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

[gweimer1]

The only problem with C/C is the capacity. Why ask us to fork out hundreds of dollars for a pen that use a $5 converter that holds .5~.7ml? how about spending some of that R&D money and start converters at 1ml, There's pleny of space left in that barrel, Yes I'm looking at you, Lamy, Visconti, Delta, Parker, etc etc. The world needs more converter with Con-70 like capacity.

 

Smoothness is overrated. If you want it so smooth go write with a brush pen or felt tip marker.

 

When it comes to that shape of pens people always say oh it's a Montblanc Copy, the Sheaffer Balances sheds many tears.

 

that's it for now.

 

My favorite pen is my teal Parker 51, but it writes SO smooth that the pen tends to get ahead of me. I have to rethink how I'm writing when I use it.

[FoszFay]

1. Australia is the worst place to live if you like fountain pens.

 

2. Pelikans are the greatest looking pen, also write beautifully too.

 

3. Montblancs are overpriced, but I've never tried one so don't listen to me.

 

4. Engeika sells stuff at the right price. Everyone else has MASSIVE mark-up on everything.

 

5. Pilot VP are ugly and over rated.

 

6. This thread is great and I enjoyed reading everyone's posts.

[plohmann]

Delta Fusion nibs. They write very well, but the marketing baloney is unbearable.

And I'm a huge Delta fan.

[rougeetnoir]

I don`t like nibs that are so oversmoothed they are slippery and turn writing into ice-skating.

 

And converters that stop working after the tenth fill, converters that don`t fit properly and get loose to leave an inky mess inside the pen barrel, converters that won`t fill at once, converters that are so poorly made they are leaking at the front and back, converters that destroy pens so that no cartridge or other converter will fit again, converters that are so exotic they are hard to come by and converters that quickly take up the ink`s colour into their once clear barrel.

 

What I also don`t like is the blurping of eyedroppers. What`s the use of a pen that you use for a while and it suddently spills it`s content over your papers?

 

Precious resin - the most ridiculous and best marketed name for cheap plastic ever.

 

Overpriced old fountain pens that were the cheapos of their time and give a crappy writing experience after they`re restored.

 

Plastics that crack after a few decades and can`t be repaired.

 

Fountain pens that are heavy and clumsy and at the same time not well-balanced.

 

Throw-away pens that write very well but cannot be refilled.

 

Inks that quickly become mold-infested.

 

Inks that dry very slowly so you have to use a blotter.

 

Expensive inks that look cheap.

 

Scented inks that make you want to vomit.

 

Nibs that come out of the factory misaligned.

 

Nibs with a ballshaped tipping for the ultimate boring writing experience like some manufacturers make them today.

 

"You should try a stub (or other specialty) nib...." as an advice for everyone new to fountain pens who hasn`t even managed to write properly with a medium nibsize yet.

[Notgatherox]

For me it'll be the overpriced modern pens (especially those with gold nibs hmm. Gold isn't THAT expensive to warrant such prices (at least, locally), Pelikan!)

 

And the small capacity of converters. Great for ink testing, not so good if you're looking to write a novel XD

 

I get irritated when people who don't know how to use FPs try to write with my FP and complain they're spoiled. Sigh.

 

 

~Epic

[Brian K]

I don`t like nibs that are so oversmoothed they are slippery and turn writing into ice-skating.

 

And converters that stop working after the tenth fill, converters that don`t fit properly and get loose to leave an inky mess inside the pen barrel, converters that won`t fill at once, converters that are so poorly made they are leaking at the front and back, converters that destroy pens so that no cartridge or other converter will fit again, converters that are so exotic they are hard to come by and converters that quickly take up the ink`s colour into their once clear barrel.

 

What I also don`t like is the blurping of eyedroppers. What`s the use of a pen that you use for a while and it suddently spills it`s content over your papers?

 

Precious resin - the most ridiculous and best marketed name for cheap plastic ever.

 

Overpriced old fountain pens that were the cheapos of their time and give a crappy writing experience after they`re restored.

 

Plastics that crack after a few decades and can`t be repaired.

 

Fountain pens that are heavy and clumsy and at the same time not well-balanced.

 

Throw-away pens that write very well but cannot be refilled.

 

Inks that quickly become mold-infested.

 

Inks that dry very slowly so you have to use a blotter.

 

Expensive inks that look cheap.

 

Scented inks that make you want to vomit.

 

Nibs that come out of the factory misaligned.

 

Nibs with a ballshaped tipping for the ultimate boring writing experience like some manufacturers make them today.

 

"You should try a stub (or other specialty) nib...." as an advice for everyone new to fountain pens who hasn`t even managed to write properly with a medium nibsize yet.

 

 

LOL - why are you still using fountain pens?

[Beckwith]

 

 

I get irritated when people who don't know how to use FPs try to write with my FP and complain they're spoiled. Sigh.

 

 

 

I have given fountain pens to friends to try (I'm not that concerned about people destroying even my nice ones), and on numerous occasions their first instinct has been to write with the nib facing the page and the feed on top - basically with the pen turned 180° from where it should be. Of course they can get a line out of some of my pens that way, but it's always funny to watch. I think it's because people think of ballpoints having the metal ball on the page so they assume they need to get the metal nib closer to the page too.

[rougeetnoir]

 

 

LOL - why are you still using fountain pens?

I don`t use fountain pens anymore, just one of them. Because I once fell in love with this one pen and love is forever.

[Zookie]

Stating that you fell in love with a certain pen in spite of its having design elements borrowed from another maker is a MAJOR taboo.

 

You know who you are

[Water Ouzel]

5. Rhodia paper: eww. I don't know what it is, but I wish I liked it Because I'm aware that it is good quality paper, but I can't use it. If I do, there are smears all over the paper due to the ink's slow drying times.

And you're a lefty over-writer, to boot, right?

[aawhite]

1. Australia is the worst place to live if you like fountain pens.

 

. . . .

 

 

If you mean the worst place to buy from bricks&mortar shops, then I agree. The prices here are comparatively very high.

 

But, with the current moderate $AUS exchange, this might be a good place to order pens (online) from overseas.

[Kimo]

1. Montblanc pens. There is no such thing as "precious resin" - it is plastic, and it is worse than that, it is brittle plastic. I bought one way back when I first became interested in fountain pens but had not learned how to tell quality from hype. One day my MB rolled off of my desk onto a wooden floor, only about 3 feet down, and the plastic barrel shattered into many tiny pieces. When I called MB customer service they were completely unhelpful and finally offered to sell me a replacement barrel for almost as much as the whole pen cost. When I see anyone pull out a MB these days with the intent to impress me what I immediately think is they don't really know quality fountain pens.

 

2. Any maker's limited editions. Almost all of these can not actually be used for writing with all of the junk glued to them. And the prices are beyond silly. What is the point of buying one?

 

3. Any forgeries. They are made, mostly in places like China and the former Soviet Union countries where governments have no interest in stopping such criminal activity. They are becoming more numerous and are polluting our hobby more and more as each day passes.

[Brian K]

1. Montblanc pens. There is no such thing as "precious resin" - it is plastic, and it is worse than that, it is brittle plastic. I bought one way back when I first became interested in fountain pens but had not learned how to tell quality from hype. One day my MB rolled off of my desk onto a wooden floor, only about 3 feet down, and the plastic barrel shattered into many tiny pieces. When I called MB customer service they were completely unhelpful and finally offered to sell me a replacement barrel for almost as much as the whole pen cost. When I see anyone pull out a MB these days with the intent to impress me what I immediately think is they don't really know quality fountain pens..

 

This always mystifies me as I have owned a 149 for about 30 years. It's periodically been my EDC and I have not babied it. It's been dropped and kicked and what all else and the infamous shattering of delicate pen has not happened.

 

And another thing, I can not count the number of times someone who speaks German has explained that the best translation of "edelharz" is "high quality" resin, not the marketing nonsense phrase "precious" resin. Perhaps it's a matter of degree, but it seems like a genuine distinction. Let's give it a rest, okay?

[de_pen_dent]

Another one for me - detailed reviews of cheap pens (eg, the Review sub-forum which seems to be full of reviews of Jinhaos and Kaigelus).

 

Note - I am not slagging off on cheap pens. Many of them write really well. I just dont consider a $5 Hero that I used in 4th grade or a generic Jinhao to be exciting enough to either detail in a lengthy review or to read about in said review. Those are utility pens - they do their job, they write well but hardly worth getting excited about.

Edited September 1, 2014 by de_pen_dent

[lovemy51]

Another one for me - detailed reviews of cheap pens (eg, the Review sub-forum which seems to be full of reviews of cheap pens).

 

Note - I am not slagging off on cheap pens. Many of them write really well. I just dont consider a $5 Hero that I used in 4th grade or a generic Jinhao to be exciting enough to either detail in a lengthy review or to read about in said review. Those are utility pens - they do their job, they write well but hardly worth getting excited about.

i agree... i feel the same about MB...

[globetrotterjon]

Glad someone raised this topic. A few things to get off my chest:

 

1) MB Writers Editions/Limited Editions - Really? Are you expecting me to pay four figures, often four figures plus to buy a limited edition pen that was "inspired" by a writer the German marketing team at MB determined would be this year's seller? Most of the honored writers lived and died before MB ever existed and would likely have scoffed at the kind of pseudo-literary these pretentious pens symbolize. I can't wait to see an MB Solzenitsen (yes, I know the spelling is off) pen honoring a writer who used a table top scattered with random pencils and cheap BPs to write his literature.

 

2) Pen show snobs - you know who you are. The folks selling the above mentioned LE pens behind locked glass cases and won't let you touch the pens and frankly are so dismissive of anyone who doesn't appear to be in their buying demographic as to give you the time of day....in Russian.

 

3) Rotring pens - how I have wanted to love them - cheap, great industrial design, seemingly indestructible, and completely impossible to write with no matter how much tweaking, cartridge squeezing, priming, etc. I do.

 

4) Expensive pens with rock hard steel nibs - I've been given a few of these as gifts over the years by well intentioned and very generous souls. Why would anyone pay north of $500 for a pen with a nib as hard and cold as a Swiss banker's soul?

 

5) Parker 51s - sorry, I just can't understand the attraction over a nondescript pen that writes with very little line variation, is quirky to fill. It looks like a Parker Jotter's thin grandfather to me.

 

6) TWSBI pens - because I buy so damned many of them. These things are irresistible, write better than pens that cost four or five or ten times as much and look damned good.

 

7) Handmade, pulpy, "recovered" papers - yes, I like seeing actual bark in my paper, I suppose since it will make me feel slightly better about the death of the tree that went into making it, but seriously, ever try writing in one of these precious notebooks with a FP? It's like trying to write on toilet paper in the rain.

 

8) MB ballpoints as status symbols - poking out of the top of your shirt pocket in a business meeting, you think it says "powerful executive on the way up" but to me it says "three hours to kill in Frankfurt Duty Free."

[zchen]

Glad someone raised this topic. A few things to get off my chest:

 

4) Expensive pens with rock hard steel nibs - I've been given a few of these as gifts over the years by well intentioned and very generous souls. Why would anyone pay north of $500 for a pen with a nib as hard and cold as a Swiss banker's soul?

 

8) MB ballpoints as status symbols - poking out of the top of your shirt pocket in a business meeting, you think it says "powerful executive on the way up" but to me it says "three hours to kill in Frankfurt Duty Free."

 

Completely agree with 4. I'm looking at you Visconti, and don't you try to sugar coat steel nib by masking it with a name like Chromium 18, and you Delta with your 'fusion' nib.

 

and 8 made me laugh

[Polanova]

 

And another thing, I can not count the number of times someone who speaks German has explained that the best translation of "edelharz" is "high quality" resin, not the marketing nonsense phrase "precious" resin. Perhaps it's a matter of degree, but it seems like a genuine distinction. Let's give it a rest, okay?

 

I`d say "precious resin" is a much better translation of "Edelharz" than "high quality resin".

 

… "marketing nonsense phrase `precious´ resin" indeed!

[FriedIceCream]

5. Pilot VP are ugly and over rated.

 

THIS

[Brian K]

I`d say "precious resin" is a much better translation of "Edelharz" than "high quality resin".

 

… "marketing nonsense phrase `precious´ resin" indeed!

As you would appear to be a native speaker, I bow to your interpretation, but that doesn't change the fact that my 149 has proved to be as sturdy as a bar of steel. Perhaps I got one that is truly "precious."