What Pen Won't You Buy?

[Honeybadgers]

Visconti. I’ve heard/read about too many instances of faulty nibs. Margin of error too high for my taste for such expensive pens.

 

I have the pen I want, the homo sapiens bronze age, and MIGHT pull the trigger on another divina metro and just suffer through the weird issue with the section sucking up ink for that effing gorgeous celluloid, but I have figured out how to rationalize the 80% bum nib rate I got over 5 pens.

 

 

Set aside another $40 for tuning. That's the only problem with them. they're tuned horribly. When they ARE tuned, they are some of the most glorious writing pens on earth, that palladium nib is nothing short of amazing. Think of it as a tax on being able to have such an amazing pen. I would handily recommend a visconti as long as the buyer was willing to have it tuned right away.

 

I'll never buy a pen with a polished metal section. It's got nothing to do with my grip, my fingers are just inherently oily and I just can't hold them for long.

 

I also don't love hooded nibs, but there are exceptions.

 

I think I'm done with stub nibs, too. As my handwriting improves and my natural cursive edges more and more towards spencerian, it just looks awful with a stub.

[Bexinthecity247]

On the point about 'nazi pens' - I also collect Militaria so any pen with a swastika or German WW2 history would actually have more collectible importance to me.

As for pens I won't buy - heavy ones. I have a Jinhao which writes so nice but it's so heavy I can only write for short periods and I write almost all my stories/poems by hand before typing so no good for me.

 

I wouldn't buy a stub or an oblique because I don't think it would suit my handwriting at all.

I also wouldn't buy any kind of dip pen. I have one set and I just cannot get on with it. I'm too impatient to keep dipping and it just turns out to be a huge inky mess.

Edited August 15, 2018 by Bexinthecity247

[meiers]

Montblanc pens. I've heard nothing but bad things about them.

They are amazing!!!

[Manalto]

They are amazing!!!

 

You do realize that word doesn't mean anything anymore. I regularly hear things like vacuum cleaner bags and available parking spaces described as "amazing."

[Manalto]

Any new pen that is not ready to write immediately out of the box (viz. Noodlers) or any pen temperamental about which ink(s) it will take.

[Uncial]

What I wont buy (which is purely personal):

Conid - I'm just not convinced they are worth the money

Vintage - I'm totally over them and have a few I will love and keep. The market is swamped with leaking pens, cracked caps/barrels and poor nibs all at sky high prices, described as 'mint' and 'flexy' (and all its variants)

Indian Ebonites - not bad pens, just waaaay too big. Have yet to find a small one I like.

FPR - some love them. I don't feel able to

Nakaya - I have a passionate hatred of their nibs

Cheap Chinese Pens - some are good, but I have enough for ink testing needs that I just don't need any more. I've bought a lot of pure rubbish and when I add it up it's just shameful.

Stipula - any of their recent offerings don't push my buttons and the Splash was unforgivable

Monteverde - I love their inks. The inks are great. The pens? Not so much. The Monza is an insult.

I want to say Visconti, but I know that if I spot one at a great price I just might be suckered into taking the risk and buying another one. Why do they have to look so pretty? It's the Venus Flytrap of the pen world.

[adatse]

Not hoping to step on any toes, but I'll never buy another Lamy or Sheaffer pen. After buying 3 of each and being quite disappointed with all, that's enough for me.

 

Carl

+1 regarding the Lamys. I've had Lamy Safari, Aion, and 2000. None of them gave me a satisfactory writing experience. The closest was the Aion because I liked the aesthetic, feel, and balance, but the nib/flow was dry and the pen was too heavy for long writing sessions. It's all subjective, I know, but Lamys just not for me. Glad I'm not the only naysayer =)

[adatse]

I wont buy any pen after my next purchase!

+1

[adatse]

 

Ah, don't believe everything that you read as gospel. Yeah, you might find some QC issues now and then with Visconti, but I don't think it's necessarily as widespread as one might think. I own 2 dozen Visconti pens ranging from low to high in price. The only ones I've ever had a problem with were the less expensive Visconti pens, like the Van Gogh, and I think most of those problems stemmed from me failing to use the right ink for the Visconti steel nibs. Once I figured things out, I found myself loving my Van Goghs almost as much as my expensive ones. But, more importantly, I've had very few problem with my expensive Viscontis.

 

 

 

I have the pen I want, the homo sapiens bronze age, and MIGHT pull the trigger on another divina metro and just suffer through the weird issue with the section sucking up ink for that effing gorgeous celluloid, but I have figured out how to rationalize the 80% bum nib rate I got over 5 pens.

 

 

Set aside another $40 for tuning. That's the only problem with them. they're tuned horribly. When they ARE tuned, they are some of the most glorious writing pens on earth, that palladium nib is nothing short of amazing. Think of it as a tax on being able to have such an amazing pen. I would handily recommend a visconti as long as the buyer was willing to have it tuned right away.

 

I'll never buy a pen with a polished metal section. It's got nothing to do with my grip, my fingers are just inherently oily and I just can't hold them for long.

 

I also don't love hooded nibs, but there are exceptions.

 

I think I'm done with stub nibs, too. As my handwriting improves and my natural cursive edges more and more towards spencerian, it just looks awful with a stub.

Thank you both for your input. I agree that some of them are gloriously beautiful, but most of them are out of my normal price range. So to justify a splurge, personally I want the peace of mind that I'll enjoy the writing experience right out of the box. I'll just have to keep looking at 2D versions of the Viscontis online =)

[AlohaLani787]

1~ Counterfeit

2~ Clear, or see through body

3~ Oversize

4~ Cutsie hot colors that are visible to the space shuttle

5~ Probably not cartridge only pens (most likely cost dependent)

6~ Super cheap. I bought two and it was not worth it at all. Scratchy nibs that require too much pressure to write and hard to start with ink I know isn't a problem.

7~ Light weight

 

I have both resin and metal sectioned pens and never gave a thought to the material. I absolutely love the metal sectioned pen. Perhaps the strong dislike of metal sections has to do with an individual's higher level of skin oil.

[pajaro]

Any more Japanese pens. I don't like the nibs.

[challer61]

Anything Pilot. I find the nibs pathetic

TWSBI for the same reason.

 

My cheap Parker Jotters work far better.

 

Nothing from China.

[inkstainedruth]

I would not touch Parker Vector I had bought one six years ago and after only four months of normal school use barrel in the thread section cracked. I have returned it to the seller and got a new one after two months the pen started to clog like crazy and I was using only original Parker cartridges and then the cap cracked. Again returned. The third one held for six months filled with frequent cleaning due to burping and clogging before cracking. The last one also cracked after four months and with that I was finished with the brand. No modern Parker for me no thanks.

 

Where were yours made? I have a bunch of Vectors made in the UK, and the first one cracked at the threading after several years of *daily* use (back then I was only using a fountain pen for my morning pages journal) and this happened about a year or two *after* it got left at my brother-in-law's house for a month (during which time it sat in the bottom of my husband's car in 20°F weather when he picked it up and then went to see his mother in the hospital in MA for a few days; the day after he got home, I pulled it out of the car and it started right up). And then I lost it in my house for the better part of a year (after having just flushed it out). So it lasted a good number of years (probably close to 8) after I bought it.

For other modern Parkers I might agree with you -- my Urban was junk. Had to go back twice to Parker (the second time because the replacement converter got stuck in the barrel (!) and I had to kind of force Parker to even pay for shipping. They sent it back with a cryptic note saying "barrel defective" and a new Urban -- which leaks like a sieve through the collar and over the top of the nib, even though I'd flushed the nib unit within an inch of its life. It's now destined for the trash, unless someone wants to play around with trying to fix it... (and don't say I didn't warn you ).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[inkstainedruth]

Pens with baroque decoration, whether seemingly intended to evoke Versailles or the Rocky Horror Picture Show

 

Normally I would agree with you -- but if someone came out with an inexpensive Rocky Horror theme fountain pen I might buy one just for the giggle factor. (And by inexpensive I mean under about $25-30 US).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Kodiac136]

I no longer buy Visconti... not worth jumping through all the hoops for me. When they work they are magnificent... but I'm done playing the games.

[VRI39C]

I will not buy a Cross pen - I don't find any of the current models appealing.

Will not buy anything from TWSBI ever again - I currently have 6 and they all developed cracks and 2 of which I never used!

Will not buy another Lamy 2000 - burping issues, although I really enjoy my Lamy 2000M in stainless steel. Never had any burping issues.

Edited August 15, 2018 by VRI39C

[JotterAddict62]

I will not buy any pen that is not of interest to me.

[Stylo_dOr]

 

 

Thank you both for your input. I agree that some of them are gloriously beautiful, but most of them are out of my normal price range. So to justify a splurge, personally I want the peace of mind that I'll enjoy the writing experience right out of the box. I'll just have to keep looking at 2D versions of the Viscontis online =)

 

Yeah, I totally understand how you feel. For the splurge price, you ought to get peace of mind right out of the box. I'll take your comment a step further. Back in the day, I bought a lot of "gloriously beautiful" pens, and then wondered afterward why the hell I spent so much money. Times have changed -- and so have I. Looking back, I'd rather own just a handful of wonderful pens that I totally love to write with, than to own a whole lot of pens that I never get the time to actually enjoy.

[biancitwo]

Any more Japanese pens. I don't like the nibs.

Anything Pilot. I find the nibs pathetic.

In the last few months I have explored Japanese pens. I already had three Sailors, a Pro Gear slim, EF, a 1911 standard, with music nib, and a 1911L, with a H-B. None of them wrote well. After Pendleton Brown (PB) finished with them, they have written beautifully.

 

My only Pilot fountain pen was a varsity, a super inexpensive pen. I ordered two Pilot Custom Heritage 912s. I do not like the Con-70 converter. It would not fill up, and it would not keep up. Neither would the cartridges I used next. The one with a music nib would not write. The BB wrote well, but more like a

brush. The ink did not keep up. PB made the BB write beautifully, but the ink remains behind.

 

Then I tried a Pilot Custom 823, with a broad nib. It is superb.

 

I tried a Platinum 3776, with a SF nib. The nib is finer than my Pelikan and Sailor EF. I want to try another, with a broader nib. Despite my Platinum experience, I ordered a Nakaya desk pen, with a Mottishaw broad CI. Nakaya uses Platinum made nibs. Well, the Nakaya is sensational. The urushi and nib are perfect.

 

All of this to say there is much to like, and some to love among Japanese fountain pens. I would not give up on them.

Edited August 16, 2018 by biancitwo

[FOUR X FOUR]

I won’t buy any pen that I can’t afford