Are pens meant to be posted?

[Margana]

I never post my fountain pens but in the last few days I've begun experimenting with some pens that just don't seem to write well for me. When posted (placing the cap on the end of the barrel) the weight of the cap slightly alters the angle at which I write and, in a couple of cases, pens that skipped or dragged became better behaved.

 

This got me wondering, and not for the first time, whether my vintage pens were designed to be posted. The specific models in question are an English Duofold with an original italic nib and a Sheaffer TD with an extra fine nib. I tested a Vac "51" on which posting had no effect and a "51" with a modified nib that posting turned into the skipping champion of all time. Perhaps the alteration to the nib has made the sweet spot too small for posting and, since it is no longer in a factory state, it should be discounted anyway.

 

So are fountain pens designed to be posted?

[tonyv]

This got me wondering, and not for the first time, whether my vintage pens were designed to be posted.

 

So are fountain pens designed to be posted?

I don't know the answer to these questions, but I have noticed also that my modern pens don't post well at all yet my Parker Vac posts wonderfully. Although my moderns are all larger than the Vac, I don't think size is the reason. The caps don't stay posted on the ends of the moderns' barrels very well at all; they want to "pop off." The Vac's cap wants to stay posted and doesn't pop off. :blink:

[Henry]

I would say ya, but it will also mean leaving marks on the barrel. Maybe the modern pens not as much, but vintage pens were meant to be used, not as collections, so posting, scratches etc etc all part of it.

[Judybug]

I'm certainly not an expert about pen design, but - just for the heck of it - I recently decided to weigh all my pens on my kitchen scale. I weighed the pens capped, then I weighed cap alone, and then the pen body alone - without cap. I wondered if there was some standard ratio between pen body and cap.

 

Judging by my small collection of about 12 pens, I don't see any rhyme or reason to the cap-body relationship. With one of my pens, the cap weighs more than the body. Needless to say, writing with that one posted is not comfortable. With another pen, the body weighs twice as much as the cap. You would think this one would be OK posted, but it's more comfortable unposted - maybe because the pen itself is already heavy. With most of my pens, the pen body is slightly heavier than the cap. Some of them are comfortable posted and some are not.

 

So if there are any rules about pen body to cap relationship, I can't see what it is. :blink: But of course, my collection is small and may not be very representative.

 

Judybug

[*david*]

Some pens are meant to be posted, and some not. Some of the ones that are meant to be posted, you might not want to due to weight. But it's absolutely up to you, unless the cap won't fit on the back of the pen.

[The Man]

I never post my fountain pens but in the last few days I've begun experimenting with some pens that just don't seem to write well for me. When posted (placing the cap on the end of the barrel) the weight of the cap slightly alters the angle at which I write and, in a couple of cases, pens that skipped or dragged became better behaved.

 

This got me wondering, and not for the first time, whether my vintage pens were designed to be posted. The specific models in question are an English Duofold with an original italic nib and a Sheaffer TD with an extra fine nib. I tested a Vac "51" on which posting had no effect and a "51" with a modified nib that posting turned into the skipping champion of all time. Perhaps the alteration to the nib has made the sweet spot too small for posting and, since it is no longer in a factory state, it should be discounted anyway.

 

So are fountain pens designed to be posted?

To me, it's worth getting a pen that feels right while writing posted OR unposted (Bexley, Cross, Dupont . . . I could go on).

 

With the Cross Apogee (here The Man goes again with that Cross Apogee), I think one of things I really like is that posting on that pen while writing allows: 1) just the right amount of weight at the top of the pen (point facing you while writing); 2) essentially keeps the capped shape of the Apogee in your hand. So, there's neglectable change whether you post with that or not.

 

My selfish, personal preference (to which I don't ALWAYS adhere to; I've had to stand in line while writing something and the best thing TO do is to put that cap on while writing) is to write unposted. No matter how well an FP's made, just feels like the cap is gonna FLY OFF alla' sudden as I'm writing (doesn't help that when I DO write w/any of my FPs, it's almost agressive and fast).

 

There should be something said regarding VPs, eh?

Edited August 26, 2006 by The Man

[Margana]

Okay. So here's what I wonder.

 

In my hand the weight of the posted cap tends to alter the angle of the nib making it more acute. In my limited tests this caused two of the four pens to make better contact and skip less often while laying down a more consistent line. In other words the sweet spot was better engaged.

 

So I started wondering if posting the cap was expected by designers. Did they intend that extra bit of weight to encourage better contact with the paper and make it easier to hit the nib's sweet spot?

 

This is a very small sampling but I have run into with other fountain pens. Anyone else experienced it?

[*david*]

I think that reads too much into pen design. Manufacturers would not want such a small sweet spot on a nib.

 

Unless you are one who tends to hold your pen near vertical. Does the body of your un-posted pen rest on your hand, or stick straight up at the ceiling? If your pen barrel rests somewhere near the crook of your hand, and your hand is neither tiny nor huge, then the pen should be expected to work well (one would hope, anyway).

Edited August 26, 2006 by *david*

[kissing]

I just experienced it now with my Sonnet. I've been using it without posting the cap for a long time, because the Sonnet cap weighs a ton <_< (Steel Matte version).

 

I posted it, and yes - the altered angle of writing did engage the sweet spot that is harder to find when writing unposted (with my handwriting anyway). When people borrow my Sonnet and write with it posted, I hear a lot of them commenting that the pen seems to be deliberately weighted(?) (any comments on this?)

[tonyv]

In my hand the weight of the posted cap tends to alter the angle of the nib making it more acute. In my limited tests this caused two of the four pens to make better contact and skip less often while laying down a more consistent line. In other words the sweet spot was better engaged.

I have noticed this, too.

[Robert Alan]

Greetings!

Waterman and Lamy have manufactured fountain pens with cap posting as part of the design. All Waterman Le Man series pens (including 100, 200 and Rhapsody models), and Lamy Persona and the new Studio models have caps that click onto the barrel when posted. Therefore the caps are secure and can't slip off the barrel end. This concept is very clever, I think. However, whether one posts a cap or not is really a personal decision related to comfort. I'm sure there are those who do not post the cap on their Waterman Le Man 100.

Cheers, Robert Alan

[Margana]

I think that reads too much into pen design. Manufacturers would not want such a small sweet spot on a nib.

 

Unless you are one who tends to hold your pen near vertical. Does the body of your un-posted pen rest on your hand, or stick straight up at the ceiling? If your pen barrel rests somewhere near the crook of your hand, and your hand is neither tiny nor huge, then the pen should be expected to work well (one would hope, anyway).

David - The pen in my hand is normally at roughly a 45 degree angle to the writing surface. When posted the pen slides closer to the base of my thumb at a 40 degree angle. My hands are certainly not large (5'3" woman) but neither are they really small. So neither my hand nor my hold would seem to be the reason those two pens write better when posted.

 

Kissing - Most of my pens have metal caps so indeed they do feel "weighted" when posted. Even the celluloids feel weighted although less so. That is the main reason I seldom post. The second reason is the potential for leaving marks on the barrel.

 

Robert Alan - Thanks for the info on Waterman and Lamy. So at least a few contemporary pens have been designed to be posted.

 

I wonder if this is true for older pens or other pen manufacturers. Were Parker Vacs really designed to be posted? How about the "51" or any of the the Sheaffer pens like the Crest or the Sentinel?