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

[Polanova]

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."

I don`t doubt you - my uncle bought a 146 for ca. 85 Deutschmarks new in the late 70ies. He keeps it lying around, permanently filled with black ink.

Says he has to wipe the section before occasional usage, so he can`t complain either.

[ethernautrix]

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?

 

 

 

 

Mmmm rock hard...nibs.

 

I use $15 steel nibs in my Danitrio Komori. LOVE the combination!

 

And the rigid nibs on my Nakayas... true writing joy!

 

Soft or flexible nibs are fun for play, but for serious or quick or extended writing, give me the hard nibs. Writing with soft or semi-flex nibs tends to feel like tug-of-war over how the ink will get on the paper. Nib wants to go this way and I'm saying, Hey! Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! HERE, over HERE. HARD NIBS, PLEASE.

[globetrotterjon]

Ahhhh, I had forgotten your love of the stiff nibs! I am just a sucker for line variation and, at least for my fat mitts, a soft nib is a lot easier over the long haul.

[de_pen_dent]

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.

 

 

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.

 

Funny how one man's meat is another man's broccoli.

 

I like WE pens and absolutely do not understand the appeal of TWSBI - ok, I can understand why pen enthusiasts would want to collect it, but it boggles my mind that this pen is recommended to beginners. Prone to failure, prone to writing problems... jeez, just get a Faber Castell and avoid this mess. Life is too short to spend time trying to get inexpensive pens to work properly!

[Ego Id Veto]

Okay, here are a few of my pet peeves:

 

 

 

-Hooded nibs. Why would you want to hide the beauty of an fp nib?

 

-Plastic parts on an expensive pen. If I'm going to pay 350+ bucks for an Aurora Kona or Montblanc, why would I want to see a cheap, slippery moulded plastic section in place of something like resin or brushed metal?

 

-Any expensive fountain pen that doesn't write perfectly out of the box. If I can get perfect performance out of a 5 dollar Pilot Varsity, why do I get a poorly aligned nib with tines that are too narrow on my brand new Aurora/Pelikan/Waterman/MB?

Quality control standards are nonexistent today.

 

-Montblanc pens in general. Why should I pay that much for a plastic cigar when I can get a much better Pelikan?

 

-Overpriced pens with steel nibs. If I am going to pay 200 dollars, I expect a little value for my money, and not a piece of plastic and stainless steel, with the most expensive part being the logo.

 

-Modern celluloid pens being obscenely expensive. Celluloid isn't that expensive. Why must a pen made out of it with a damn steel nib cost upwards of 300 dollars?

 

-Pen sellers in my country who have no idea about pens, and mark their products to twice the recommended retail price. I've been told by my local pen dealer (I never buy from him, he's useless) that Waterman and Parker ink will destroy my vintage ones, because "It's made in China and will make them rust".

 

-eBay sellers who try to hock a 2 year-old pen as "vintage" for many times the actual price, such as selling a Waterman Kultur for 130 bucks.

 

-sellers who claim any vintage pen that's got a hint of flex is a "wet noodle" simply because they know people will want to buy it.

 

Rant over.... For now...

[Icywolfe]

People saying FPs are only for cursive. I personally I like writing print with FPs. It's easier than a BP.

[mhphoto]

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."

 

Thumbs up to everything here.

[tendollarword]

I think hooded nibs are ugly and demonstrators look cheap.

[Blue_Moon]

I think hooded nibs are ugly and demonstrators look cheap.

I don't particularly care for hooded nibs, but I love semi-hooded nibs.

[Garageboy]

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

And I'm a huge Delta fan.

Fusion is high on the list of terrible Delta marketing (pens with removable good luck charms? Pens with a Driedel? )

 

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?

 

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.

 

Nibs that come out of the factory misaligned.

 

 

"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.

 

+1 These - what pens were you referring to in your "overpriced old fountain pens" reference?

 

 

Let me add another - poor nib work - thanks for regrinding my pen, but how about realigning the nib before you do that? How about taking some extra time and polishing the tipping after the regrinding, and NOT make a mess around the tipping material. Give me a factory style finish, not just flat spot it at a particular angle...

[hari317]

the indignation expressed by some when they hear that some one bought a pen but never inked it, as if all pens bought must be used.

[Brian K]

the indignation expressed by some when they hear that some one bought a pen but never inked it, as if all pens bought must be used.

 

 

I count myself as one who believs a pen is nothing more than a pretty stick untill it is inked. It's what they're made for, after all. I would not, however, characterize my reaction to permanently sidelined pens as indignation, rather as disappointment.

 

I would not keep a pen I would never use unless it had great sentimental and/or historical value and/or was irreparable or too delicate to use.

 

I will never insist someone ink and use his or her own property but I can't help thinking it's a shame it's been relegated to a mere bauble or decoration.

 

Regards,

 

Brian

[dannyboy]

Never lend your pen! Never. 'Nuff said.

[Algester]

 

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?

I think that's missing here you say your 149 has been with you for 30 years... what if we say the resin changed in formulation resulting in well... you know... does that mean that certain aged pens can take a beating than some modern day ones... I'm not saying about celluloid and some ebonite materials and casein can take the beating... we know CELLULOID WILL BURN, casein will melt/dissolve and ebonite will shatter

[Algester]

PS: no one ever mentions about making a fountain pen stress test... you know what safety testing labs do to items burn em, drop em, chuck them into a microwave, expose them with high intensity light and soak them in water... and they still have to write

[aawhite]

 

. . . . .

 

Life is too short to spend time trying to get inexpensive pens to work properly!

 

I can say the same for expensive pens that do not work properly.

[aawhite]

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

And I'm a huge Delta fan.

 

As a metallurgist, I think the Delta Fusion nib is a marketing insult to intelligence.

 

All other Deltas are OK.

Edited September 3, 2014 by aawhite

[Newjelan]

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

Nah, New Zealand is worse, way way worse.

[de_pen_dent]

I can say the same for expensive pens that do not work properly.

 

Sure. I can see that. It is probably more irritating when that happens to an expensive pen. OTOH, spending $50 to customize a nib makes more sense with a $500+ pen than a $50 pen. Regardless, either is annoying.

 

(Btw, your lab looks like my lab's younger sibling!)

[Blue_Moon]

 

Sure. I can see that. It is probably more irritating when that happens to an expensive pen. OTOH, spending $50 to customize a nib makes more sense with a $500+ pen than a $50 pen. Regardless, either is annoying.

 

(Btw, your lab looks like my lab's younger sibling!)

 

I agree. I'd rather get a $100.00, $150.00, $200.00 pen and have it adjusted/ground to the way I'd consider perfect, than to get a $500.00 pen that doesn't write well. Actually, I've never seen a $500.00 pen that interested me - probably because I know that's way above any amount I'd ever pay.