What pen(s) are you using today?

[amberleadavis]

Thanks everyone for the pretties!

[Misfit]

[brokenclay]

I've been purging lower cost pens, but every time I get this one out, I resolve to keep it. Smooth, fine, writes on any kind of paper.

 

Pelikan P20 Twist:

 

 

[inkstainedruth]

And a pretty pen as well!

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[OldTravelingShoe]

Tried out two Kaigelu 316:

1. A pen with white and green new generation body, with naginata togi (NMF, Long Knife) steel nib, inked with Diamine Inkvent Holly (Mountain of Ink review), and
2. A pen with orange, high-chattoyance body and M steel nib, inked with Diamine Ancient Copper. 

Both are surprisingly nice! Thanks to all who commented on these pens and nibs, iirc, @A Smug Dill, all who replied to @Emver's More recommendations please, but only pens with MEDIUM nibs, etc. 

[OldTravelingShoe]

Just tried out a flock of Hongdians, see Figure 1:

 

1. Hongdian N1S piston filler, crushed orange with gold trims, EF steel nib, inked with Diamine Ancient Copper. 
2. Hongdian A3 CC, striated chrome-plated body, F steel nib, inked with Noodler's Harold's Hearse (shading light green, I was only able to find a visual review on r/fountainpens). 
3. Hongdian A3 CC, striated gunmetal body, F steel nib, dual tone black-gold. I inked this pen with Noodler's Americal Eel Turquoise (Turquoise Eel not the Standard Turquoise - both reviews external to FPN). 
4. Hongdian A3 CC, same as Pen 3 except for the Naginata Togi-like steel nib, dual tone black-gold. (Thanks to @A Smug Dill for correctly identifying which of the similarly looking pens was actually equipped with this nib and posting the correct link. As you can see, I bought two others and none was the right one...) I inked this pen with  Noodler's Turquoise Eel at first, but then switched to Noodler's Harold's Hearse.

 

Figure 1 indicates my excitement with Pens 1 and 2, and my initial disappointment with how much Pens 3 and 4 skipped (even after the normal initial flush, which I do with all pens before inking them for the first time).

 

Was it a fault in the pens or the ink who caused the skip? With two pens both skipping badly, the likelihood of pen faults seemed reasonable but not the simplest explanation. I also had issues with a Jinhao 100 skipping badly with this ink; on that occasion I did not explore alternatives. So I decided this time I would a simple test: If it was the pen, it should continue to skip with another ink that worked in another similar pen. Because I had just inked a Hongdian A3 (Pen 2) with Noodler's Harold's Hearse, I decided to test Pen 4 with the same ink.

 

Turns out the pen worked much better with the Harold's Hearse ink, see Figure 2, so I can only conclude Pen 4 is alright and there is something wrong with my Noodler's Turquoise Eel. (I will further experiment, e.g., with Pen 3, but right now I'm curious if someone else had trouble with this ink.) 

 

TL;DR: Hongdian N1S and A3 are nice pens at a first glance. 

 

Update: Changed to A3 all references to A1. Thanks, @A Smug Dill, for spotting this out and explaining the difference. The links and the visuals with highlights were particularly useful. I recorded wrongly the type of pen and missed out on the sign on the cap. Much to learn. 

 

(a) Pens and writing sample.

(b) The special engraving on the N1S nib. 

(c) Naginata Togi-style nib on the Hongdian A3. 

(d) Different kinds of nibs, and machining between body and grip, on Hongdian A3. 

 

Figure 1. Four Hongdian pens. Sub-figure (a) depicts all pens and writing samples. Sub-figures (b) and (d) depict various details. 

 

Figure 2. This Hongdian A3 works well when inked with Noodler's Harold's Hearse, but significantly worse when inked with Noodler's Turquoise Eel. 

 

Edited February 13, 2022 by OldTravelingShoe
Added links to ink reviews. Corrected some typos. Updated to show A3 not A1.

[Amontillado]

I feel so inadequate. I'm afraid I've found a lot of happiness from unremarkable hardware.

 

One of those three-pen Rickshaw pen coozies always goes in my backpack when I leave my desk. That carries an Opus 88 Omar with a fine nib, a TWSBI Vac 700R with a medium nib, and another 700R with a stub nib.

 

A TWSBI Vac Mini rides in my shirt along with one of those Levenger pocket briefcases. I would worry about it, but I think as long as I restrict my daily carry to no more than four inked pens I'm not really a pen nerd.

 

The Opus 88/fine helps with cheap paper, the medium nib is more fun, and the stub nib is for signing and notes written large and intended to have impact. In a world of throwaway ballpoint "stick" pens, line variation from a fountain pen makes a statement. Not pretension. Strength.

 

No one need know I don't own a bespoke thousand-dollar pen.

[brokenclay]

24 minutes ago, Amontillado said:

I feel so inadequate. I'm afraid I've found a lot of happiness from unremarkable hardware.

 

Please don't!

 

If I were to post here every day, it would be the same five pens for weeks on end. Your green pen (the Opus 88?) is very fine looking!

[DvdRiet]

3 hours ago, Amontillado said:

No one need know I don't own a bespoke thousand-dollar pen.

 

None here either! Although I do admit to being more than a little scared to add the cost of all of them together... yikes!

[OldTravelingShoe]

41 minutes ago, DvdRiet said:

None here either! Although I do admit to being more than a little scared to add the cost of all of them together... yikes!

Well said, @DvdRiet!

 

@Amontillado, no worries, it's not the price of the pen that matters. @Andrew_L  keeps showing us in FPN's PEN ART GALLERY one can make amazing drawings with pens new and vintage, fancy and common, $50- and $1,500+. (To be fair, he does not agree with what I've just written, because the drawing instrument can be inspiring in its own right. However, he ascribes this to be about 10-15% of the muse.) 

[inkstainedruth]

7 hours ago, Amontillado said:

No one need know I don't own a bespoke thousand-dollar pen.

Don't worry.  I will never have a bespoke thousand-dollar pen.  The odds of me ever having any pen costing even as much as $325 US -- let alone more than that -- are pretty slim.  

But for me, half the fun is finding vintage pens in the wild for a really low price.  Then, even if I have to pay to have them rehabbed and up and running, I still haven't spent a huge amount of money on them.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Amontillado]

7 hours ago, brokenclay said:

 

Your green pen (the Opus 88?) is very fine looking!

 

That's the Omar, a fun pen. The filling method is suitably ritualistic and it challenges my hand with its fine nib. Even a medium nib is easier to write with. The broader stroke covers up many sins.

 

If you get an Opus 88, they are famous for squeaky threads. Mine had a very un-smooth plunger, to boot.

 

A whisper of silicon grease on the plunger cap threads and the plunger stem cured all. That probably leaves the cap threads vulnerable to over tightening, so I'm careful about that.

 

I've got a broad nib for it, too. Right now, the Omar has one odd habit. The feed collects ink between the fins, more so now that it's low on ink and more susceptible to expansion from warming. It hasn't burped any ink and I can't tell the ink buildup has any negative effect. I just notice it if I look at the feed. (Doctor, it hurts when I do this. Ok, don't do that...)

 

I have a theory a nib with greater requirements would tame the ink buildup.

 

But that's a theory. Mere piffle and speculation, absent rigor. As a man of science, I must put the theory to the test.

 

As soon as I get to the dregs of this load of ink, I'm swapping the nib. The heck with handwriting challenges.

[Amontillado]

4 hours ago, DvdRiet said:

None here either! Although I do admit to being more than a little scared to add the cost of all of them together... yikes!

Shhh.. My wife might read this forum!

[Amontillado]

55 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

The odds of me ever having any pen costing even as much as $325 US -- let alone more than that -- are pretty slim.  

 

I spent more than originally intended on pens. Now I'm trying to learn handwriting that doesn't self-encrypt to military standards, and I think I've made good progress. For the next few months I think I'll try to remember if I buy another pen it won't change what I will write, at least not any more than fountain pens already have.

 

That was the biggest surprise from the fountain pen. It puts me in a creative frame of mind.

[A Smug Dill]

11 hours ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

Just tried out a flock of Hongdians, see Figure 1:

 

I'm pretty sure HDA-2, HDA-3, and HDA-4 in the photo are all HongDian A3 and not A1 pens.  Model A3 has matching gunmetal-plated finials and clip on the black pen body, and chrome-plated finials and clip on the silver pen body. Model A1, which looks almost the same as the A3, has gold-coloured finial rings, bicolour clips, and (single-hued) 14K gold nibs engraved with a line drawing of Mount Everest, on either black or silver pen bodies.

 

Do pens #3 and #4 have different nibs? The factory-fitted nibs on the model A3 in black are bicolour and engraved on the black part with a rocket ship pointing towards Saturn; but I thought all of those F nibs have the ‘long knife’ (or, in HongDian's marketing copy, 刃 ‘blade’) grinding. Could you please show us a photo of the nib on HDA-3?

 

12 hours ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

my initial disappointment with how much Pens 3 and 4 skipped (even after the normal initial flush, which I do with all pens before inking them for the first time).

 

 

My HongDian A3's ‘long knife’ F nib sometimes won't write consistently with certain strokes when the nib is rotated, but I think it's partly dependent of the ink. I think I'll try Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black and perhaps Noodler's X-Feather black inks next.

 

12 hours ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

TL;DR: Hongdian N1S and A1 are nice pens at a first glance.

 

I noticed that there appears to have been some changes to the machining of the model A3, introduced some time in the past few months.

 

 

[OldTravelingShoe]

TL;DR: I recorded wrongly the type of pen and missed out on the sign on the cap. Thanks, @A Smug Dill, for spotting this out and explaining the difference. Much to learn.

 

Details:

Thanks to @A Smug Dill, I learned I have 3x Hongdian A3s and not 3x A1s. (This is good: If the A1s only come with regular 14K gold nibs at over €100, they are unlikely candidates for my shopping list. Although perhaps I'd like to try even a Naginata Togi-style; yet, I have not bought any of the PenBBS 353 gold nibs yet.)

 

The links and the visuals with highlights from @A Smug Dill were particularly useful.

I was able to identify this time the model number on the cap - - the "A3" is marked in gold-colored text on gunmetal black background. Ditto for the rocket engraving on the black-gold nib. Last, but also important, I learned the correct terminology to describe these pens - chrome-plating and gunmetal structures are not common in my toolkit. 

 

Actions: I have updated my original post: changed A1s to A3s, added a new photo (Figure 1 in the following), explained the reason for the update (with credit). 

 

Figure 1. Detail of nibs and machining on the Hongdian A3 in my toolkit. 

 

To discuss the specific points:

1. Pens #3 and #4 have the same kind of nibs with the only difference I can identify being the tip, F and Long Knife, respectively. Figure 1 depicts this. 
2. All the nibs have a spaceship engraved in tbe middle, near their base. I checked the receipts and they are indeed listed there as F for Pen #2, EF for Pen #3, F for Pen #4. Of them, in my view and in tests, only the nib of Pen #4 is a Long Knife. This would also be consistent with @A Smug Dill's observation that all black-gold nibs in F should be Long Knife; the nib in Pen #2 is not black-gold. 
3. Interesting @A Smug Dill also noticed skips. To me, the ink is currently the simplest reasonable explanation.
4. I'm not sure how to assess the depth of the grooves. The margins in contact with the holder (with my fingers) seem reasonably far apart, so perhaps the A3s I have are of the old kind. I bought them on Jan 20, 2022, from two different sellers on AliExpress, but I do not know which version they are. 

 

This was most enjoyable to track and disentangle. Many thanks! 

Edited February 13, 2022 by OldTravelingShoe
Added point 4 to comment on the grooves.

[A Smug Dill]

1 hour ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

added a new photo (Figure 1 in the following)

 

Thank you for indulging me!

 

1 hour ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

I checked the receipts and they are indeed listed there as F for Pen #2, EF for Pen #3,

 

[OldTravelingShoe]

@A Smug Dill, I have to train my eyes better, to seek out these aspects 😄 Feels like a puzzle, only the clues were right there, in front of me. 

[Recursion]

[DvdRiet]

9 hours ago, Amontillado said:

 

I spent more than originally intended on pens. Now I'm trying to learn handwriting that doesn't self-encrypt to military standards, and I think I've made good progress. For the next few months I think I'll try to remember if I buy another pen it won't change what I will write, at least not any more than fountain pens already have.

 

That was the biggest surprise from the fountain pen. It puts me in a creative frame of mind.

 

I've also spent way more than I could have imagined I would ever spend on - as the unenlightened (😉) would say - 'just pens.' But I've also had kind of the same experience, in that I love what they do for my handwriting. And I've rediscovered my love of writing (writing by hand, not book-writing) because of them. My handwriting was always quite neat, as it was drilled into me in elementary school, but I have only started noticing how much I like to put a pen to paper because of them. Experimenting with different nibs and inks has only added to their charm. I'm also starting to use them to draw, so they do add to creativity. And yes, I do have many more pens than I "need," but to be fair, outside of my collection of Diplomats back through the decades, I don't really have all *that* many pens. 

 

Also, I am lucky that my husband's main hobby also has a collecting aspect, and my pens take up FAR (FAR!!) less space...