What Pens Are You Using Today 2020

[Dont_Flexme]

I'm on the road, so I have a pen I don't worry about losing - a parker 21 super with Parker Quink blue-black.

[Tom Kellie]

~ My original fountain pen from high school — a black and chrome Sheaffer Cartridge Pen inked in Montblanc Burgundy Red.

Tom K.

[mana]

Great choices there, OMASsimo...

Pelikan 400NN ( BB ) - Diamine Eau de Nil

Pelikan 100N - B - Pelikan 4001 Blue Black (or Sailor Souboku, I always forget...)

Pelikan M200 Blue Marble - F - Sailor Souboku (or Pelikan 4001 Blue Black, I always forget...)

Lamy 2000 - OF - Diamine Eau de Nil
Kaweco V12 - B - Pelikan 4001 Blue Black

[Estycollector]

Dollar Pens

 

[Paul-in-SF]

Today I am using a vintage Moore 83 with a replacement nib from a broken vintage Faber-Castell pen. The original nib arrived in bad shape and was not salvageable, and the replacement F-C nib is quite, quite nice.

 

Tomorrow I will be using an oversize Wahl-Eversharp Doric, original version, which arrived in the mail today. I have never seen or held the oversized model before and I had no idea how much bigger it is than full size regular Dorics -- a little longer and a lot thicker. Since it is a newly acquired pen tomorrow's writing will be in the nature of a test for functionality and fun.

 

[ENewton]

A Parker Victory Mk 1. Of all my pens, this one has my favorite nib. It is extra fine and semi-flexible, although I don't use enough pressure for flex. I have it filled with J Herbin Poussiere de Lune, which looks decidedly purple coming out of the pen.

 

A Lamy Safari M in dark yellow, from the 1990s. This was the first pen I gave my daughter, when she was a child. I assume it will also be my granddaughter's first pen. I wouldn't say I find it especially attractive, either in appearance or as a writer, but it has certainly stood the test of time. Right now I have it inked with Sailor Kobe Taisanji Yellow, which I'll have to try next in a pen with a finer but wetter nib.

 

A Pelikan 140, with an unmarked but probably extra-fine nib. This is the last pen I bought, sixteen months ago, and I've had the greatest difficulty finding the right ink for it. The dealer told me I should not use purple, but the pen is dry enough that it needs either a dark ink or a bright one to produce a respectable line.) Yesterday my daughter unexpectedly returned to me a bottle of Iroshizuku Kujaku I gave her some years ago, and I hope it will serve my purposes. So far, so good, but the start of a fill can be deceiving.

[sharonspens]

Pilot Custom 912, stub nib; Iroshizuku Tsutsuji (this is will be the 2020 constant for at least 4 months, if not for the year)

 

Pilot Custom 92, Binder Italifine nib; Colorverse Brunch Date

 

Krusac L-14, coffee wood, M nib; Colorverse Coffee Break

 

Opus Omar 88 demonstrator, 1.5 stub nib; Herbin Amethyste d'Oural

 

Xezo Architect, F nib; Blackstone Sidney Harbour blue

[JMTB]

Homo Sapiens BB nib - Sailor Oku Yama

Conid Kingsize BB nib - Montblanc James Purdey Single Malt

Aurora Optima Oliva B nib - Sailor Tokiwa-Matsu

 

Edited January 3, 2020 by JMTB

[Tseg]

The Kaweco Brass Sport EF (Kaweco Blue) arrived today, my Pilot Custom 823 F (Iro Shin Kai Blue/Black) is just about empty, and I have a P51 M (MB Lavender Purple) and Namiki No 20 Urushi M (Sailor Oku-Yama Red) going as well.

 

Edited January 3, 2020 by Tseg

[Freddy]

XXX

 

Fred

[TrentinWA]

Today I used my two favorites: a black and chrome Lamy Studio with an F nib, loaded up with a Lamy black cartridge, and a TWBSI 580 ALR, M nib, inked with Noodler's X-Feather. Tomorrow for variety's sake I'll probably go with the TWBSI and a Sheaffer Fashion II I just rehabilitated that's loaded with Noodler's Heart of Darkness.

[A Smug Dill]

Today I'm using a new pen of which I had very low expectations, and which I only bought a couple as "toys" with the intention of filling them once with Noodler's Blue Ghost ink and then gluing the section and barrel together, and giving them along with a couple of UV torches to two young girls (9 and 7) to play with. I flushed one clean and inked it up with my old bottle of Cross blue ink, just to make sure it writes smoothly enough and, wow, the writing experience just completely blew me away. It's a pleasure to write with, more enjoyable than all the Platinum Preppy and Sailor HiAce Neo pens I've tried, and I'd say it beats my Parker Duofold Centennial hands-down (but I'll ink this cheap pen up with Diamine Terracotta to compare). So much so, I just went out to the shop and bought several more.

 

And which model is this mystery pen? A Daiso fountain pen (with Japan Article Number 4549131410549), one of three models in stock that are all made in China, all fitted with Medium nibs only, and can be bought for A$2.80 apiece.

 

 

This pen is so good, it almost deserves a proper pen review, but nah...

 

<EDIT>

The pens which I filled with invisible ink were a hit with the girls. They spent most of the night just playing and drawing with them, and then at one point they wanted to borrow the one I kept for myself and inked with Diamine Terracotta (used to produce the writing sample above). That in turn got their mother interested in fountain pens; she told me her impression and memories of fountain pens are broad lines, hard starts, ink burping when the nibs finally wrote again, and smeary ink that took forever to dry, but her brief experience writing with this Daiso pen overturned all those preconceived ideas by writing so finely and smoothly, but without gliding all over the page uncontrollably. I didn't tell her how much that fabulous pen cost, either.

 

Now she wants to know which brand(s) of fountain pens I'd recommend. I told her I'll bring a few for her to try when I see her next (in some months' time), if she's not in a hurry to decide which pen to get herself.

Edited January 5, 2020 by A Smug Dill

[A Smug Dill]

Just wanted to give this pen another shot, before I either throw it out in the trash or give it away:



Notwithstanding that this pen only cost about A$15, I feel greatly let down by it.

Firstly, the size of the pen was neither specified in absolute measurements, nor apparent from the photos on the product page. As it turned out, not only was it far lighter than the Rotring Initial fountain pen — of which the almost excessive heft is a little bit of a shortcoming — but it is also shorter and much more slender, especially when it comes to the section:



Then, the cap that originally came with the pen had this odd mark on one side of the clip, seemingly a groove inadvertently carved into the metal during machining. I complained, and the seller told me the pen is old stock and to try removing the mark with Brasso. What can of an answer was that? Anyway, eventually the seller agreed to send me a replacement cap, and made sure to send me a photo of the postal package in which it was lodged and sent, as well as the cap and clip as seen from the other side. It turns out that the second cap also has a permanent mark in the same place on the clip, albeit not as pronounced or bad:



OK, so that must be some weird thing in the production process that kept damaging the clip in the same place and on one side only. I can let that lie.

The nib and feed have no markings that serve to indicate the nib width grade, but I guess it was a "Chinese Fine" — and not fine enough for me. By that stage, I've started to write the pen off in my mind anyway so, what the hell, I'll have a go at grinding it myself. The result isn't too bad (see writing sample above).

However, the pen proves immensely uncomfortable with which to write. I thought it was the narrowness of the section, but then I've used pens with narrow sections before. The step-down between barrel and section, then; but then I'm not usually bothered by even a significant step-down. Yet somehow this pen just annoys the bejeezus out of me, as much as I tried to like it, and when I write with it the step-down really digs into the flesh on the inside of the crook of my thumb. On closer inspection, it turns out that there's a ridge protruding on the metal connector that, while smooth without burrs and not nearly skin-splittingly sharp, has enough of an edge to be a problem.



I suppose I could try to remove, with sandpaper and micro-mesh, the metal that extends beyond the outer diameter of the cap; but then, in view of everything else I have against that pen, why bother?

[corniche]

Greetings all,

 

In no particular order:

 

 

Pelikan M-600; Medium; Green Stripe / Diamine Eau de Nil

 

Pelikan M-200; Broad; White & Gold L.E. / Waterman South Seas Blue

 

Lamy Safari; Broad; Charcoal / Quink Permanent Blue

 

Lamy Studio; Medium; Aquamarine L.E. / Pelikan Turquoise

 

MB 145 Classique; Fine / MB Royal Blue

 

Faber Castel Grip; Medium; Turquoise w/ lime green dots / Kaweco Ruby

 

Pentel Sign Pen / Black

 

 

Sean

[kulnet]

Carolina Pen Company with Robert Oster Ryde Green

Tactile Turn Gist with Pen Addict Fire on Fire by Robert Oster

Franklin Christoph Vanness Exclusive 45 with Diamine Earl Grey

[BaronWulfraed]

I shouldn't have, but inked up four pens (and here I was so close to getting down to just four inked...)

 

Bexley 10th Anniversary LE (orange/black ebonite) Taccia Uguisu (might be my first time filling it -- I'd had a fear of filling ebonite [well, actually a fear of mistreating it when I clean it later], but with a half dozen Ranga, and a few ebonite Stipula... the time has come)

 

Pelikan M250 Cognac/Tobacco Levenger Skies of Blue (B nib, to put a "signature" pen into rotation)

 

Waterman Carene Diamine Cherry Sunburst

 

Parker Sonnet Diamine Ancient Copper

 

 

With the already-inked Pelikan M205 Star Ruby, that gave me four pens that were small enough to fit my oldest 4-slot pocket case. The Bexley joins Sheaffer Kings Gold, Balance II, and Delta Italiana in my largest slot case

[Tom Kellie]

Pelikan M250 Cognac/Tobacco Levenger Skies of Blue (B nib, to put a "signature" pen into rotation)

 

 

~ BaronWulfraed:

 

That sounds lovely. It's a model which I especially admire.

With a B nib, what a first-class writer.

Tom K.

Edited January 7, 2020 by Tom Kellie

[Freddy]

Montblanc: Filled with the blues.

333 1/2 pif

622 pif

149 pif

344 pif

Dumas pif

 

Fred

[Doug C]

Visconti Divina Desert Springs

Lamy 2000

Lamy Accent black

FPNibs Marbella

Graf Faber Castell Sterling Perfect Pencil

[dan in montreal]

I just inked up a pen I forgot I had, a matte black Rotring Initial. By far the heaviest pen I own. I like the look of the pen and the shape of the nib, but I find it impossible to use for long sessions, as it is too heavy. Always nice to rediscover a pen, though.

Other than that: Sailor Profit Junior and a Pilot VP.