Anyone else into fountain pens?

Those Tornados look nice. They remind me of a Duke fountain pen I have - German pen, but I bought it in Beijing (ironically, it's been used by royalty while in my ownership, which probably means somebody would pay big money for it!) I find it's not hard to find a mid-price option that looks nice these days from Parker and the likes - pleasingly so, given that you don't see many people using fountain pens with great regularity.

viclip said:

If interested in a P51 fountain pen then I'd recommend finding one with its matching (working!) mechanical pencil, with the matching set housed in their original Parker case & preferably including the original instruction sheet. But of course if the set is too nice, you might not want to actually use them!

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I picked up a mint, unused Parker 21 fp and pencil set on eBay a few years ago, but yes - problem is I've never been able to bring myself to deflower it! Might end up selling that one; I don't have the space to stored stuff I won't use.

While vintage P51s are still available, I'd have thought Parker could easily sell a mid-price run of a pen that looked eternally the same but with a converter / cartridge option (not my ideal, but probably would reach a wider market these days). They did do a LE anniversary model a few years ago, but it was an eye-watering price as memory serves.

Dreamofgilgamesh said:

I realised the other day, or rather my wife realised for me how awful my handwriting is so I set myself the goal of improving it. I thought a good start would be getting a fountain pen, I hadn't used one since my school days many many years ago. After much googling I decided to get a couple of Chinese pens from EBay. I absolutely love them and so cheap. You can get clones of most well known and respected makes for next to nothing. A new fountain pen all the way from Shanghai to my front door for £1.12 . It looks wonderful and it writes beautifully. I know it doesn't have the same pedigree as an original but for the price you can't go wrong.

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I always advise my undergraduates that a fountain pen will improve their handwriting greatly. For myself, I was the last year in primary school that, when we first switched to pen and ink from pencil at the age of nine, were required to use a fountain pen. That didn't last long, and initially, I was glad: being left handed, the fountain pen had required a certain learning curve. I took it up again of my own volition at the age of thirteen, as I liked using a fountain pen, and it certainly did improve my handwriting. At university, I mostly used a Parker jotter for notes at speed in lectures, then a fountain for other things. I wish I had thought to use a fountain pen in exams, as I'd have avoided a lot of handcramps that way (in my day, the standard assessment was a three-hour exam, writing solidly throughout). Every so often a student will take my advice, and they always notice how much easier it is to keep writing as the pen simply glides over the page, and how much their handwriting tends to improve.

For anyone interested in a cartridge/converter version of the Parker 51, they actually produced such a model between 1958 & 1960. These can still be found, although I understand that they may be difficult to locate because that filling system proved hugely unpopular back in the day so production was short lived.

Also, in 2002 Parker came out with a retro version of the P51. These special editions were cartridge/converter fillers. That filling system is now hugely popular, go figure. Anyways these retro versions were available with a stunning sterling cap. They remain available in the aftermarket, but I see that they can be pricey.

Here's a couple of photos of my pens. You might think the black one is a Parker Sonnet. In fact it's a Baoer 388, the other one is a Jinhao 922.
Just under £2.50 for both of them all the way from China.

I just ordered one from Ebay, looking forward to seeing what it is like and if I can suddenly do Copperplate Writing.

Ha.... my scrawl, once described by my A-level history teacher as "akin to the outpourings of a drunken spider", is still a scrawl with a fountain pen, but somehow it's a nicer, neater scrawl.

viclip said:

Also, in 2002 Parker came out with a retro version of the P51. These special editions were cartridge/converter fillers. That filling system is now hugely popular, go figure. Anyways these retro versions were available with a stunning sterling cap. They remain available in the aftermarket, but I see that they can be pricey.

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That's the one I'm remembering. I don't know why they never considered making an affordable alternative run of this model. Sure, I'd prefer a piston or aeromatic version, but if a converter model (which is what most of my pens run on now) meant it could be produced at an affordable price, I'd jump on that. A P51 clone, even if more lookalike than true to the original spec underneath, for Parker FP Jotter or even Urban money would be a surefire seller, one would have thought.

Dreamofgilgamesh said:

View attachment 151984 Here's a couple of photos of my pens. You might think the black one is a Parker Sonnet. In fact it's a Baoer 388, the other one is a Jinhao 922.
Just under £2.50 for both of them all the way from China.

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There are a surprisingly good range of pens coming from China these days (I have three or four Wing Sungs on the way at present), which can be had for buttons if you are prepared to wait a month for the direct China shipping rather than buy at a UK mark-up of 300-1000% (for the same Chinese pen - see eBay figures). Of course, this can be a gamble, as some of the big Chinese names (Wing Sung, Hero, and others) ared state-owned and licensed to the private sector, thus the Wing Sung 3008 and the Wing Sung 698 may be ostensibly the same design, but the latter is markedly more expensive and reputed to be vastly superior, both having been made by wholly separate companies. I have one of each on the way for comparative purposes....

The lovely thing about these Chinese pens is that unlike, say, my P51s or my TWSBI, because they can be had for buttons they are 'easier' to take out and use in the field, less worry about being lost and such, so they actually encourage one to use a fountain pen regularly. Nice way of experimenting with different styles, too - if you like the Chinese cheapo clone enough, it can be worth looking at the 'real thing'.

For those looking something else, though, I also highly recommend the Parker Jotter fountain pen, at around GBP15.00.

My EDC is a Parker 51 that I bought in a pawn shop in 1995, the pen is dated as a 1955. I had another 51 which was older, unfortunately it got stolen.

My other EDC is a Hero 100, which I really recommend. In fact, I have 10 Hero 100.

I also have 2 Waterman, 2 Lamy Safari, a few Hero 616, and another Chinese FP that I forgot the name.

Edward said:

Ha.... my scrawl, once described by my A-level history teacher as "akin to the outpourings of a drunken spider", is still a scrawl with a fountain pen, but somehow it's a nicer, neater scrawl.



That's the one I'm remembering. I don't know why they never considered making an affordable alternative run of this model. Sure, I'd prefer a piston or aeromatic version, but if a converter model (which is what most of my pens run on now) meant it could be produced at an affordable price, I'd jump on that. A P51 clone, even if more lookalike than true to the original spec underneath, for Parker FP Jotter or even Urban money would be a surefire seller, one would have thought.



There are a surprisingly good range of pens coming from China these days (I have three or four Wing Sungs on the way at present), which can be had for buttons if you are prepared to wait a month for the direct China shipping rather than buy at a UK mark-up of 300-1000% (for the same Chinese pen - see eBay figures). Of course, this can be a gamble, as some of the big Chinese names (Wing Sung, Hero, and others) ared state-owned and licensed to the private sector, thus the Wing Sung 3008 and the Wing Sung 698 may be ostensibly the same design, but the latter is markedly more expensive and reputed to be vastly superior, both having been made by wholly separate companies. I have one of each on the way for comparative purposes....

The lovely thing about these Chinese pens is that unlike, say, my P51s or my TWSBI, because they can be had for buttons they are 'easier' to take out and use in the field, less worry about being lost and such, so they actually encourage one to use a fountain pen regularly. Nice way of experimenting with different styles, too - if you like the Chinese cheapo clone enough, it can be worth looking at the 'real thing'.

For those looking something else, though, I also highly recommend the Parker Jotter fountain pen, at around GBP15.00.

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Sounds like we had the same teacher at school!!

If you’re a serious fountain pen addict this book is a must. I’ve found it to be invaluable in identifying and dating my collection

mtrlr said:

My other EDC is a Hero 100, which I really recommend. In fact, I have 10 Hero 100.

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I had a Hero 100, nice pen, though the glue let go in mine (I must find it and rebuild it). The only real complaint I had about it in operation was I would have liked it to have been much closer the proportions of the original P51, and with a broader nib, though you never really find broad nibs on the budget Chinese pens, for obvious reasons. The Hero 1000 (if memory serves), the all-aluminium version, is a lovely pen.

bluesmandan said:

I’m not a collector either but I have a Waterman (Harley Davidson edition) that was a graduation gift from a professor, a set of Schaefer calligraphy pens that was a gift from a church member, and a Noodler’s Ahab which I bought. I’ll try to remember to take pictures later.

The Waterman doesn’t flow well enough, and the others sometimes leak and get my fingers messy. But I still use them because I greatly prefer the artistic way they lay down ink. Heck, when I was a kid I used to take my pencils and scrape them on a brick or concrete or whatever to file a nice flat calligraphy profile into the pencil tip!!!


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Here’s pics:




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My new pen has now arrived, I am very pleased with it.

STEVIEBOY1 said:

My new pen has now arrived, I am very pleased with it.

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Post a pic of the pen with a writing sample. [emoji3578]


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bluesmandan said:

Post a pic of the pen with a writing sample. [emoji3578]


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Unfortunately, I do not have the facilities to do that.

I am a huge fan of the Parker P51 I have several with differing nibs etc.

Ordered myself half a dozen cheap pens to try a couple of weeks ago, and they're starting to trickle in now. First is a pair of Dollar demonstrators, piston fillers. Cheap feeling, if reliable so far (I wouldn't put them in my pocket to carry around, but at about two pounds for two, they're handy to have on the desk, can be treated as semi-disposable, and left at work without worry). Nice writers out the box.

I picked up a really nice Pelikan as part of a watch sale/deal a while back. It looks really nice but I have not tried it yet.

A puzzle for the pen experts here:

This pen (cross-posted from the photography thread)...
View attachment 153482

...is filled with dark green ink - yet it leaves purple residue on the nib.

How can that be?

Edit: Fountain pen ink is a water-based solution of dyes that absorb specific wavelengths of light - so the quantity used should affect darkness, but not colour. The ink looks green as a liquid, too...

Artifex said:

A puzzle for the pen experts here:

This pen (cross-posted from the photography thread)...
View attachment 153482

...is filled with dark green ink - yet it leaves purple residue on the nib.

How can that be?

Edit: Fountain pen ink is a water-based solution of dyes that absorb specific wavelengths of light - so the quantity used should affect darkness, but not colour. The ink looks green as a liquid, too...

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This is commonly seen in ink samples which are applied to blotting or similarly absorbent paper. The components of the dye will form a different colored ring as they come out of solution. Indeed inks are often mixed to obtain some color or other (provided that they are compatible i.e. don't form a precipate).

This could also occur if you recently changed ink colors without thoroughly washing out the former ink.

Pen & ink was the order of the school day back in the 1950's. Threads like this where Osmiroid isn't the common choice makes me wonder if there was some sort deal between our Education department and Osmiroid pens. It seemed as though we all had them back then. Even the school dip pens, had Osmiroid nibs.

Ball point pens were strictly taboo at my school, the only concession to an alternative was a pencil. We were issued with 'rough' books. These were an A4 size blank exercise book for random jottings, or 'rough' workings. We could use pencil or pen & ink in them, but you would find yourself in trouble if you used a ball point pen.

Italic script was also taught at my school, we also had Gothic script, but fanciful flourishes on capital letters at the start of a sentence were discouraged, didn't stop us though. These days if I have to contact a company or government department, I never use e-mail, always a handwritten letter in pen and ink. It gets a response everytime.

This is my Osmiroid Platignum, note the bladder lever.

This caligraphy set was a gift, I think it was from my Dad, memory either fades or confuses, sorry I can't be sure.

viclip said:

This is commonly seen in ink samples which are applied to blotting or similarly absorbent paper. The components of the dye will form a different colored ring as they come out of solution. Indeed inks are often mixed to obtain some color or other (provided that they are compatible i.e. don't form a precipate).

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Having conducted an extensive, rigorously-scientific investigation (See results below) I think you must be right. The ink clearly has two components, of which the blue is by far the less soluble. I suppose that makes it the first to come out of solution as the ink dries.