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

[zap210]

1. Letting ink sit in a pen for months without flushing it.

2. Putting up with a bad writer.

3. Taking other people's advice on a brand or model without trying it out in person.

4. Learning to repair and especially nib grinding on a good pen.

5. Looking at handwriting examples.

6. Not getting the pen that you want.

7. And lastly, not using the pen!

[Michigan]

Michigan:

 

Ha ha. You win the prize. That is a pretty dang funny post. And pretty spot on.

 

You are very kind, sotto2. It felt like swearing in church to say those things. One thing I love about FPs is this forum. You have all greatly expanded my horizons.

[Ted A]

The seeming prevailing attitude that there is something wrong with converters. Not everyone wants a pen that holds so much ink that you hate it by the time you finally empty it

[Xand3]

The seeming prevailing attitude that there is something wrong with converters. Not everyone wants a pen that holds so much ink that you hate it by the time you finally empty it

+1, I actually prefer my converter pens to my piston pens. Just more convenient.

 

And, if something goes wrong somewhere down the line, all I have to do is but another $5 converter. No expensive piston work to be done.

Edited June 26, 2014 by Xand3

[johniem]

Maybe I'm just in the wrong mood today; didn't get to see the Lovely Ms.Marie. But...

The only thing I see wrong with the MB149 is that I don't have one.

The only thing I see wrong with the Parker 51 is that I only have one.

I have two Ahabs and a Konrad and never had a problem with smell.

And I like converters in pens that take them.

[krandallkraus]

This thread is my fave. It would be great to have this on a site that was known to censor people's opinions because the site administration didn't like what people said or the way they said it. Or that site could institute a 35 foot buffer zone. Oh, I guess that wouldn't work after all.

Anyway, love this thread! Go FPN!

[krandallkraus]

Michigan may not be my favorite summer vacation spot (it's the mosquitoes, not the geography) but Michigan sure does give us my favorite posts on FPN.

Go Michigan! You make my day.

[de_pen_dent]

Snakes on anything are just plain vulgar.

 

Except on planes.

 

For me:

 

- The excessive attachment people have to their pens, to the point that it starts approaching the level of a human-to-human bond. It's a pen, fer crying out loud (and it most likely doesnt even a snake with ruby eyes).

 

- Montblanc's frequent laziness with some of their SE/LE pens. Stop putting 3 or 4 concentric bands on a pen to denote sheet music - you did that for Toscanini, Chopin, Menuhin & Brahms. Stop using differently sized rings to denote a change in life situations. That well has been double or triple-dipped. Make an effort to be original!

 

- Eye-droppers. They are evil and gotsta go.

[Regulateur]

hi hany. do you have Apache Sunset from Noodlers? that's a winner for me. it's the only one i have and love it! have the boottle sitting on my desk in front of me right now... if you can handle light orange with a lot, and i mean, a lot of shading... by all means try this one.

Fully agree with lovemy51 about Noodlers Apache Sunset, great ink, great color

 

Received my first Edison a few days ago, a Beaumont with a 1.1mm italic nib and ... I have mixed feelings about it. Nib is great, the size is perfect (similar to a M600) but the walls of the cap and body are so thin! To a point where I am concerned about its longevity in a normal daily usage. Disappointing for a $150 pen. Can't dispute the quality of the finish and the superb material. Can't extend my comments to ther Edison pens but it makes me wonder about ordering an Edison Collier....

 

Same negative comment about MB. I have had this pen since '95, it was my go to pen for about 10 years. Not to impress by the so called precious resin. Cracked cap, cracked section and replaced the golden collar at the bottom of the section twice as the gold plating was peeling off. All this while my Pelikan barely shows any wear signs after 4 years.

[Regulateur]

... I wasn't done!

 

The two most frustrating pens I have ever own are a Montegrappa Miya Argento and a Noodler stinker. The last one is still captive of a lead coffin as it still stink after three years. I never manage to write more than a few letters before it stops writing.

 

The Montegrappa is a more serious issue given its price. I decided to treat myself with a celluloid pen. I had the pen for about 6 weeks in total over a 10 month period. During that time, it went back twice to Italy. The thing needed a diaper, it was leaking from everywhere. Montegrappa never fixed it. Luckily, my brick and mortar gave me my money back.

 

How could a company charge so much for an object that doesn' t achieve its basic function. How couldn't they fix such a low tech object, especially after getting two attempts at it? Especially sinçe this thing uses a converter!

[sotto2]

Same negative comment about MB. I have had this pen since '95, it was my go to pen for about 10 years. Not to impress by the so called precious resin. Cracked cap, cracked section and replaced the golden collar at the bottom of the section twice as the gold plating was peeling off. All this while my Pelikan barely shows any wear signs after 4 years.

 

MB, the pen we love to bash. 20 yrs ago, I got two MB ballpoints as gifts. They wrote very well, but both of them got big cracks in the "precious resin" up near the clip. Never dropped, never mis-used. Piffle.

[owend]

 

Hmm... deep-seeded? Very clever pun or deep-seated Freudian issue?

 

BTW, it's hardly deep-seated, considering the word pen is from the same root (whoops, another Freudian slip) as you-know-what...

 

Actually, "pen" is from the Latin "penna" meaning feather (think quills!), and "(bleep)" is from the Latin "(bleep)", meaning tail (think descriptive?).

 

I must try to get a life

[owend]

Hm, the second word in Latin and English got bleeped. You can probably guess the word if I say that the PEN IS mightier than the sword.

[Mickey]

 

Actually, "pen" is from the Latin "penna" meaning feather (think quills!), and "(bleep)" is from the Latin "(bleep)", meaning tail (think descriptive?).

 

Quite correct, but less funny. Jokes (even weak ones, like mine above) need not be correct, only appear superficially so, an attribute they share with politicians.

[flyshot]

I can't believe that some of my pens cost more than my best Sage flyrod!! But my flyrods are made from "precious graphite"...not "precious resin". 😳

[Mickey]

I can't believe that some of my pens cost more than my best Sage flyrod!! But my flyrods are made from "precious graphite"...not "precious resin".

 

I just picked up a pair of custom made shirts, Thursday. (My excuse is size, 17.75"/39.5"). You don't want to know what they cost... only a little less than my last pair of shoes (size 15 US or 48 Euro).

[koulour]

Poorly engineered snap-on caps!

Someone should explain manufacturers that they tend to get loose as time goes by. Why on earth would someone not choose a clutch-friction or screw-on cap? I'd happily pay the extra $5-10 for any of my pens to have this (vintage!) technology. I would then be reassured that I will not have to ditch another perfectly-other than being unable to be capped-working pen!

 

PLEASE people, If I'm buying a writing instrument that costs over $30-50, I expect it to last a while!

 

Oh, and please find a way for screw on caps to stay on while in my pocket. Ink does not look good on trouser pockets!

 

In short words, companies and especially R&D's should:

i) Work more,

ii) Check their (or other) brand's history of design!

 

Bling and fancy is not everything people, for the love of God, infuse some long term practicality to your products!

 

There, I've said it, it's out of my system now!

[The Blue Knight]

I don't see why so many people want bullet proof and permanent inks. I mean most of what you write ends up in the bin and normally if the paper gets wet enough for the ink to run the paper will fall apart anyway. Surely it's better to have inks that don't ruin your cloths and furniture.

[Yaakova]

I don't see why so many people want bullet proof and permanent inks. I mean most of what you write ends up in the bin and normally if the paper gets wet enough for the ink to run the paper will fall apart anyway. Surely it's better to have inks that don't ruin your cloths and furniture.

If you're lettering something to be framed and hung on the wall, you want an ink that isn't going to fade.

[Ink Sandwich]

1) I find it strange what people consider 'expensive' or 'cheap'. An expensive pen to me is any pen that costs more than aounr €20 (~$30?).

2) All the fuss that's made about fountain pens being out of date, retro etc. up to the point where even using one is considered strange, but maybe that's a very American thing. That thought never occurred to me before joining the forum.