From Penholder To Fountain Pen... Which Nib?!

[AAS98]

 

I really love shimmer inks, but they don't play equally well with all pens - and I haven't found a clear or consistent reason for it, though it almost certainly has to do with flow through the ink channel. The good thing is, if the shimmering ink doesn't work in your pen, it's relatively easy to flush out and try again (at least with J. Herbin and Diamine shimmer inks).

Ok! thank you very much! maybe I'm gonna start with a non-shimmer one and then one day choose one for beautiful occasions 🤔

[AAS98]

Actually I start wondering if I could mix some Pelikan 4001

Black with some Pelikan 4001 brown ink? 🤔 I read it was a bad idea mixing from different brands but some people say mixing Pelikan inks is ok...

 

But I don't want anything that could destroy my lovely Platinum 3776 (which is one its way to my home ar the moment 💝 ^^ ) !!!

[grainweevil]

Actually I start wondering if I could mix some Pelikan 4001

Black with some Pelikan 4001 brown ink? 🤔 I read it was a bad idea mixing from different brands but some people say mixing Pelikan inks is ok...

 

Yes, you should be completely fine trying that, although it may be a dry writing experience which might not suit the SF nib. But then part of the fun is finding the ink and pen combination that sings for you.

[Honeybadgers]

The only hard rules are to not mix Noodlers baystate inks or iron gall inks with normal inks. They are 100% going to cause problems. Softer rule is to be careful mixing inks between brands or lines (like mixing sailor ink with sailor pigmented ink)

 

Mixing two 4001 inks will be perfectly safe.

 

Mix unknown combinations in a sample vial and let them sit for a couple days. If they turn to sludge, obviously don't put them in a pen.

[Honeybadgers]

If your English comprehension is good enough to watch English YouTube, look up the Goulet pen company YouTube channel. That is a resource with an ungodly amount of info about this hobby

[AAS98]

Ok, woaow, thanks a lot! ) I'll surely try a few little funny mixs with the pelikan then ^^

 

Yes, I regularly watch some goulet pens videos! I love them, it's always very complete (for my nooby level at least ^^); so I'm gonna watch this!

[sidthecat]

Sounds like you were duplicating the nineteenth-Century music-writing experience with your dip pens: have you ever gotten your hands on a 19th-Century dip pen with a gold nib? They run small, but they solve your rusting problem and can provide a wonderful writing experience. I’ve mounted a few in fountain pens for an early-20th-Century writing experience.

[Honeybadgers]

I've been searching for one for a while. They're getting super expensive.

[sidthecat]

Distressingly so, but every so often somebody will put something up on eBay without knowing what it actually is...these are the people we exploit.

[AAS98]

Here we are!

[Bo Bo Olson]

That Monteverdi ink looks very good.

I'd wondered why you'd want to mix black and brown...and that a red brown at that.

Herbin E9.20 for 30ml....now real expensive??? could be an Online price**. doubled since the last time I bought some.

R&K (E8.50 for 50ml is dirt cheap.) and Pelikan 4001 (E4.50 or so (5.88 online and then you got to pay postage!!! ??? I know where I can get it cheap...for cash. ) can give you many different colors. Lamy is E7.00 for 30ml, E10 for 50...again ink has jumped in price.

 

** some months ago Kaweco ink was E3.50/90 at my B&M, online for E 8.95 .

 

Now all of a sudden I can see why one would now want to mix inks.

 

Go to the Ink section, they have tested recipes for ink mixing. They even got fake Parker Pennman Samphire and MB Racing Green....only took our online alchemists 20 years with one and 8 years with the other..........but that is for super advanced folks with a bunch of inks that can go a drop of this, a drip of that, with a splash of something else.

 

I tried to mix a blue black with mixing Pelikan Royal blue and black....just a dark blue. No pizazz.

A Blue Black is a much more complicated ink.....it will change color with in a day of use from a blue to more a black. Use to have a tad of iron gall to it...some still do.

 

So much for my plan to use up my inks and buy more of them I like............I'll stick with leaving two loads in every bottle at the new prices of ink.

It wasn't just MB jumping through the roof but Herbin and even Lamy. Kaweco also....well, none of the cartridges of them I bought thinking about a E3.50 inks last year are going to make me buy a E 9.00 ink. They were not that good.....

 

I now have to check the prices of my rare inks....some had given me a warm feeling, when I saw what some could pay for them.....now with such price jumps.....they may have reached Sell Now Idiot prices.

:crybaby:Best sell by date seems to have passed...........no more fortune in a bottle.

[Honeybadgers]

Glad you like it! That pen could easily last you for the rest of your life.

 

If you want to stick with the soft fine theme, a pilot custom 74 or custom 91 with a soft fine provides a little more line variation and softness than even the 3776 (but they do only come in fairly drab black bodies with gold/rhodium trim - but they can hold a CON-70 converter, which is awesome) or, save your pennies and get a pilot 743 or 823 (the 823 can only be found with the nib from tokyo pen quill shop, he's the only authorized pilot retailer for that nib) with a falcon FA nib which is a truly soft flex nib (not a ton of line variation, only about a western EF to BB, but it's as soft as a vintage full flex)

[A Smug Dill]

If you want to stick with the soft fine theme, a pilot custom 74 or custom 91 with a soft fine provides a little more line variation and softness than even the 3776

 

 

I almost detest the Pilot 14K gold #5 SF nib (for AAS98's benefit: that's the specification for what goes into a Pilot Custom 74 or Custom Heritage 91 pen), the hairlines drawn at almost nil pressure just aren't fine enough. Its SFM sibling does a better job of narrow but can go even thicker.

 

Nah, give me a Platinum #3776 'Soft' 14K gold nib over a Pilot one any day. I've even tried the SF nib on the Namiki Falcon, and it doesn't impress me all that much.