What pen(s) are you using today?

[PAKMAN]

Darailpenz custom pen

 

[RNBearson]

Currently, as of 5 minutes ago - Pilot VP Blue with Gold Accents, 18k Gold Medium Nib inked with Iroshizuu take-sumi. Taking notes on a support call.

[DvdRiet]

10 hours ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

The Duke 209 is very nice actually. Excellent, wet flow, especially for the strong strokes that create the shade, which I do with the full width of the brush - the turned part of the nib.

 

At contact with the paper, the nib feels iron-y, so clearly a steel nib, and requires a bit of skill to handle well I've yet to acquire. I don't mind either; the nib works very reliably so I just need to learn how to use it. For example, the thinner strokes require handling the pen closer to the vertical, and I like how using the nib at a slant in both pitch and yaw (if these are the correct terms here) can help with varied strokes. 

 

All in all, a lot of feel for a lot of line variation, so I like it very much. 

 

To buy these pens, I opened an AliExpress account and ordered directly from China. I believe they were about €5 each, and I got three matte black and one stainless steel. They all worked well so far, so QA seems gopd on this pen. I should be able to dig up the link to the source, if you'd like it. 

 

That's good to hear! I saw a review somewhere saying the Duke fude nibs were the best around and started searching. Then I found another review that said they were not very good (isn't that always the way when it comes to people's opinions of stuff?) and a Sailor fude de mannen was much better, while the first one had said the opposite, so I stopped searching. Mainly because I would have to learn to use one anyway, so they dropped a ways down the wish list.  But I think it may be time to hijack my husband's AliExpress account and get myself a Duke after all. I saw a pen box on there that I want, so all the more reason, haha! Going to go do a search for them, but if you get a chance to share the link that might help get me back out from being lost in the weeds on there...

[OldTravelingShoe]

1 minute ago, DvdRiet said:

 

That's good to hear! I saw a review somewhere saying the Duke fude nibs were the best around and started searching. Then I found another review that said they were not very good (isn't that always the way when it comes to people's opinions of stuff?) and a Sailor fude de mannen was much better, while the first one had said the opposite, so I stopped searching. Mainly because I would have to learn to use one anyway, so they dropped a ways down the wish list.  But I think it may be time to hijack my husband's AliExpress account and get myself a Duke after all. I saw a pen box on there that I want, so all the more reason, haha! Going to go do a search for them, but if you get a chance to share the link that might help get me back out from being lost in the weeds on there...

@DvdRiet, there are several very good reviews of fude nibs used for sketching and drawing:

1. Parka Blogs has an excellent comparison of modern fude nibs. Duke 209 (€5-8 on AliExpress) comes across as good, not as expressive as the Duke 551 Confucius (much larger fude tip, leaving marks up to 2.2-2.5 mm; costs €30-35 on AliExpress), but very good. Both of these are steel nibs, as is Sailor's Fude DE Mannen (€15-20 at Dutch retailers, such as PW Akkerman Den Haag and LCdC). Note Sailor also has a 21K-gold Naginata Fude, which received good reviews, but costs €500-600 and you will likely have to wait several months until it is produced in Japan.
2. Tina Koyama reviewed largely the same pens in her search for the 'holy grail, drawing pen'. She mentions reaching opposite conclusions to Parka, but likes the Duke 209 very much. She finds the Sailor 21K Naginata Fude as her holy-grail pen, but is surprised by hoe close Duke 209 is... which is I believe also Parka's conclusion. 
3. Liz Steel, who in my view is a superior urban sketcher, also likes the Duke 209's fude nib very much, but differentiates the quality of the grip between the matte black (good grip) and the stainless steel (slippery). 

 

To me, the Duke 209 nib is smooth, wet, and likely to make even a newbie like me able to draw something. It's inexpensive, so why not try? 😄

 

Btw, if we get to meet, I can share or lend you a Duke 209, no questions asked. 

[mallymal1]

After a full day of soaking and flushing, a Creeks N Creeks, inked with Diamine Blue Velvet.

 

[sansenri]

at the office today the pen in use was this Ranga model 8 in mottled brown ebonite bakul finish (matt) no clip.

A very comfortable pen for note taking, fitted with a reliable Bock M.

Ink used was my tipical mix of 4 partes Pelikan Royal blue + 1 part Diamine Sargasso sea.

[HauntedMyst]

Just a pair of Narwhals 

 

[mallymal1]

2 hours ago, HauntedMyst said:

Just a pair of Narwhals 

 

 

I haven't used a Narwhal, how do they perform?

[AmandaW]

Today's journal pen is again the Lamy Studio Black Forest filled with Diamine Safari, but the nib has changed from the standard steel fine to a 14k fine. I'll show both images together - gold first, steel second - so the accidental writing samples can be seen together in case that's of interest to anyone else.

 

 

[A Smug Dill]

8 hours ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

For a €35, as AliExpress seems to be offering, very good.

 

I'm wondering how you experience writing with them - same or differently from the crushed orange N1?

 

For reasons on which I cannot put my finger exactly, I don't really like them all that much from Day One. Maybe it was because they were the first HongDian pens I got with the larger, no.32 — 32mm in total length, and ‘size #6’ for those who mistake JoWo and Bock for everyone's de facto frame of reference — steel nibs, and my (now more extensive) experience with ‘#6’ EF nibs on mainland Chinese pens out-of-the-box have generally been disappointing in terms of line widths and crispness, compared to physically smaller (curved, open) nibs of the same brands, but also compared with #6 steel EF nibs of JoWo make (on Diplomat, Fine Writing International, Nemosine, and Opus 88 pen models). Maybe it was because I thought the fit and finish on HongDian's metal-bodied (e.g. models 6013, 517D, 525, and even the A3) pens is better. Maybe it was because there were a couple of hidden, physically deep scratches in the metal interior wall on the blue 960 pen I received, which I could see once I screwed out the removable nib unit. Hence, I haven't been using these two pens — which cost me US$60 all up for the pair, taxed and delivered — all that much.

 

I've since purchased some very similar-looking, c/c-filled HongDian N1 pens, which I like somewhat better; but it wouldn't be due to their having better no.32 EF nibs (which they don't; the nibs' bodies have different bicolour layouts and different inscriptions, but performance-wise they're about the same). Maybe it's the slightly shorter length making for a subtly different tapering of the barrel. Or maybe it's the absence of a ‘rust ring’ on the front end of the gripping section. I'm not sure.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/365481-hongdian-n6-titanium-matte-black-piston-filler/?do=findComment&comment=4526554

 

I don't have the ‘crushed orange’ N1, though, having returned it to the seller because I've since bought two (or, actually, three but one ended up getting returned as well) N1-S in the same acrylic. The N1-S is a different animal together, albeit with the same type of nib.

[OldTravelingShoe]

3 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

For reasons on which I cannot put my finger exactly, I don't really like them all that much from Day One. Maybe it was because they were the first HongDian pens I got with the larger, no.32 — 32mm in total length, and ‘size #6’ for those who mistake JoWo and Bock for everyone's de facto frame of reference — steel nibs, and my (now more extensive) experience with ‘#6’ EF nibs on mainland Chinese pens out-of-the-box have generally been disappointing in terms of line widths and crispness, compared to physically smaller (curved, open) nibs of the same brands, but also compared with #6 steel EF nibs of JoWo make (on Diplomat, Fine Writing International, Nemosine, and Opus 88 pen models). Maybe it was because I thought the fit and finish on HongDian's metal-bodied (e.g. models 6013, 517D, 525, and even the A3) pens is better. Maybe it was because there were a couple of hidden, physically deep scratches in the metal interior wall on the blue 960 pen I received, which I could see once I screwed out the removable nib unit. Hence, I haven't been using these two pens — which cost me US$60 all up for the pair, taxed and delivered — all that much.

 

I've since purchased some very similar-looking, c/c-filled HongDian N1 pens, which I like somewhat better; but it wouldn't be due to their having better no.32 EF nibs (which they don't; the nibs' bodies have different bicolour layouts and different inscriptions, but performance-wise they're about the same). Maybe it's the slightly shorter length making for a subtly different tapering of the barrel. Or maybe it's the absence of a ‘rust ring’ on the front end of the gripping section. I'm not sure.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/365481-hongdian-n6-titanium-matte-black-piston-filler/?do=findComment&comment=4526554

 

I don't have the ‘crushed orange’ N1, though, having returned it to the seller because I've since bought two (or, actually, three but one ended up getting returned as well) N1-S in the same acrylic. The N1-S is a different animal together, albeit with the same type of nib.

Excellent, many thanks, @A Smug Dill. After reading one of your earlier reviews, I bought the Hongdian N1S in crushed orange and liked it; on the basis of these comments and your analysis from your (also excellent) link, I will not get a 960.

 

But I did see again mentioned the Opus 88, moreover, in the same list as Diplomat... 😄
 

[A Smug Dill]

53 minutes ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

But I did see again mentioned the Opus 88, moreover, in the same list as Diplomat... 😄

 

The Opus 88 Shell is not actually my favourite Opus 88 pen model, though, not by a long shot. (The Opus 88 Demonstrator certainly is not, either.) The Opus 88 Picnic is. We now have four of them.

 

I'm just a bit of a sucker for abalone shell lined barrels bracketed by ebonite caps and end (finials or knobs) because they seem so… different; but I think I've had my fill of those now.

[TitoThePencilPimp]

Lamy Imporium gold trimmed (M), Sailor Imperial (ef), and Kaweco Sport Mint (m).

 

The Imporium's nib writes more like a Broad, but I still like it. Kaweco is eyedropped with Diamine Earl Grey. I am running low of Edelstein Moonstone, and I do not think I will replace it. Earl Grey is fitting my grey ink needs, while being significantly cheaper.

[mallymal1]

14 hours ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

 

To me, the Duke 209 nib is smooth, wet, and likely to make even a newbie like me able to draw something. It's inexpensive, so why not try? 😄

 

 

OK! I'm sold! I'm going to try one.  😁

[OldTravelingShoe]

2 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

The Opus 88 Shell is not actually my favourite Opus 88 pen model, though, not by a long shot. (The Opus 88 Demonstrator certainly is not, either.) The Opus 88 Picnic is. We now have four of them.

 

I'm just a bit of a sucker for abalone shell lined barrels bracketed by ebonite caps and end (finials or knobs) because they seem so… different; but I think I've had my fill of those now.

I surely simpathize with the latter point... except I'm in the early phase of discovering pens, and I'm mostly focused on nibs. 

 

But, on the Opus 88, how do you find the larger nibs, on the Demonstrator / Omar? I was very close to acquire one, then thought I'd need to learn more about the different 88s first. (Good name for a pen from Taiwan.) 

 

 

[OldTravelingShoe]

1 hour ago, mallymal1 said:

 

OK! I'm sold! I'm going to try one.  😁

Hehe, I'm now going to see how others see this pen 😁

[A Smug Dill]

52 minutes ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

But, on the Opus 88, how do you find the larger nibs, on the Demonstrator / Omar?

 

Pedestrian.

[lfmarsan]

Stipula Etruria Ambra (old model), just returned from Italy where Stipula fixed the piston.

Great F to XF writer and a joy to look at.

[Doug C]

43 minutes ago, lfmarsan said:

Stipula Etruria Ambra (old model), just returned from Italy where Stipula fixed the piston.

Great F to XF writer and a joy to look at.

I have that same model but with vermeil furniture. a wonderful pen!

 

[Doug C]

Mad Science Pen Company Clingman.

 

(just posted a review of it on FPN).