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

[VersoFolio]

My dirty little secret is.....

I have a limited edition, Italian luxury pen that I may have to sell because I'm too afraid to use it... and a Parker Duofold, Centennial, I once considered using as a tent peg!! (seriously...it would make a very good one)!

[VersoFolio]

2 hours ago, JonSzanto said:

/delete.

 

Is there no way to delete posts now?

 

Yep.. check smugdill's animated post ie; 'more options' button at top of window. (Report>Request change, delete, move post etc) Moderator will assist.

[inkstainedruth]

Like Mannyonpil, I've *somehow* missed this thread (which was started a couple of YEARS before I even knew FPN existed) before now.

I have spent the entire evening reading JUST THIS THREAD....

You people would have p*ssed me off greatly if I hadn't been laughing so hard....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Detman101]

2 hours ago, es9 said:

I have yet to find a gold nib that writes more smoothly than my favorite non-gold nibs: Esterbrook, Sheaffer palladium triumph, and Parker 51 Special.  

And gold nibs are such gushers. I cannot get great shading from them.

[inkstainedruth]

20 minutes ago, Detman101 said:

And gold nibs are such gushers. I cannot get great shading from them.

That sounds to be more of an issue with the nib itself (rather than the material it's made of) and/or the ink.  Particularly the ink.  I get GREAT shading with both steel and gold nibs, but am more likely to get it with drier inks or in drier pens.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[JonSzanto]

Fountain pen taboo: never generalize about something like a "gold nib". The only thing gold nibs have in common with each other is that they are made of gold alloy.

[inkstainedruth]

Plus, while (presumably), the stainless steel used for pen nibs is all the same *type* of steel, I learned a number of years ago that there's stainless steel and then there's stainless steel....  Different formulas for different purposes (including food-grade stainless steel, which is what I needed for a project; there may be photos kicking around for the final result, but they're on my old computer, and that will involve finding the older flash drive that can actually access those files....  But suffice it to say, it took most of the afternoon, calling a friend who turned out not to be home, and having a bunch of guys in two different businesses go "I don't know the answer...."  (And after digging through equipment catalogs at the second place, going back to the first place and saying "Yes -- this type of stainless steel wire works. I need.... five feet...."  And the guy basically then gave me the five feet of wire I needed for free, just to make me go away (and probably not ever come back.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Mech-for-i]

I humbly disagree with PenBBS as complained. Even their earliest model bar the defective 266 are still offered, and the Mfr always state that they are just independent workshop that turn out batch production. 

 

It's not like that's even anything rare in fountain pen today. So many names big and small had such batch production and no one seems to complain but not PenBBS ,I wager it's a stereotyping thought on display. If it's Chinese then it must be cheap plastic it must be cheap and it must be mass produced but it's quite a wide berth off the truth. The material on the PenBBS in general I find no better but no worse then my Stipula, Visconti, Edison and then some, certainly better than many of the more mass produced models with many big names and I had quite a few of them too.

 

In fact today a lot of Chinese mid range , up market, and higher end product are frequently in such kind of batch production and similar. It's a flexible way of doing business. The Mfr can quickly adept and not bogged down with runs of stock and alike. And be more liberal and flexible with parts, raw materials.

 

There are pen Mfr who made mid range , up market, or high end models and keep making them in the same material and finishes. The big German names come to mind then there are pen Mfr that keep the pen model but stay batch production so you might had the same pen but often with very different finishes, many Italian brand do that too and so do most independent workshop brand. I had quite a few French that I would like to had again in the old finishing but it's the mfr's pick. I won't be complaining because they switch to a new one. PenBBS is no different here.

 

 

[Mech-for-i]

1 hour ago, JonSzanto said:

Fountain pen taboo: never generalize about something like a "gold nib". The only thing gold nibs have in common with each other is that they are made of gold alloy.

 

Ain't that right , I've had steel nibs that write softer and give more comfortable flex and line variation than gold and they came from the same Mfr. And more to that I had encounter that multiple times with multiple names. And it's also unrelated to vintage, had bunch of very firm gold nib that dated to the golden pre war vintage years.

[Mech-for-i]

2 hours ago, Gaudi95 said:

My dirty little secret is.....

I have a limited edition, Italian luxury pen that I may have to sell because I'm too afraid to use it... and a Parker Duofold, Centennial, I once considered using as a tent peg!! (seriously...it would make a very good one)!

 

You know kind of hard to drive it into the earth.

[peroride]

FP tabu? I've only inked the Conid twice. Damn thing holds too much ink taking too long to drain.

Actually that goes for all the big gushing filler mechs, overrated. More is not better.

Oh, and I like the Con-70 😜

🧯, flame on.

[VersoFolio]

2 hours ago, Mech-for-i said:

 

You know kind of hard to drive it into the earth.

Yes quite hard but worth a try😆

[maclink]

A very interesting thread.  I laughed out loud on many occasions while all alone reading.

 

Anyway, I thought I'd share my own controversial views:

 

- I have 4 Parker 51's with different nibs etc. and gave them a good trial, I'd say.  I disassembled two and cleaned them, swapped nibs on one of them.  While being a good pen, I can't see what all the popularity is about.  While I do give the Parker 51 a lot of credit for comfort and balance, it all ends there for me.  They have been among the most difficult to clean (do a basic flush between inks) and I can see why the vacumatic and aerometric filling systems are no longer produced.

- A huge pet peeve of mine is the over the top packaging some pens come in.  The two highlights for me are the Pelikan 101N and the Aurora Duo Cart.  Those pens were just lost in the boxes, making for what I thought, a gaudy, over the top presentation.  OTOH, the best packaging I've ever seen is by Conid.  

- I've now settled with MontBlanc and Pelikan as my two favourite pen manufacturers.  I've had the most satisfaction with their products.  I have to confess that the negative commentary about MB on this forum did influence me, and it took me a while to actually give them a try.  I really like their pens and am willing to pay the premium price that they ask for them, or even better, to get one pre-owned at a nice price.  I do feel that MB has been singled out, perhaps, because of their successful marketing and resulting 'ubiquity'.  Not to mention the pricing of their other accessories/items.  Furthermore, there are many fountain pens with similarly questionable price tags and which are bought without the same controversy around them.

- I don't care if pens are handmade and am not prepared to pay more solely on this basis.  I'm more concerned about whether or not they work well, and are made well, without clunky faults.  The same goes for pens that are made up of parts manufactured by machinery through injection moulding etc.

- I don't mind if pens looking similar (cigar-shaped pens for instance).  However, I do dislike cheap, clearcut imitations.  My instinctive, admittedly likely conditioned, reaction is one of dismay and irritation when it's a cheap, nigh unto, replica.  So for me, it's not about cheap and it's not about imitation, but about the combination of the two.  I do think it damaging to creativity in the long run, but of course, I may be wrong.  Whatever the case, I strongly dislike it and will therefore not support it with my money. 

[Karmachanic]

Wing Sung 601 is a currently produced vacumatic filler

 

[sansenri]

17 hours ago, JonSzanto said:

/delete.

 

Is there no way to delete posts now?

 

 

has there ever been?

 

you can always rename it "dreaded single post"

[JonSzanto]

10 minutes ago, sansenri said:

has there ever been?

 

I posed the question because I participate in a handful of forums, all running variations on some of the same software, and while some explicitly offer a "Delete Post" option, I can never remember which. I wasn't sure if it had just gotten buried in the recent upgrade of the site. Now I know. Soon I'll forget, I imagine...

[Mannyonpil]

On 3/1/2021 at 8:12 PM, Gaudi95 said:

I too adjust and have seen many worlds..

Thank you for your post friend.

Once your mind has been expanded there is no going back to the "real" world.

[Mannyonpil]

On 3/2/2021 at 12:55 PM, corniche said:

 

You sick b@$+@>d; how do you sleep at night?

 

- Sean 

I may need professional help.

[Biber]

On 3/2/2021 at 8:00 AM, maclink said:

...

 

- I have 4 Parker 51's with different nibs etc. and gave them a good trial, I'd say.  I disassembled two and cleaned them, swapped nibs on one of them.  While being a good pen, I can't see what all the popularity is about.  While I do give the Parker 51 a lot of credit for comfort and balance, it all ends there for me.  They have been among the most difficult to clean (do a basic flush between inks) and I can see why the vacumatic and aerometric filling systems are no longer produced.

...

 

I wondered that too about the 51, and caught hell for saying that I had wondered what all the hype is about. Apparently "hype" is a particularly egregious personal insult when it comes to the 51. I picked one up a while back and quite like it, so now I get it. It's balance, weight and feel spoke to me, and I've grown accustomed to the uncircumcised look. I think I'd quite like to get another one actually - because because 2 is better than 1 right? But is it the be all and end all of fountain pans? For some, yes. For me? No, not really. You're welcome to not care for it. That's your prerogative.  

[Muncle]

2 hours ago, Biber said:

 

 I've grown accustomed to the uncircumcised look.

Well, that does it. Never looking at my pens the same way again.