A bit of fun... 'You have 30 seconds to decide. You can only ever have one fountain pen. Which is it to be?'

[Ceilidh]

A bit of fun? More like a nightmare!! 😀

[51ISH]

27 minutes ago, Ceilidh said:

A bit of fun? More like a nightmare!! 😀

 

🤣🤣🤣🤣   You can always change your mind later 👍

[Mangrove Jack]

I would pick my Pelikan M200 EF nib. I have 2 - a demonstrator and a grey marble swirl.

Either one which came to hand first. 

[irrigger]

The first pen to come to mind was my Lamy 2000 with a fine nib. The simplicity of design and it being reliable was what made me think of it.

[51ISH]

2 minutes ago, irrigger said:

The first pen to come to mind was my Lamy 2000 with a fine nib. The simplicity of design and it being reliable was what made me think of it.

 

Yes, I can understand that. I have the very same pen and it could just as easily have been my pick too. It probably holds too much ink for my current usage if that makes any sense.

[PAKMAN]

Visconti Ti Skelton

[Tashi_Tsering]

My old Montblanc 149 with duotone 14C OBB nib. 

[Rebbe]

Noodler's Triple Tail Flex. Too much fun to write with not to take it with me. 

[inkstainedruth]

I tried one of those at the Noodler's table at the Commonwealth Pen Show a couple of years ago.  Fun writer, but I'm not a big fan of transparent/translucent pens.  If they made one in a solid color I'd buy one in a heartbeat -- simply because of the nib.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[51ISH]

39 minutes ago, PAKMAN said:

Visconti Ti Skelton

 

Wow! She is gorgeous 😍 

[51ISH]

29 minutes ago, Tashi_Tsering said:

My old Montblanc 149 with duotone 14C OBB nib. 

👍

[Mercian]

This is horrible!

Obviously, robust construction and reliability are key requirements. As is ease-of-cleaning.

 

I love my aerometric Parker “51”s, but they are a PITA to clean out, and I use iron-gall inks;

My Parker Duofold Junior is great for iron-gall, but also has a aerometric filler so is (relatively) hard to clean;

I love my Parker 75s, but their chromed nib-collars are fairly likely to get damaged and rot;

I love my Pelikan M805, but it also has a plated trim-ring next to its nib (& it is attractive enough to attract unwanted attention in some places);

I love my Pelikan M205, but it’s a little bit small for my hand;

I love my Lamy Safaris, but would I really be willing to pick one of those over the pens listed above?;

My all-stainless-steel Parker Vector is robust, but slightly too narrow to be comfortable in my paw;

My Parker 25 is robust, and pleasingly functional in appearance, but its plastic grip-section may be susceptible to alcohol damage;

 

So, all things considered, it’d have to be…

 

…my Lamy 2000 (Makrolon).

Robust. Reliable. Easy to clean-out/maintain. ‘Stealthy’ appearance means I can take it anywhere without attracting unwanted attention. I love its ‘F’ nib too 👍

[Mark from Yorkshire]

If I still had one a parker25 for purely sentimental reasons IE first grown up pen I had in UK school year 5 or year 6 so between 9 and 11 years old I think just as I finished primary school and started secondary roughly. Of the pens I currently own a Parker Vector once again sentimental reasons was pen type I had through secondary school and had a fair few of them

[51ISH]

2 minutes ago, Mercian said:

This is horrible!

Obviously, robust construction and reliability are key requirements. As is ease-of-cleaning.

 

I love my aerometric Parker “51”s, but they are a PITA to clean out, and I use iron-gall inks;

My Parker Duofold Junior is great for iron-gall, but also has a aerometric filler so is (relatively) hard to clean;

I love my Parker 75s, but their chromed nib-collars are fairly likely to get damaged and rot;

I love my Pelikan M805, but it also has a plated trim-ring next to its nib;

I love my Pelikan M205, but it’s a little bit small for my hand;

I love my Lamy Safaris, but would I really be willing to pick one of those over the pens listed above?;

My all-stainless-steel Parker Vector is robust, but slightly too narrow to be comfortable in my paw;

My Parker 25 is robust, and pleasingly functional in appearance, but its plastic grip-section may be susceptible to alcohol damage;

 

So, all-factors considered, it’d have to be…

 

…my Lamy 2000 (Makrolon).

Robust. Reliable. Easy to clean-out/maintain. ‘Stealthy’ appearance means I can take it anywhere without attracting unwanted attention. I love its nib too.

 

Wow!  I honestly never thought I would cause so much stress for everyone when I created this thread 🙂

The clue was in the title 'A bit of fun'.... 👍 

You use Iron Gall inks in a P51 Aerometric and then try to clean it? 😮🤣 Good luck with that.🙂

Well at least you realized the 'flashy' girls were best left at home to polish...and keep them looking their best at all times.....😂

 

No surprise to me you ended up with the Lamy L2K.  I have on with a Fine nib.

Incidentally, I think the Parker 25 would have handled things no problem, but it's no competition up against  the Lamy.

 

Thanks for taking part. 👍

 

 

 

[Mercian]

1 minute ago, 51ISH said:

You use Iron Gall inks in a P51 Aerometric and then try to clean it?

The only one I put through my “51”s is R&K Salix.
It doesn’t have that much i-g in it - just enough to provide the delightful rippling shading ❤️

(I once tried Scabiosa in a “51”, but found it to be unpleasantly dry.)

 

I won’t be putting a heavy-i-g ink such as ESSRI through a “51”, ever 😁
Not after having once had some Salix dry-out in one!

[51ISH]

3 minutes ago, Mark from Yorkshire said:

If I still had one a parker25 for purely sentimental reasons IE first grown up pen I had in UK school year 5 or year 6 so between 9 and 11 years old I think just as I finished primary school and started secondary roughly. Of the pens I currently own a Parker Vector once again sentimental reasons was pen type I had through secondary school and had a fair few of them

 

3 minutes ago, Mark from Yorkshire said:

 

 

No one said it had to be a pen you own! 👍 You want to take a Parker 25 as your only pen that's fine 👍

I used Parker 25's all the way through 'Secondry'  'Comprehensive' School. (We had no choice we had to use a fountain pen and that's the one my parents bought for me...in a set with a BP) I'm sure Vectors are great pens (I have a RB) But no match for the Parker 25 IMHO. Of course YMMV. Coincidentally, I have recently 'found' two Parker 25's that have sat untouched in a 'pen box' for well over 40 years. They had not been cleaned before 'leaving to rot' in that box. I flushed them both with an Ear Bulb and inked them up. Both worked flawlessly,  one a little wetter than the other. In my opinion they are bulletproof. You can pick them up for about £15 on ebay.

[51ISH]

12 minutes ago, Mercian said:

The only one I put through my “51”s is R&K Salix.
It doesn’t have that much i-g in it - just enough to provide the delightful rippling shading ❤️

(I once tried Scabiosa in a “51”, but found it to be unpleasantly dry.)

 

I won’t be putting a heavy-i-g ink such as ESSRI through a “51”, ever 😁
Not after having once had some Salix dry-out in one!

 

My Parker P51 Fine (1960 ish)  is drier than I'd like, even using solely Aurora Black. It was my first FP purchase and I was 'new'.  I should have bought a Medium. I need to use it more and give it a better 'chance'. Sometimes it feels great, but sometimes it just feels it's being ' High maintenance'. 😂

[51ISH]

29 minutes ago, Mercian said:

The only one I put through my “51”s is R&K Salix.
It doesn’t have that much i-g in it - just enough to provide the delightful rippling shading ❤️

(I once tried Scabiosa in a “51”, but found it to be unpleasantly dry.)

 

I won’t be putting a heavy-i-g ink such as ESSRI through a “51”, ever 😁
Not after having once had some Salix dry-out in one!

 

I've looked at ESSRI inks years ago, but was 'frightened' to use them in my pens.  I got it into my head you need a 'wet' Medium (at least) to get the best benefit. If you have any (cheapish) pen recommendations to try such inks I'd be grateful to hear your opinion.

[Mercian]

9 minutes ago, 51ISH said:

 

My Parker P51 Fine (1960 ish)  is drier than I'd like, even using solely Aurora Black. It was my first FP purchase and I was 'new'.  I should have bought a Medium. I need to use it more and give it a better 'chance'. Sometimes it feels great, but sometimes it just feels it's being ' High maintenance'. 😂

You could try using another black ink in it - e.g. I got great performance from Noodlers Black in my “51”.

That pen is from 1954 and came to me with a worn-out nib, so I had a NOS ‘Fine’ nib put in to it.

[Mercian]

16 minutes ago, 51ISH said:

If you have any (cheapish) pen recommendations to try such inks I'd be grateful to hear your opinion.

Well, ESS also sell Parker Vectors to use with their ink. In Registry Offices here I’ve been handed Vectors and a (first-style) Parker Jotter filled with it.

I have run it through my own Vector M, Parker 25 M(?), two Parker Frontiers (‘F’ & ‘M’),and also a (not-cheap) Pelikan M205F.

 

Of those, I got the best results with the M205, second-best with the Vector M.
The converter I was using in the Frontiers actually broke, so I can’t give a fair assessment of how well they did.

I found that my 25 gave intermittently-variable ink-flow 🤷‍♂️

 

You are right that you will want to put ESSRI through a ‘wet’ pen if you want it to turn completely black on the page. It will still work in ‘drier’ pens, but will feel ‘dry’ under the nib, and less ink will be laid down, so it won’t darken as much as it does from a ‘wet’ pen.

Lines are always tight, no feathering, and no bleeding - except on the pulpy paper in ‘puzzle’ books.

 

I have now bought a 1960s Newhaven Parker Duofold Junior to dedicate to ESSRI.
The Newhaven Duofolds were made in several sizes, and the post-1953 ones have the same aerometric filler as a “51”, plus a simple, broad-channelled, ebonite feed. They ought to be ideal for inks like ESSRI.

Loads were made, and so (here in the UK at least) one can still find them in brilliant condition for not much money.

I paid £25 for mine, and it is almost ‘Mint’.

 

For information, dimensions, etc about the different versions of the Newhaven Duofolds - and how to tell them apart! - check out this page of Tony Fischier’s Parker ‘Penography’ website.