Right pen for long writing session

[Bo Bo Olson]

6 hours ago, MuddyWaters said:

only comes down to differences in feed (piston fillers in general having modern plastic feeds with more fins). 

I have some three and four vertical combed Pelikan, and other pens of that era that have horizontal combs. There appears on some to be less combs than modern post '50's. Others like my old '50's MB';s appear to have near as many. They are ebonite, not pressed modern plastic.

They also have faster, wetter semi-flex nibs well matched to their feed and ebonite.

MB has and still is fiddleing with it's feeds for well over 70 years......and of course before. But MB does much more fiddling than Pelikan

 

Our 'Penengineer' worked at Lamy and developed the acid treatment that roughened up Lamy's smooth feed (I've not taken apart my Lamy Joy or Persona to see what sort of internal buffering they have; so they mimic ebonite's holding of ink in the feed.

 

Even in thinner ED's burping has always been a problem. Waterman's blotched contract, as he was showing off his newfangled ED fountain pen.

 

But it is a good question you brought up, why ED's still burp, as they did at the turn of 20th century before Shaffer's lever pen came in, and why piston pens don't burp.

 

Could the feed itself have much to do with that?

Would it make a difference if one 'screwed' on a Pelikan feed on a ED.

 

Or is it the massive amount of ink in the pen itself that makes equalization of air pressure harder than with narrower Piston pens.

The reverse is true with many non-ball or spring converters having too much surface tension and not working because of that. They are too thin, is a ED too wide?

 

I am ignorant of ED's, does a daily or hourly turning of the pen from up to down or so, make a difference in burping?

 

 

[MuddyWaters]

1 hour ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

I have some three and four vertical combed Pelikan, and other pens of that era that have horizontal combs. There appears on some to be less combs than modern post '50's. Others like my old '50's MB';s appear to have near as many. They are ebonite, not pressed modern plastic.

They also have faster, wetter semi-flex nibs well matched to their feed and ebonite.

MB has and still is fiddleing with it's feeds for well over 70 years......and of course before. But MB does much more fiddling than Pelikan

 

Our 'Penengineer' worked at Lamy and developed the acid treatment that roughened up Lamy's smooth feed (I've not taken apart my Lamy Joy or Persona to see what sort of internal buffering they have; so they mimic ebonite's holding of ink in the feed.

 

Even in thinner ED's burping has always been a problem. Waterman's blotched contract, as he was showing off his newfangled ED fountain pen.

 

But it is a good question you brought up, why ED's still burp, as they did at the turn of 20th century before Shaffer's lever pen came in, and why piston pens don't burp.

 

Could the feed itself have much to do with that?

Would it make a difference if one 'screwed' on a Pelikan feed on a ED.

 

Or is it the massive amount of ink in the pen itself that makes equalization of air pressure harder than with narrower Piston pens.

The reverse is true with many non-ball or spring converters having too much surface tension and not working because of that. They are too thin, is a ED too wide?

 

I am ignorant of ED's, does a daily or hourly turning of the pen from up to down or so, make a difference in burping?

 

 

 

I have tried Ranga pens both in their Indian eyedropper form and the one with jowo nib and feed (eyedroppered). The second option burps much less. The Indian version even when near full of ink can burp. I live in Canada, ambient air might be much colder than the heat of my hands, so the jowo version (opus 88 also uses similar feed and nibs) works better. 

 

The most useful trick with the Indian eye-droppers is to hold the pen nib-up to let the air escape the pen before starting to write, but it is not perfect. 

[OMASsimo]

Burping usually happens towards the end of a filling in my experience. I think it's due to the hand warming up the pen's barrel so that the air in the reservoir expands and the built up pressure leads to this unwanted effect. The reservoir of an eyedropper is a lot bigger than that of any piston or sac filler and so there is much more air in it to expand. Some sac fillers also tend to burp towards the end of a filling (maybe for slightly different reasons). It seems that one would need an extreme feed to buffer that amount of unwanted ink flow. And of course, this is much less of a problem in climates with a typical ambient temperature close to that of our hands. So, warming up the pen nib up before writing certainly helps.

[MuddyWaters]

That is true but even the moonman m2, for example, burps much less than a typical Indian pen with those cutout ebonite feeds. 

[dan in montreal]

On 3/31/2021 at 3:43 PM, OMASsimo said:

Burping usually happens towards the end of a filling in my experience. I think it's due to the hand warming up the pen's barrel so that the air in the reservoir expands and the built up pressure leads to this unwanted effect. The reservoir of an eyedropper is a lot bigger than that of any piston or sac filler and so there is much more air in it to expand. Some sac fillers also tend to burp towards the end of a filling (maybe for slightly different reasons). It seems that one would need an extreme feed to buffer that amount of unwanted ink flow. And of course, this is much less of a problem in climates with a typical ambient temperature close to that of our hands. So, warming up the pen nib up before writing certainly helps.

I agree with most of this, although one would have to define "the end of a filling".  In my experience, most Indian pens with flat ebonite feeds start giving me trouble once I hit the halfway mark: flow is fast and furious and the fins can't hold the ink after a while and... burp. I've found this to be true in most of my Airmail / Wality, Gama, Guider, Kanwrite, Camlin and Asa pens.  If the barrel isn't clear, I have to keep track of what's what if the pen leaves the house. I carry mine around if they are full or nearly full.

[rkesey]

A long writing day might be 20-30 pages. Anything light and on the larger side works for me, especially if it's an eyedropper with a smooth generous nib. 

 

Which usually means: add my voice to the chorus for Opus 88.

[Manofadventure]

On 3/9/2021 at 6:17 AM, The-Thinker said:

Hi folks ! What pens do you use the most for long writing sessions and nib size ? How many a4 pages do you write daily on average ? 

So, I am a lawyer and have to write a lot on an everyday basis. That apart, I am still old school and prefer to send handwritten letters, which can go up to 30 sheets of A4 paper. Plus, I have large hands and ever since I discovered Broad nibs and broader, my handwriting has improved and I do not suffer so much hand fatigue.

 

Here's my list of preferred pens for long writing sessions :-

Gama Eyas

Waterman 76

Waterman 45/44/42

Waterman 12

Waterman 7 Blue nib

Waterman Charleston

Waterman 515/Commando

Sheaffer Balance/ Balance II

Wahl Eversharp Doric (mine is with a #3 adjustable nib)

De La Rue Onoto "The Pen" 3000

Soennecken 510S

Pelikan 400NN

 

As you can see, apart from the Waterman Charleston and the Sheaffer Balance II, all my pens are antique/vintage. The nibs range from soft and flexible through stubs through hard durschreiber/manifold.

 

I do highly recommend Indian ebonite eyedroppers. I have found them to be uniformly excellent, wet writers and with very comfortable ergonomics. I have never had issued with burping, except once on a cold winter night in Bogota, Colombia, at an altitude of 2700 metres above mean sea level.

 

 

 

[antarmukhee]

On 3/9/2021 at 6:17 AM, The-Thinker said:

Hi folks ! What pens do you use the most for long writing sessions and nib size ? How many a4 pages do you write daily on average ? 

 

On an average, I write about three A4 sheets a day. Now a days, I like platinum preppy (F nib) the most for long writing.

[Bo Bo Olson]

I seldom write long, in it has to go onto the computer....so it's just short writer's notes.

 

I do have some 35 of the 45 nibs (45- if one alternates stub and CI on nails/semi-nails, instead of wasting nibs making both stub and CI.) Stubs I have more in German semi-flex, and a nail and semi-nail.

What I'm shy on is CI's.

 

How ever I like a light, nimble great balanced pen.....so that is my medium-small long posting  Pelikan 140, standard sized 400s, medium-large 400nn, and my slightly thicker girthed 605.

 

Posted of course, as they were deigned to do, to have great balance!!!!

 

As a 20 pen noobie, I did a balance test. To my surprise my back weighted, slightly thicker girthed, standard sized MB234 1/2 deluxe ('52-54 only) semi-flex KOB came in first.

 

Second was my very classy sleek rolled gold trimmed Geha 725 which they made to stomp MB's 2xx pens into the mud puddle and did. Priced like a 149....DM360 or $90, when I bought my silver  P-75 for an expensive $22, in silver money.

The couple of slightly curved lines on the clip is really adds to the class.

Can be found on German ebay from E-50 if lucky, up to if unlucky E100.

Picture with permission of Penboard.de.

Really dead sleek, classy and great balanced, with a semi-flex F nib...on most of themPS if you should ever run into a M front section; Buy Now, in I didn't and found out.....well, haven't really looked hard and often,  but never ran into any again while looking at other Geha pens.

 

Again #3  was a surprise a P-75; for silver a light and nimble pen.

.#4 was a 400nn OF (turned out to be a maxi-semi-flex...that is luck of the draw) , bought in the same live auction as the 'unwanted' 'ugly' knowing only the 146-9 MB pen. How was I to know it was a sleek 'version' of the 139. Similar in build to many of this centuries MB LE pens in form.

 

Do buy a copy no matter how expensive of Andreas Lambrou's Book, fountain pens  vintage and modern...the '89 is as good as later editions. .

Fountain pen wise, I didn't know I had two elbows...........now well all I know if I can find two elbows with one wide spread hand..I know ......well, that happens lots less often than once.

 

Now, I must have 20 top 7 great balanced pens. I'll not torture my self trying to find out the best balanced and in what order my over 70 pens have.......back in the day of One Man One Pen, any good pen had to have Great balance; or the customer would commit heresy and change brands. 

Outside the snorkel and the P-45 I've found no Large pen with great balance.

The modern '70-now, Large 146, is not as clunky as expected, but lacks the great balance of the medium-large '50-69 medium-large 146; which has a better nib also.

Balance IMO is something that folks that grew up with Large pens; instead of Standard pens; often lack an understanding of them.

 

Outside the 149 ....Large pens came in when fountain pens were no longer a work tool, of an 8 hour day of writing.

 

Standard pens are not too small...If They Are Posted! Then they have the great balance expected of them.