Best Writing Experience

[sarahfar]

To me it's all in the nib. Any of my 7 Omas pens, they all are superb writers, probably the B/M Mottishaw stub Blue Saffron. But none of the Omas are slouches. CS Churchills and Sailor KOP are a close second.

[Ed Svoboda]

I have a soft spot for my grandfather's Eversharp Skyline. My grandmother gave it to me when I was fourteen and when I started using it during college I was amazed at how the nib felt and how well it wrote.

 

I need to ink it up as it has been out the rotation for a while.

 

Ed

[london]

The ones I keep coming back to....

 

 

2) 1950ish Brown English AF Duofold with a fine, slightly italic shaped nib

 

I love the waxy feel of this pen and I love the nib. And it was the first vintage pen I bought

 

1) 1950 Parker "512 Black and Lustraloy Aerometric with a medium nib

 

Smooth, reliable, ink-flow just right, nice weight, understated yet a design classic, was the first "51" I bought and the second vintage pen I purchased.

 

3) Modern Black Lamy Safari with a fine nib

 

My jacket pocket, go everywhere without having to worry.

 

 

Funny how the first two vintage pens I bought have become my favourite users. One of them would not be appearing in this list though if the Eversharp Skyline I dropped was still in one piece - now that was a pleasure to write with.

 

- Mark

 

[Shannon]

Regardless of the other pens in my collection, it always comes back to my Cross Century II. I think it was my first "real" FP and it never fails me.

 

In second place right now would be the Krone. It's held second for a while, but I'm pretty fickle and that could change any time!

[DrPJM1]

I have kept my best writers in my cigar box all these years...choosing the best one is quite akin to choosing your favourite child.

The smoothest writing experience is my Nakaya reddish-black tamenuri writer's model with the elastic music nib....on any paper!

[jdooney]

almost embarassed to say that I like the Hero 616... great writer and fine line, and also the Hero 100... For the money they rock. I also like hooded nibs, and have parker 51's but these are soooooo low stress.... makes me not worry about it when I use them...

[sclt45]

I would have to say '50 Montblanc 146, Waterman Edson.

[kkbach]

Honestly I am a Pelikan user but my best pen is a Conklin Duragraph, fine nib, a lovely shade of brown. No matter what ink I put in it - it is an amazingly smooth and effortless write.

 

 

Surprised me. Maybe it is a fluke - but hey I'll take it.

 

Anyone else have a similar surprise. A pen that performs much better than expected?

 

 

 

 

 

[dwmatteson]

I'd have to say that my best writers are, in more-or-less this order:

 

Omas Paragon fine nib, tweaked by John Mottishaw;

Conway Stewart Shorthand medium nib, tweaked by Richard Binder for the previous owner;

Sailor 1911 medium-fine nib, out of the box;

Danitrio Tac Carry II, tricked out with a Deb Kinney stub nib;

Danitrio Raw Ebonite Densho firm fine nib, out of the box;

Sheaffer PFM III fine nib, as it came to me from Sherrell Tyree;

Bexley FPN LE with steel fine nib, out of the box;

Waterman Phileas fine nib, out of the box.

 

Don

[Benjamin McFerret]

1. Pelikan 605 with an extra fine nib. The nib took a lot of work before I liked it (I do like it now) but the simple/boring looking pen fits my hand so well that I rarely use anything else.

2. Parker 21. Found in horrible condition in a bag of junk pens but it writes an amazingly smooth extra fine line (better than any of the "51"s I have tried)

3. Stipula Duetto with a fine nib. The nib wrote between a broad and a double broad line and used three times as much ink of any other pen I have owned but the feel of the nib on paper was...wow. If only it had been a more practical pen.

[marklavar]

All my pens write well. Difficult to choose the best, but Pilot, Sailor, Omas and Stipula are all up there. Waterman, Dupont, Caran D'Ache, Cartier are all up there as well.

[georges zaslavsky]

pelikan 800 söveran medium nib

149 with medium nib

149 with medium oblique nib

146 with medium oblique nib

vacumatic with fine nib

omas 360 magnum with fine nib

omas paragon with fine nib

parker duofold senior big red with fine nib

parker duofold senior lapis lazulis with fine nib.

[Reisho]

Mine was cheapo bought for the equivalent of 5$ in the beginning of the nineties.

It was apple green and violet, with the word "Onkyo" written on the cap and an iridium point. It was so cheap that the thin plastic cap cracked after 3 months. I bought another one, which didn't write at all, and I exchanged the nibs. I did that another couple of times until I eventually lost it.

I'll always remember that nib. My beloved Marlen doesn't even come close.

[Tricia]

My most memorable was when I received my Bexley Sheherazade from Richard Binder. I had never had a pen write soooo smooth. Since then, I've had a few others that came close - a Parker "51", my new Omas 360, etc., but the Bexley is still the star and is always out on my pen pillow.

[sexauerw]

My best writing pens include the following:

Dupont Fidelio, nib ground into a medium oblique cursive italic by Richard Binder

Waterman Charleston, nib ground into a medium oblique cursive italic by Richard Binder

Parker 51 Vacumatic, fine nib smoothed by Richard Binder

Pilot Vanishing Point, nib ground into a fine oblique cursive italic by John Mottishaw

Waterman Carene, nib ground into a broad oblique cursive italic by Deb Kinney

Four Sheaffer Targas, nibs ground into various italics by Deb Kinney

 

I'm not patient with poor-writing pens. If I don't like the way the pen writes, off it goes to be made better. Only the P-51 was just fixed, smoothed to write the way it should have. It writes like a dream now. The VP was bought from John Mottishaw and customized at purchase, and the Charleston was bought used and had already been modified. All of the others came to me writing poorly and needed to be sent out to be fixed. I took advantage of the opportunity and had them customized rather than just fixed. I can't say enough for the good work of all of the nibmeisters listed above.

[alfredop]

It could be strange (since I have higher priced pens) but my favourite pen is a Lamy Studio with EF nib.

 

Genny

[mr T.]

The best writing experience I have mostly with lower end pens. The best of them all: Paper Mate Monogram. Also like the Parker 45 and the Parker Jotter fp a lot.

[Chairman]

I have 2 pens (both vintage) that I pick up and think "wow--that's a perfect nib!"...

 

#1 is a Sheaffer OS flat top with a flexible stubbish medium nib. Perfect flow, smooth, flexible, etc.

 

#2 is a Waterman 0552 (gothic pattern gold overlay) with a very flexible and very smooth medium nib. I write with it and can't think of anything I would like changed.

 

I have a couple of Binderized pens (an Omas 360 and Pel M1000) that are very good...but not quite as nice as the pens above.

[Ringtop]

I used to think I preferred fine nibs, but both of my favorite writers are medium nibs. The one I always enjoy writing with is a Waterman 54, which I got from our own Johnny Appleseed here on the board. The other is a weird little black Duofold ringtop that is tapered a the end where the blind cap is, so it doesn't post. Great nib though, a somewhat fat medium. I love how it enhances my handwriting.

 

Vida

[Longwriter]

Bexley Simplicity and the Danitrio Cum Laude have spectacular balance, comfortable sizes and weights, and nibs with a bit or responsiveness. My Danitrio Hanryo skips on the downstroke, although when I have that one fixed I suspect it will also be up there.