 

Is it because they have an exclusive franchise arrangement? Is it the French name on a German pen? Is it the white blob?

 

Opinions, insults, invective invited.

Edited July 9, 2010 by freehand

[Lizzie]

MB Toffee is just great for regular flex boring Medium nibs. Made me lose my prejudice picked up here about boring medium nibs.

 

All my teacher went to heaven, having spent their time in hell reading hen scratch...mine included. Medium is good for hen scratch too.

 

 

What exactly is "hen scratch"? Thin, spindly illegible handwriting?? What is the German translation of "hen scratch"?

Edited July 9, 2010 by Lizzie

[Carguy]

I stopped reading at page 20.....I love fountain pens - most ALL fountain pens except for MB. Why? Because the first FP I ever bought was an MB and it was an overpriced piece of junk! But I will gladly admit that I bought it ONLY for it's supposed status bling and lots of people noticed it. Haven't carried it in years.....

 

I am constantly buying and trading pens because I have found that for whatever I don't like, I can trade with someone who does like and get something different. I search eBay for the pens I hunt, sometimes I find them as a deal and sometimes not. There are so many pens out there to try that I just love most all of them.

 

I am an obsessive collector but I write with ALL of my pens as often as possible. The trading and writing are what makes this hobby fun to me.

 

I still have that MB piece of junk.....maybe I'm just sentimental, but I would much rather have the first dollar I ever made than the first FP I ever bought....oh well!

[rachelcarpenter]

i don't like to post... every pen feels too long when i do. even the petit point!

[jakespoppy]

Think this thread has ran outta steam

 

This is like the Everyready Bunny thread. Almost 3 months and over 100 more posts later, and the thread that "ran outta steam" seems to be still going and going.

 

It's been fun reading through this in one long, two cups of coffee sitting. I've enjoyed reading the "taboos", as well as the friendly (and sometimes not quite so friendly?) banter.

 

I'll add one of my "Fountain Pen Taboos" that probably only applies to me - passing up on great buys on vintage fountain pens in antique stores or flea markets because I'm "not interested" in that brand or model. And it wasn't about the money or the number of pens I already have, just not interested. I've done this several times, only to later develop an interest in that particular pen, and of course, the pen I'd seen earlier was either long gone, or in another city.

 

The rest of my "Taboos" I'll keep to myself for now, as they fall more into the "personal preference" category, and since I know now that my personal preferences will probably change , I don't want to put something out here that I'll just have to retract later. Except I do think the clip on the Lamy pens looks like a paper clip, and I don't think I'll change my mind about that. But then again, a lot of folks seems to like it.....

[David V]

MB Toffee is just great for regular flex boring Medium nibs. Made me lose my prejudice picked up here about boring medium nibs.

 

All my teacher went to heaven, having spent their time in hell reading hen scratch...mine included. Medium is good for hen scratch too.

 

 

What exactly is "hen scratch"? Thin, spindly illegible handwriting?? What is the German translation of "hen scratch"?

"Hen scratch" is writing that is messy, looking as if a hen had scratched it into the paper with its claws while walking around on the page (and probably doing something else that chickens tend to do all over the place). It's a pretty common expression here in Oregon, but then we also do have plenty of chickens around here too, so maybe there's a connection... I don't know about the German translation, as my lessons never went into handwriting critique, but I imagine "ubel" would fit as well as anything else.

[EnviroDawg]

Why do pen makers insist on ruining a beautifully designed plastic/celluloid pen with a metal section? A metal section? Metal sections should be banned.

[777]

Oh goody! I love taboos. Alright here goes:

 

1. I think spending more than $300.00 on a pen is absolutely ridiculous and insane! It's a waste of good money in my book.
2. I think that the Lamy 2000 is one of the ugliest pens ever
3. I think Mont Blancs are overrated.
4. The Mont Blanc 333 skeleton is NOT, I repeat NOT worth anywhere near $15,000.00+ Dollars.

WOW, that felt good to say that! Thank you bushido for creating this awesome thread!

 

Regards,

777

[777]

I love fountain pens - most ALL fountain pens except for MB. Why? Because the first FP I ever bought was an MB and it was an overpriced piece of junk!

 

 

 

 

[Jwolf24601]

Why the heck do I have to pay 4x the price to get a pen 30% larger? Pelikan 205 vs 805

 

Seems common among pen makers that the larger pens are much more expensive.

[777]

one thing that few want to talk about is how Lamy rips off people by using three different names for one single pen (vista, al star, and safari).